Rehab Reached!!

So I'm proud and quite thrilled to announce that my mom entered the Rehabilitation Institute of St. Louis today. Although we are quite sure that she will be there at least a month, this is a HUGE step towards recovery. She was given the green light to start the intensive rehab program this morning because she is a) aware, b) no longer on oxygen or having shortness of breath, and c) the kidneys are functioning better than pre-admittance levels... She starts her three hours of therapy tomorrow. She'll be doing speech/memory/swallow, physical and occupational therapy. That's about all I've got...

Mom Update... Sorry

Hey guys it's been a while, mostly because I went into crazy crisis mode and then we bounced back. Two days after leaving the ICU, I went to visit my mom and saw some things that I had hoped to never see. Think mental hospital unattended patient. When I spoke to the nurse about what was going on and how unresponsive she was (along with the smells...), the nurse just said... "she's not always like that?!?!" OMG!! I could have killed her... After some emergency calls to the Dr. etc she was moved back to ICU and we were told she was bleeding internally. That we might have to think of how far we would want to go with her to save her life. Namely if she needed another surgery, she might be a veggie... LUCKILY clotting factors stopped the bleeding. Sadly the 8 units of blood and the clotting factors she needed overloaded her kidneys and they shut down. We were not sure if they were going to restart. But they have and better than before she went into the hospital. She did have dialysis four times (three long ones and one short). They moved her out of the ICU late last week. She's getting physical therapy twice a day and seems to be regaining the movement on her left side. However, mentally, she's a bit... off. Moments of dementia and depression mark surprising lucid conversation. She remembers that I got her a Spice Girls card before the Surgery etc. but then talks about a bee flying from flower to flower and kicking and falling or something. It does seem to be getting better each and every day. We are talking with the docs about moving her to the Rehab Institute here in town so it looks like she will be evaluated for that later this week or early next week. And for those who are interested, my mom IS one of 40 million Americans without health insurance. When she was laid off in 93 we could not afford cobra and no private insurance company would cover her. (On a personal side note, I too am uninsurable--one abnormal pap and I have to wait for three normal paps and we are not talking outrageously high premiums, we are talking DENIAL letters). Disability was not an option because according to their rules she was not disabled. So now we have to deal with a private company HIRED by the hospital to find the money either thru Medicaid pay down or the NEW MO Health Pool for the uninsured like her. But pre-existing conditions may not be covered... SINGLE PAYER HEALTH CARE IS A NECESSITY IN THIS COUNTRY. Look it up... tell friends, family and your representatives!! Love you all