Mom’s Status: 2010-11-04
Summary
They wanted to send Mom home today, as her medical insurance company will not continue paying for her to receive rehabilitation services at the nursing facility if she’s not showing appreciable signs of improvement. She has not appeared to gain much strength in her legs in the past few weeks. So, their coverage of her stay there ends today. However, we do not yet have the house completely prepared for her return. So, we looked into her staying at these hotel-like suites at the nursing facility, which offer reasonably affordable assisted living and around-the-clock care. That was the plan until this morning anyway, when the nurses told us that a recent blood test showed her blood to be too thin. We had taken her to her new digs and she was settling in when they told us this news. They felt that she’d be better off to return to her second floor room which offers full care. Since this problematic blood work represents a new medical issue for her, her insurance will now pay for her to stay there until they get it thickened up a little. Now, we’re looking at her coming home this coming Monday. She’ll not spend any time in the suites now; opting instead to just come straight home.
So far, no signs of MRSA return, but she has been quite sleepy the past couple weeks. No word yet from her PCP, from whom I requested the results of her last echo and whether he thought that the endocarditis has been cured. We learned however from the head nurse this past Tuesday that they did not want to give her the more expensive transesophageal echo cardiogram until some weeks had passed since her last infusion of antibiotic. This makes sense that they’d want to wait until all the anti-bacterial effects of the antibiotic disappeared because running this test while the medicine was still active would probably have shown no further growth of the vegetation on her heart valves.
Skin color: more normal this morning. Fever: none. Mouth: not too dry. Her occupational therapy will continue as long as she’s staying out there and even, once she comes home.
Ongoing Objectives
These objectives are on hold.
- Track the dissipation of Mom’s pelvic hematoma. IN PROGRESS. We have to follow up on this one.
- Locate Mom’s living will. IN PROGRESS. Given that Mom has expressed her wishes to both us and the nursing staff and doctors, I’ve deferred this item. With us nearby to instruct them should a crisis arise, there’s less need for a hard copy of the living will.
Completed Objectives
- Call Mom’s insurance company and find out what sorts of in-home rehab visits they cover — how many of them over how long of a period. Sister Mary Ann recommends that we spread these out over the entire coverage period, and not use them all immediately. The nursing facility is handling all this for us.
Log
08:05 AM: I’m leaving to visit Mom now. Details follow.
- 08:30 AM: I arrived. Mom was still in bed but fully awake.
- 09:00 AM: The woman in charge of discharging patients arrived to fill out applications for the assisted-living suite where Mom will reside throiugh the weekend (or so we thought).
- 09:40 AM: All applications, waivers, and other forms have been explained to us and we signed them.
- 09:45 AM: Went to the business office to pay for Mom’s three-day stay in the suite. $392.
- 10:25 AM: While we waited for the guy who runs the suites to come and take us to Mom’s new room, we just watched CNN and talked a little.
- 10:40 AM: This fellow arrived and we began moving Mom and her things upstairs.
- 11:00 AM: We spent about twenty minutes in the suite. I think Mom liked it but thought it ridiculous that she had to change rooms for just three days.
- 11:05 AM: A nurse informed us that Mom’s latest blood test should some abnormalities (namely, blood too thin), and that she recommended that Mom go back to the skilled care area where she’s been staying up until now, so they could keep a better eye on her. She was happy about this I think.
- 12:00 PM: Then, we went to the little alcove where several of the residents were milling about, watching The Price is Right. Mom wasn’t very talkative throughout all of this, and in this last hour, grew very sleepy, saying, “I’m gong right to bed after lunch!”
- 12:00 PM So, I said good-bye and went down to await my ride.
- 12:45 PM: My ride arrived, and so then, I left.
