The first half of the week of January 5 was mostly uneventful. Mom became more and more aware. However if there is one constant in the universe, it is that she wants to get herself into the bathroom.Thursday night, we watched the Gator game together... one day I will tell her we are National Champs again! =)
Thursday night I also talked to her nurse about her hair. She asked another nurse (male, named Kim) who used to be a hairdresser to take a look. He thought it was salvageable, and they said they would start working on it the next night. Yay!
Friday, January 9
Mom's case manager called at about 9 am to actually give me some good news.
The next step in Mom's care is a rehab facility. Way back (mid October) when Mom had her day of clarity, she picked 3 rehab facilities. First - Hunters Creek Nursing and Rehabilitation Center (across the street from Karen's apartment complex and 3 miles from my house); second - Health Center of Windermere (14 miles away); third - Lake Bennett Health and Rehab Center (24 miles away). When the social worker told this to me, she said the top pick was not in mom's insurance network.
So on Friday, the news changed. It appears the second and third choices do not take traych patients, and Hunters Creek will take Mom and accept her insurance!! And then, to return to their normal poor communication... she said Mom could be transferred as early as that afternoon... What! Way to give me a heads up! She said she would call me later in the day to confirm.
At 4:00, she called back to say that it would be a few more days as Mom has developed a UTI and the antibiotics they have her on require some closer monitoring. OK.
Once again, while on the phone with her, I asked about Mom's hair. She was under the impression that it had been corrected. WRONG. But I did tell her that Gigi and Kim were planning on giving it a try, and that I appreciated that.
I was heading out of town again, so Dianne and Karen headed over to visit Mom. Mom had fun with Karen. A little while into their visit, Dianne had a coughing attack and headed out to the car. She figured Karen would be out shortly. After 30 minutes, she tried to call Karen's cell... no answer. Ten minutes more, and Karen answered, "You will never believe what she did!" Mom had Karen lower the rail, help her to a sitting position, and then attempt to stand. I stress the word attempt, because she CAN'T! So Karen was flipping out trying to figure out how to get Mom back on the bed. She couldn't walk away to get help, so she called out and got someone to come in. Poor Karen! The nurses yelled at her for what happened. She had no idea! So Dianne came back in and Mom had the cat that ate the canary grin. She still did not see anything wrong with what happened.
Sunday, January 11
Dianne and I went to visit Mom. Her personality was all there. We were laughing and joking and she was able to remember the cruise and her pneumonia. She got fuzzy around the start of the diverticulitis. Then the nurse came in to tell us how first thing this morning she found mom sitting upright with her legs caught between the rails. She was trying once again to get out of bed. We tried to make her say the words "I cannot walk yet" but she refused. It was a really good visit. We also took down all the cards and stuff in the room in preparation for moving to the new place.
At about 11:30 that night, I got another phone call from the hospital. This time it was the charge nurse. The tech went in to do vitals... and found mom sitting on the floor!! She told the nurse she was 'just getting up to get a glass of water.' Because if there is one thing you should try it is to get out of bed when you can't walk to get a glass of water that you are not allowed to drink!! The staff physician examined her and said that she did no damage and she was not complaining of any pain. I checked in again Monday afternoon and she was still doing ok with no pain.
Looking forward
At this point it will probably be mid week before she moves. The orders are already written to downsize to tube size 4, but they are waiting for her congestion to clear up a little more.
Postnote - This picture is from our Gold Mining excursion in Fairbanks, Alaska.
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