Once again, my Mother is in the hospital. This time, it was a scheduled procedure. A bypass in her left leg to help increase blood flow and thus aid in the healing of the pyoderma gangrenosum wound. Prior to the procedure, her doctor informed us she would need a one or two day stay in the hospital for recovery. But, he wanted her up and active and back home as soon as possible. That's what we were expecting. What is happening at this moment is completely different.
We just received a call from the attending physician (an associate of the doctor she sees in office, but one we've never seen before). Right away, the doctor went into how some patients need to go into a "rehab facility" before going home. I could hear my Mother in the background and the doctor harshly responding, "I know you don't want to go". At that point, I began to feel numb and breathless. I asked the doctor if he wouldn't mind speaking with my husband and rushed the phone upstairs to Dave. Then, I literally collapsed in the nearest chair from sharp spasms in my back (panic/anxiety attack?). I could tell Dave was getting the run around from the doctor. The doctor told him to speak with the nurses about discharge orders as it was out of his control. But earlier this morning when Dave was visiting my Mom, the nurses told him it was the doctor's call. The doctor then went into some nonsense about Obama and Obamacare. Which led Dave to inquire if we should contact the White House about my Mother's discharge! After Dave hung up the phone, we were both in shock. Trying to process the information and taken aback by the doctor's behavior and manner. Apparently the doctor told Dave he didn't care one way or the other if my Mother ever came home! My husband's stepfather is a physician in private practice. His mother is a former nurse and currently works in the IT department of a hospital. In his time growing up around doctors, nurses and others in the medical field, my husband has never encountered a medical professional that spoke of a patient or to a patient's family in this manner. Dave left for the hospital shortly after his call with the doctor. My sister called me right after Dave left because she had received a call from my Mom. Momma told her the doctor left the room in a huff and threw the phone down on the bed.
Sigh...I don't understand why these people seem so intent on pushing my Mother into a nursing home! Never mind the fact my mother walked into the hospital last week for the procedure under her own strength! She was also up and walking the day after. Physical therapy was supposed to visit in her room yesterday and today, but never came. Still, my Mother has been up and walked around her bed to the bedside commode and to the recliner in her room. Understandably the nurses don't want her attempting to walk too much on her own due to risk of fall. When the doctor came in today, she just happened to be in bed. My Momma told my sister he didn't even check her stitches from the procedure. Just looked at her in bed and declared she should be sent to a "rehab facility"!
I just don't understand....It's not as if this is some elderly woman that lives alone with no assistance from family. It's not as if my Mother doesn't already have in-home physical therapy. Just last week, she was walking around the house, doing laundry and cleaning up in the kitchen. It's probably the best she's been in awhile. Now, again they are pushing for a nursing home!
UPDATE (5/20): Momma is coming home! I spoke with her hospital case manager this morning, and she's being discharged later today. The case manager was so much more pleasant than the doctor yesterday. And, there was no talk of sending her to an inpatient rehab facility. They are just going to order her to continue with the at-home physical therapy already in place.
Mary Ellen
