Hpacres440p
Well-known member
Some of y'all may remember that I spent Thanksgiving in the hospital with my mom. She has frontotemporal dementia and primary progressive aphasia (same as Bruce Willis), which we have been dealing with for about 10 years now. So she can't say much other than occasional single words or sounds, but we (family) can still figure it out.
3 days before thanksgiving she fell and had a pretty decent brain.bleed-lost function of her left arm, unresponsive, basically a stroke. Because of her dementia and brain atrophy, she had more room in the "eggshell" for things to expand, but we were given little hope for recovery. A)holiday week so no PT/OT started. B) old lady with dementia-write her off. My folks have been married 55 years-Dad was realistic but we still wanted to do whatever we could without invasive procedure to give her a chance. She was struggling to drink, much less eat, so we elected hospice for comfort measures.
Fast forward 3 weeks, as soon as we got her out of the hospital and into a LTC facility, she started to drink with a lot of help. Then started eating. We have fought battles for her every step, that she wasn't something to be left alone in a dark room. Staff wouldn't get her out of bed because "she's on hospice". Hospice wouldn't order any kind of therapy, even though it is for improving function and quality of life, dad, mom's sister or I have been at her bedside every day mornings to bedtime to make sure she gets fluids and eats, and to do home-style PT.
Yesterday she "graduated " from hospice, and is starting PT/OT! We had 4 days left to get her certified for insurance purposes as of Tuesday-we fought with admin, insurance, and two caregiving entities to get her certified by Friday. She didn't want to leave yet, so we're working to improve her time here on earth. She clearly told me Friday "God did it" yes He did Mom!
If you have family in a hospital, especially if they are elderly or can't talk, BE THERE! It makes all the difference.
3 days before thanksgiving she fell and had a pretty decent brain.bleed-lost function of her left arm, unresponsive, basically a stroke. Because of her dementia and brain atrophy, she had more room in the "eggshell" for things to expand, but we were given little hope for recovery. A)holiday week so no PT/OT started. B) old lady with dementia-write her off. My folks have been married 55 years-Dad was realistic but we still wanted to do whatever we could without invasive procedure to give her a chance. She was struggling to drink, much less eat, so we elected hospice for comfort measures.
Fast forward 3 weeks, as soon as we got her out of the hospital and into a LTC facility, she started to drink with a lot of help. Then started eating. We have fought battles for her every step, that she wasn't something to be left alone in a dark room. Staff wouldn't get her out of bed because "she's on hospice". Hospice wouldn't order any kind of therapy, even though it is for improving function and quality of life, dad, mom's sister or I have been at her bedside every day mornings to bedtime to make sure she gets fluids and eats, and to do home-style PT.
Yesterday she "graduated " from hospice, and is starting PT/OT! We had 4 days left to get her certified for insurance purposes as of Tuesday-we fought with admin, insurance, and two caregiving entities to get her certified by Friday. She didn't want to leave yet, so we're working to improve her time here on earth. She clearly told me Friday "God did it" yes He did Mom!
If you have family in a hospital, especially if they are elderly or can't talk, BE THERE! It makes all the difference.