Draw Conclusions On The Wall

dd May 26th, 2007

I’m back from my trip to Detroit to look after my 92 year old mom. It was a busy week and the next few posts will focus on different aspects. But, first here’s an update on my mom. She’s a tough one. Over the last 4 months she’s had to battle congestive heart failure, back fractures and a pretty severe stomach ulcer. Right now, she’s at a good nursing/convalescent center. So, here’s what I found and what I accomplished last week:

• I immediately discovered that medicare would stop paying for her therapy not on 5/24 as I had been told but a week later on 5/31. That was welcome news. But, the question remained what then?
• My mom had made some progress in the last few days. With her walker, she was now able to walk from her bed to the bathroom and back. And, she was able to dress herself. These were major improvements. However, she has very little stamina and she got quite tired after these short exertions.
• She is taking medications for her heart, for the build up of fluids in her ankles and lungs, for the ulcer, for high blood pressure and for pain in her back.
• This one took me totally by surprise - she seems to now have a short term memory loss. She’d ask me something and ask the identical question 2 hours later. Whether this is the result of stress, worry, disorientation, or the meds, it’s hard to say. We’re hoping it is temporary, but we don’t know.
• Despite all of this, my mom thought she would be able to go home. This was clearly not the best option in my opinion. She would require 24×7 home care. It would be quite expensive and not as good as having her stay at the nursing home as a private care patient so that she would get medical monitoring as well as having her meds administered.
• I arranged a meeting with the house doctor, the social worker, the nursing unit administrator, and an occupational therapist who had just evaluated her. We agreed that an extension of her stay at the nursing home, was the best option. However, on the bright side, they thought she had made enough of an improvement so that she could be transferred to the assisted living wing of the facility. Hopefully, this will be just a transition period until she moves into an independent living apartment in an elder care facility. Otherwise, she will need to go to a more permanent assisted living or higher care facility, possibly in the same place as the independent living apartment into which she had hoped to be moving.
• Next came a meeting I had dreaded - breaking the news to my mom. But, after a short discussion, she seemed to accept this strategy. I think she realized that going home, as attractive as it was to her, was just not realistic.

So, that’s where we stand. She is scheduled to be moved to the assisted living unit next Thursday and stay for a month. We’ll reevaluate at that time.

Like my dad, who battled tirelessly for 10 years against the ravages of a major stroke, my mom is fighting valiantly against this onslaught of medical problems. I’m descended from real fighters!

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• Family , Life