Dad’s 3rd stroke occurred at the end of July last year.
He had already had 2 strokes earlier in 2017, with the 2nd stroke happening at the end of May 2017.
I stayed with Dad nearly every night of this 2 week hospital admission, due to his delirium.
On the nights I couldn’t stay, my sister stayed with him.
My Mum and sister also took turns staying with Dad during the day.
And Dad had visits from extended family members also, giving him familiarity and company during those long, long hours he spent in the hospital bed.
He spent 2 weeks in the stoke unit at our local hospital and during this time, despite assessment and input from his treating team, he made little progress.
Hospital or home? 
My wonderful colleagues would have preferred to have Dad remain in hospital longer and rehabilitate but having been through this type of scenario previously with Dad, we knew the potential for improvement was really only going to happen at home.
We set the process in motion to have Dad go home on the Transition Care Programme, a multi disciplinary program of nursing and allied health input which delivers restorative care in a person’s home or temporarily in an aged care facility until the person is functionally able enough to go home.
There was equipment that needed to be ordered and delivered and some modifications that needed attending before Dad went home.
Rails needed to be installed in the shower and toilet, ramps needed to be made to allow wheelchair access to the front and rear doors, special chairs and a hospital bed with a pressure relieving mattress needed to be delivered.
My other sister came over from Perth to help us to take Dad home.
Talk about a team effort!
24 hour care at home. 
Dad was transported home in the ambulance transport van, as he was unable to walk on discharge from hospital.
When he arrived home, the equipment hadn’t arrived and transferring him from the ambulance stretcher to a chair was a huge effort.
I remember my sister and I holding Dad up and assisting him into the chair and catching each other’s look of despair.
The enormity of what we were taking on hit home.
All I could say was “What have we done” …
But the equipment was delivered later that day and we set about arranging my parents home to be accommodating of all sorts of new equipment.
We also mixed thickened fluids, as Dad required a texture modified diet due to dysphagia from the stroke.
And we drew up a roster so that one of us was always available to assist Mum with Dad.
After hardly sleeping at all during his hospital admission, Dad slept well that first night home.
We knew that he knew he was at home.
And we knew we had made the right decision to bring him home.
This part of the journey though, was to be the toughest time for all of us, but also the most profoundly rewarding and special time with Dad.
We had embarked on the final chapter of my Dad’s life.
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