Friday, November 02, 2007

Movin' Day

We talked with my mother's caseworker, who seemed to be looking to us to set direction. So, we did. We told her 'whatever gets her better, fastest, so that she is as close to where she was as she can be'. She said she'd get started on getting transfer authorization, for whenever the medical evaluation said she was ready to go. An hour later, we talked with the doc currently in charge of her case, who told us that the MRI showed some damage to the left temporal lobe, which is consistent with the problems my mother's having. I guess that's a 'so?' deal, but he seemed to think it significant. He said he thought she was ready to be transferred. So, they're going to set that up. Apparently, hospitals are for fixing; rehab, for therapy. Okay, cool.

The facility that she'll most likely move to is one where she's been before, so that's a good thing. She will receive the same kind of therapy there that she just started to get at the hospital, which is, of course, the goal. We're generally pleased, for an odd reason: the hospital is on the noisy side, and she's having a lot of trouble getting any sleep.

The only things we'll have to watch out for, we know from past experience, is that they're understaffed, so we need to be sure my mother's continuing to get attention as needed. And, they have a tendency to hang on to patients (nobody seemed able to say 'Ok to go' last time, until we pushed). They also have the occasional tendency to want to have patients continue outpatient care in facilities that, curiously enough, are owned by doctors on staff. That happened to her once before, when, while she was going to one outpatient facility, a doctor on staff arranged for her to attend his facility, too. Same kind of treatment -- but he profited from it. I put a stop to that.

So, some progress.

2 comments:

African Kelli said...

Three cheers for progress, and more importantly -- knowing what to watch for this time around. Your mom is lucky to have someone so diligent to helping her get healthy!

Cerulean Bill said...

We've found that hospitals tend to be more responsive if you keep on them. And from what I read, they're less likely to make errors, too.