Three hours pass, Neuro appt

Yesterday was pretty good for Denise. The night before, she was on the phone until late, then finally realized that she was completely exhausted and fell asleep almost immediately. So I was worried that she gets overstimulated and goes bonkers. But the next day (Sunday), everything was fine. She was not at all manic while we were out at church & lunch at Panda
Express. She wanted to go other places while we were out on our pass from the nursing facility, but she seemed to understand our time limitations this time and was able to pick just one other trip for the day. As a test run, I brought her a catalog she requested from a jewelry store in the mall. Upon seeing a $22,800 Rolex watch on the first page, she said I should bring her another catalog; that one was way out of our ballpark. That's my girl. She did exhibit some compulsive behavior a little later in the day (tearing a magazine apart because she liked and wanted to save every picture in it). But overall, I feel like I can tell the neurologist good news when we go to the appointment this afternoon. It seems like he picked an appropriate combo of meds and dosages for her to bring her back closer to her normal self. I hope we can get her mental state under control and keep it there.
I was informed that Denise can leave the skilled nursing facility up to three hours per day. Today most of that will be taken up with the aforementioned visit to the neurologist. But we're all looking forward to having Denise come home for a couple of hours each day for dinner, bathtime with the kids, and bedtime stories. It's been too long that she's been out of the routine. I just got a call from the nurse aunt stating that there's starting to be some chatter about getting Denise out of the SNF and back home. This could happen tomorrow, could happen in a week or two. We expected that since she's not actively using the feeding tube, this would be the case. Based on prior experiences with discharges, we're a little bristled. But we do want her home. Things we want to be in order before she's sent home include not needing the feeding tube, no emesis, no seizures, meds adjusted, liver enzymes lowering... I'm sure the insurance company thinks we're a little bit demanding & high-maintenance.
Denise's caregiver is moved in yesterday, even though Denise is still at the nursing home. Many thanks to the people that pitched in and helped make short work of the process. Our hope is that Denise will be healthy enough to come back home so that both her and her caregiver can truly be "live-in.".

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