Most of you probably already know how the shunt surgery went, so I'll pick up from there. Yesterday at around 9:30 a.m., the hospital social worker called and said that the surgeons medically cleared Mom to be transferred out of the hospital. Needles to say, Bob and I were a little stunned. After all, she had just had the shunt surgery on Tuesday, and here it was, Wednesday morning and they wanted to ship her out. I immediately started making phone calls to the various people that we had been dealing with down there, and hit the road for Detroit with Bob once again.
When we arrived at the hospital, we saw Mom's nurse who said she would call all the pertinent people to let them know we had arrived, and that some one would come to see us soon. Shortly thereafter, people started to arrive. The nurse practitioner was first, followed by a doctor from RIM. The nurse practitioner did her best to satisfy our concerns about the transfer coming too soon, and the doctor from RIM evaluated Mom and told us that right now, Mom does not meet the criteria for admittance to their program. He did assure us, however, that if and when Mom does get to the point that she is no longer benefitting from sub-acute therapy, and we feel that she can meet their criteria, we can have a doctor come evaluate her again. At that point, if she's doing well enough to keep up with their regimen, they will most certainly take her. Unfortunately, there was not much Bob and I could do, and we came to the realization that even if we convinced them to let her stay, there was nothing else they would do for her right now. We were pretty angry and discouraged when we left.
Consequently, they have transferred Mom to West Hickory Haven, on Hickory Ridge Road in Milford. Although Bob and I both feel that the environment there is not the best, to say the least, at least she's close to home, and we can spend a lot more time with her. Also, there are some other benefits to her being there. Mary used to work there and is on excellent terms with most of the staff, her sister Mindy works there now, and the admissions director is the mother of one of Daniel's best friends. Also Bob spent a lot of time there with his mom. So the staff there knows of us and knows of Mom, and I have little doubt that she will be treated very well there.
We also met the program manager there today, and we are all on the same page when it comes to what we want for Mom. The bottom line is, we will give them some time to help Mom, and give Mom some time to improve, and then, God willing, when she gets to the point of being able to handle more specific and intensive rehab, we will move her wherever we need to go. In the meantime, she will be receiving therapy for at least an hour a day, more if she can handle it. They have a very good therapy program there, which includes physical, occupational and speech therapists, and the nursing staff all tell us that right now, they can help her. Once she becomes able to handle more than what they are willing to do, or if she is no longer benefitting from the therapy there, she's out the door again to a place that can hopefully take her further along.
On a side note, the hospital removed her trach tube before she left, and Mom is starting to eat solid foods on her own with some assistance. So even in the midst of turmoil, she's getting a little better every day.
