We finally left the hospital in the early afternoon. I had arrived at 7:00 a.m. for an early departure, but a couple of snags kept us there in rather ill humor until 1:00 p.m.
Amazingly, things brightened considerably with the arrival of a nurse from the Visiting Nurse Service of New York. A few of our previous contacts with VNS had not made us especially hopeful for anything beyond a person with technical competence to use the V.A.C. wound therapy machine. But the nurse assigned to Charlie's case, Phil Leon, proved to be knowledgeable, kind, helpful and professional. He demonstrated his "can do" attitude when we found the box of supplies provided by the V.A.C. machine rental company did not include a crucial type of wound dressing. He called another client and arranged to go to his home and borrow what was needed to install the V.A.C. today and then returned to finish the job. He gave some great suggestions for getting more protein and calories into Charlie's diet, and he volunteered to arrange for in-home physical therapy to help with the back pain situation. Charlie and I both felt relieved and optimistic when he left. He is scheduled for visits three times a week, but he offered to stop by tomorrow to check on how Charlie is doing and to see if there are any problems with the V.A.C.
