Are you able to, like, sleep and/or cook and/or shower there yet? Or, I guess... live there yet?

Sleep is working for us. There are 2 other bedrooms that were filled with stuff that was cleared from the kitchen and living room, but I am getting through that and hope to have them sleepable by next weekend. Which would be helpful since I have visitors arriving then. Cooking is still iffy, but we have an interim plan to place the appliances with basic frames and plywood for a countertop. That way I will have oven, dishwasher, sink, and room to do my cooking. I love to cook so that has been missed. When they do the actual cabinets they will just pull out the appliance, build the box then put it back. Bath and shower was first on my list and it is quite lovely. Even has a heated floor which makes for happy toes getting out of the shower. I didn't mean to have it on, but it goes on automatically with a power interruption. I got out of the shower and stepped on the bath mat and realized it was warm. Nifty! It can get really cold here overnight, even in the summer.

But yeah, still pretty basic with most of the walls still open and beams and jacks and plywood floors for the most part. They do have the pine walls up in the kitchen, bath, and laundry, as well as the back porch. The floor is only done in bath, laundry, and porch.

It's a process to live in a place being gutted, and I do have plenty of family if I need space for me or guests, so it works out.

So happy for you, smonster! Yay, healing, Tim!

That sounds like it will be great eventually, Laura, but yikes for now!

Someday when I redo my bathroom, I am definitely getting a heated floor.

Yay, healing, Tim!

Everyone walk back the yays, because Tim may be going to an inpatient rehab facility. He's having an extraordinarily difficult time transferring in and out of bed, and even rolling over in bed, and it became very clear at 5 a.m. today that I cannot physically move him in and out of bed without hurting myself. The entire right side of my back, from my shoulder blade to my butt, is spasming, and my whole lower back hurts worse than it has in a long, long time.

This is just a scenario where we didn't anticipate what difficulties might happen, and now we're flailing to solve those difficulties. I can do stuff like fetch him food and beverages and meds, bring him pillows, take his temperature and blood pressure, etc., but I can't physically move him, and that's what he requires right now.

He's actually on the phone with someone from the surgical clinic right now, talking through the situation and trying to come up with a workable solution.

I hope y’all get a solution quickly, Tep. That’s rough. I’m sorry all your prep for recovery at home was not enough.

Someday when I redo my bathroom, I am definitely getting a heated floor.

can not recommend this enough

trying to come up with a workable solution.

There’s a thing my folks use to get my Dad out of bed. I think it’s called a sprite? Let me check with my mom.

Oh, that's tough, Steph. Yeah, vibing for a quick, good solution.

Laura, it does sound like it will be fabulous when it's finally all done and yours again. So cool!

Heated floors sound divine.

It's just super frustrating, because we didn't know what we didn't know. When the OT at the hospital asked if I was able to help Tim out of bed, I assumed she meant "be there to steady him while he moves his body out of bed under his own power," which I definitely can do. But when "help him out of bed" means "physically roll his entire body over and then move his entire body from horizontal to vertical as if he were paralyzed and cannot move on his own at all," well, I am simply unable to do that, and I have to question how many spouses *can* do that, especially day after day after day.

Although, again falling in the category of "we didn't know what we didn't know," when Tim was released from the hospital, we assumed -- based on his activity level and abilities demonstrated while in the hospital -- that he was able to roll over in bed and move his body out of bed under his own power. Because he did do it while he was there. I don't know what's making it impossible for him to do it now that he's at home. I think part of it is that he's afraid he's going to move (twist/bend) in such a way that it will fuck up all the new hardware in his back. And that is of course a major concern after this type of surgery. But the answer can't be "your wife will move you." Because I am in a lot of pain right now. If *I* end up in the hospital, I definitely can't help Tim.

Hoping that situation with Tim is resolved easily.

David, you're amazing. Now I'm picturing you in slo-mo running while Chariots of Fire plays in the background. Heroic film shot. Nope, not quite ready for levity. In any case, I'm glad you got there in time.

Afterwards I was talking about it in the kitchen with Emmett and Angela (my SiL) and we were laughing about how it made a perfect Grunge era concept album with such hits as "I'm Running Through The Haight With Morphine" and "They Won't Give Me My Bag Of Drugs."

Potential Album title: "Visiting Hours Are Over."

This is so much harder than his recovery after his heart surgery. We were very much under-prepared for the reality of what he would be able to do in the immediate post-discharge period.