My mom/MFM has Parkinson's Disease. Last summer, before we moved from Western Massachusetts to Northeast Ohio (Cleveland Rocks!), she was diagnosed with Parkinson's dementia.
If you can't remember how to spell dementia does that mean you have it? It just took me three times.
She broke her hip on Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Eve. Her surgery meant a lot of people didn't get the day off. She was in surgery for five hours and got a unit of blood, then two more the next day because her counts were low. Her whites were fluctuating but she was discharged after two days of no signs of infection. The doctor said no weight on the leg at all for 6-8 weeks, and we'll have a follow-up a couple/three weeks from now.
Now she's in the sub-acute ward of a local rehab center. It's called Menorah Park. Lex asked whether that was where menorahs go to play… in the park. They answer the phone, “Shalom, Menorah Park.”
Mom and us –me, my husband, our two young sons– have been on this journey before so I already knew to ask whether each resident has his/her own TV and phone. You can't assume that they will so I always ask, and they said yes, which is true, but the question I never thought to ask was, “am I going to have to do her laundry.” That's a small, hot load, run all by itself and dried on low-knits.
It's also kosher, which means that the only “outside” foods I can bring in are uncut fruits and vegetables: for those, they call in a Moyle.
I called a family care-plan meeting and everyone there –except me and the intern– started throwing around the words, “private pay.” I told them that MFM was a valuable member of our household but she'd only been there for four days so let's not even start to think about going there. Then the nurse manager said, “it's not us who decides, it's Medicare,” which is true, yes, but I know that particuarly sub-acute wards have some leeway in what they define as week-to-week progress (which is what Medicare needs to see in order to foot the bill).
Her spirits are good and she's working hard in therapy and I had her happily drinking a diet coke and eating Cheez-Its when I told the nursing station I was leaving. Forgot to grab her laundry (grrr…) but I'm taking Lex there today and then I think he and I will go for ice cream, junior-sized.
If you want someone to talk to about the ins and outs of insurance, my mom can definitely give you some tips after these years with my grandmother in the alzheimer's ward, with trips to the hospital occasionally for added excitement. I know she and my aunt have gone through the various rehab levels and discussions on things. But then, you have the web site care people to talk to as well, so maybe you've got that covered as usual. Glad she is doing ok, and hope the kosher food is also tasty. Does seem weird you have to do the laundry. Is that to do with kosherness too somehow? Love Katherine
God knows. Lex and I went back at 4:00 and she was a different person… not in a good way. I'm leaving here in a few minutes to help her eat dinner. I might be reaching out to AT, we'll see what next week brings.
Oh honey. Big hugs heading your way.