I wrote a diary about two weeks ago advocating for elder parents on healthcare issues.
In the ensuing weeks my 86 year old Dad had his gallbladder removed the old fashioned way. He had too many adhesions (scar tissue) in his abdomen for the surgeon to be able to do a laparoscopic cholecystectomy although that was our hope and prayer.
The surgeon is a wonderful woman full of compassion and understanding, as well as ability and talent. We did and do have total trust in her and thank our lucky stars she is caring for Dad.
The rest isn't so pretty.
I won't burnish the truth here, Dad is not a jolly or compliant patient. He would bargain with the devil to not eat the hospital food, not do physical therapy and just go home where my 88 year old Mom can feed and care for him. He was tossing nursing assistants out of his room as though they were dice in a casino. By and large these folks let his behavior roll off of them, they've seen and dealt with it all before.
Dad finally won the day and was released from the hospital this past Monday. We managed to get him into the house and awaited the home health nurse to assess him (we bargained for this because if he went to rehab where they thought he should go, he would die from... I'll get to that).
The home health nurse came, assessed, agreed he didn't need physical therapy, he was moving about just fine with his walker. All he needed was someone to assist my Mom with showering him.
The next day my Mom fielded numerous phone calls from another nurse, the Physical Therapist (who was not needed), the Occupational Therapist who came to their home to assess their bathroom for showering help, the nursing assistant who would come and help with the showering, and us.
We arrived at their home, bearing a shower chair we had from my husband's father's living with us until he died. The Occupational Therapist talked with me about this need and suggested where we could get a shower chair, the seemingly one thing Medicare will not pay for. I told her we had one and it sounded nicer and better than the one she was suggesting. Get this. This little plastic chair with little plastic arms and a plastic back cost $240. Two freaking hundred and forty bucks! Although home health sees this as a need this is one thing Medicare will not pay for. What is up with that? Elderly folks who need help bathing are supposed to stand there when they often cannot walk without help??? Medicare pays, or helps pay for a potty chair, a wheelchair, hell, you can get a motorized chair as advertised on teevee! But you gotta stand up in the tub, even if you can't, for bathing help.
Back to the why of our family not wanting Dad to go to Rehab. He was there once before, as was my father in law. If any out there have been to Rehab and survived, bless you. Dad had a pain patch on, as his broken hip had been repaired, and the nursing staff gave him oral pain meds, sleeping meds and wondered why he hallucinated. My father in law showed up at an appointment with his eye doctor with dried, thus obviously old, poop in his pants, discovered by my husband when he met his Dad for the appointment. Rehab, bleh. Stand firm for home health whenever you can, you can monitor what is done. You cannot be there 24/7 at Rehab.
So, the reason for this diary/rant? Advocate, advocate, advocate. It's a tough situation out there for any patient, particularly the elderly.
We already know our healthcare system is a broken mess, and the latest news is bleak. Please lets keep fighting and advocating until we have a system in place we can be proud of and know our loved ones will truly be cared for, not parceled out like old newspapers.
We are better than this, aren't we?