Here We Go !

Now we're dealing with "the system" and it's not fun!!!!
February 1 st I had a meeting at rehab with the staff who deal with Mom. I was under the impression that she could stay there up to 100 days. WRONG ! They are discharging her on Monday. That gives me three work days to figure out what to do. I am to call a worker up there today to help with this. She was not there yesterday and today we are getting between 14 and 20 inches of snow so who knows about today.

Maplecrest in Madison was the only place which would take Mom because she kept getting out of her collar. That hasn't changed. Initially the surgeon had said the collar should stay on for 2 to 3 months. The longer the better. It's not even 1 month. After the surgeon saw the follow up x-rays where the screw and bone are against her spinal cord, I was under the impression that the collar had to stay to keep everything as still as possible- forever.

Elaine, a friend, suggested I call Spectrum Generations. That was a good call. She explained that Mom's discharge is MONEY driven rather than health driven. They can't do anything more to help her there and Mom can't help in her own recovery....so Medicare won't pay.
Now I have two days to learn how to do the collar (which they don't even do correctly), learn how to shower and shampoo her, learn about her soft diet and her meds.
I am very worried and scared about all of this.

Maybe some day my writing will help someone else, or at least let someone know that she's not alone in this wonderful system of ours.