One Journey After Diabetic Coma

(Tricia) Linda's assigned hospice nurse called me last week to let me know that they had reviewed Linda's status, and determined that insurance would no longer pay for hospice care. Yesterday was her official discharge date. Now, it seems, we're on our own. I have been trying to get a new care plan in place as quickly as possible. I have asked her primary care physician to submit orders to the medical equipment company, which will in turn submit a request for insurance coverage to Anthem. Linda's plan should cover 80% of whatever equipment is approved. The doctor told me that the bed, wheelchair, oxygen concentrator, and Hoyer lift should be approved, but the Broda chair (which we have not used in a while anyway), bedside table, and low-air-loss mattress for pressure ulcers will not be. In its typical backwards-thinking fashion, insurance will not pay for equipment to prevent pressure ulcers. Only to treat them once they've reached Stage III or Stage IV.  It's a...

(Tricia) We have certainly had an "up-and-down" week. About a week and a half ago, Linda began getting very lethargic and unresponsive, and her temperature began to rise. Our caregiver recognized that these were likely the signs of a urinary tract infection, which can be deadly in the elderly if not caught early. But we called the hospice agency and they had an antibiotic sent right over. It was a third one on top of the two she is already taking, but it was only for a seven-day course. Had that antibiotic not worked, they would have needed to take a culture to identify what antibiotic would be most effective, given the bacteria involved. Luckily, Linda started to come around by the time she had taken her second dose. She just ended the course of that antibiotic Friday night, and she has grown more lucid and energetic since then. From now on, it's having her drink water, water, and more water! That's the main way to prevent another UTI in the future. She has received ...

(Tricia) The physical therapist is now coming to work with Linda twice a week--after four sessions, Linda has gotten slightly better at sitting up on the side of the bed (propped up with pillows and holding onto the bed rail), but she still gets tired quickly. The PT tells us that Linda has to be able to hold herself up on the side of the bed for at least 10 minutes, without support, before she will clear her for a walker to use to start helping her stand again. During one session, Linda was in her wheelchair, so the PT ran Linda through some leg exercises: Linda hates having her picture taken! But in this shot, the light from the window obscures her face, so I thought I could get away with sharing. :-)      Unfortunately, Linda's muscles are incredibly weak from being unused for so long, and the antibiotics she's taking could be exacerbating that effect. That said, Linda is making some progress, albeit very slowly. The PT has instructed us to get her sitting up on the...

 (Marilyn) Sorry I've been out of touch.  I've gone over to Tricia's every few days to visit with Linda and see that Tricia and Ed and the nurses have been working miracles.  If only Linda's brain could kick in a bit more.  I hope it will. I'm in physical therapy myself for the Parkinson's.  The therapist comes Mon-Wed-Fri.  And I'm also working on getting my basement back to order after the big rain event that St. Charles had a month or so ago.  I was lucky since I only got about an inch of water.  I had the carpet removed and now I'm getting someone to paint the basement. Then new flooring.  I'm having a very difficult time getting motivated.   The Parkinson's is affecting my hands making typing a little harder than usual.  That''s really tough since I've always been a topnotch typist and I hate to see skills slipping away.  Compared to Linda, though, I feel very lucky. Hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend!