Homebound

For the last two years, fatigue, respiratory issues and other medical conditions have kept me at home and in bed. I rarely leave the house except to go to medical appointments, the emergency department or religious services. I have always thought of my situation as self imposed prison. I could leave the house if I wanted to; however, by the time I gather up all my respiratory equipment and load myself into the car, I am overwhelmed with exhaustion. The last thing I want to do is to have to endure the motion of riding in a car. I have decided it is best to remain at home and stay in bed most of the day.

With all this being said, I never thought of myself as “homebound”. I always thought of myself as just being inconvenienced with having severe fatigue and other medical conditions which impede my ability to freely travel. However, a recent visit from a home health nurse changed all this.

When my nurse arrives to begin services, she asks me a series of questions. “Do you use an assistive device to leave the house? Do you have fatigue which prevents you from leaving the house? Do you have pain in one or more joints? Have you fallen in the last year?” To all these questions, I am able to answer “yes”. I use a wheelchair, I am always tired and rarely stray far from my bed, I have pain in many of my joints and recently I have fallen three times. The nurse tells me, “Great. You qualify through your insurance for home health care. You have to be able to answer “yes” to just one of the questions to be considered homebound. You can only receive my services if you are considered homebound.”

I sit a bit stunned at the nurse’s words. “Am I really homebound? Do I really have an inability to leave my residence?” As I think about my life, I realize, yes, I am homebound. If the nurse was not here administering services to me, I would not venture out of my home every week to receive her services. As it was prior to this nurse coming to my home, I did not get the dressing for my PICC line changed every week. I would wait until I was hospitalized and then would ask the nursing staff to change the dressing. I was putting myself at great risk for infection; however, I did not have the energy to leave my house for this task.

So, perhaps I am homebound. What a bummer to have this title, but I am grateful if it means I qualify for home health services. Sometimes you just have to endure having another label added to your chart and ignore its common every day meaning. I choose instead to believe the definition of my label “homebound” means I trust in Jesus as my Lord and Savior, and one day I shall leave this world and go to my true Home...oh what a glorious day that will be!