Hospitals are optimistic about discharge for good reasons: the bed is needed and the patient genuinely is well enough to leave. What the letter rarely conveys is that the first week at home is the hardest week of the recovery, and that most of it is logistics rather than medicine.
Days one and two
Expect exhaustion out of all proportion to the journey. Expect the stairs to be a genuine obstacle. And expect at least one medication on the discharge list that the pharmacy does not have in stock. Arrange the prescription before the discharge, not after it.
Days three to five
This is when wounds are checked, when appetite either returns or does not, and when the household discovers which parts of the old routine no longer work. It is also, reliably, when the family carer first says out loud that they are not sleeping.
Four things worth arranging in advance
- The medication, filled and in the house before arrival
- A bed downstairs if stairs are going to be a problem for more than a day
- One nurse visit inside the first 48 hours, even if it feels unnecessary
- A named person the household can ring at 3am without apologising
