One day at a time...

 

One thing we have learned as a family this week is that you never know what the day will hold. You set out with a plan, and sometimes your day entirely changes. 

Dad's day was changed not once, but twice this week as he woke up to calls that Mom had fallen out of the bed at Legend Oaks, and was sent to Baylor's emergency room. He would quickly cancel his tax client appointments, and go to the hospital to support mom. Thanks for your patience and support if you are one of dad's clients. He will get to everyone's taxes or extensions by next week, so just know you will be taken care of.

Tuesday and Wednesday night I spent the night with mom at Legend Oaks to try to keep her from falling at night. We think she wakes up, forgets her left side doesn't work, and falls out of the bed trying to get up. Heidi flew in from California late Wednesday night to help out as well. Thursday morning I went to school, and within 30 minutes of leaving, mom had fallen again and was sent back to the ER. This would now be the fourth fall at Legend Oaks. Luckily with all of these falls she still hasn't broken anything. She does have several bruises on her head, but the x-rays and CT scans didn't show any bleeding or damage.

Yesterday, Thursday, we advocated that Baylor ER not send mom back to Legend Oaks just to fall yet again (now for the fifth time). She was clearly failing their care if she now had fallen 4 times in 5 days of staying there. Dad pleaded his case with many doctors, social workers, hospital administrators, and insurance company representatives, and everyone agreed that this is not working. The prior authorization will likely go all the way up to the top, and require a peer-to-peer review. We are hoping to hear some response by end-of-day today. Baylor is allowing us to keep mom at the hospital until we hear from the insurance company. She was moved to room 620 in the patient towers at Baylor Waxahachie. This is where she was previously for 3 weeks after the stroke. 

As all of this was happening yesterday, mom's health took a new turn. In the afternoon she became more and more incoherent, and by the night time she was turning red, had high blood pressure, an elevated pulse, low oxygen, a fever, and a lot of itching. They are suspecting it is another infection, but have not pinpointed the exact cause yet. She has some inflammation of her rectum and her left arm (that has been swollen with ulcers) is becoming even worse. They think one of these may be the source of the infection. There is some concern her body may be having a sepsis response to the infection as well. Her blood pressure, which was always high, has now dropped pretty low. She is very tired and sleeps a lot as her body continues to fight this infection. 

We heard back from the insurance company this afternoon, and they denied the transfer request to Encompass since mom now has an infection and will need to remain in Baylor hospital's care. We can resubmit the prior authorization once mom gets past this infection, and is ready to be transferred to a rehabilitation center. 

We are taking one day at a time, and sometimes one moment at time as we look forward to the future and mom's recovery. Please continue to pray for mom.