Physical and Occupational Therapies are done. Medicare will not cover these anymore since they are not seeing the improvements they need to in order to keep paying.
Speech however, is giving Dolly another week. Yay! So very pleased!
So, Medicare will cover another week of Moms room and board and Speech therapy, and then it's kaput....for now. We are hoping that she will still make more progress. Progress enough for Medicare to pick her back up again in the very near future. But as of 8/7 or 8/10 we will start to pay ourselves.
Kathy and I had dinner with Mom tonight. Kathy went to Whole Foods and brought a smorgasbord of delicious food for us to share. Yummy! We had an excellent visit, we ate, talked, schmoozed and rolled around the facility. We even shared a blueberry pie... it was delish! Later, we went into the empty dining room where Kathy tackled the most massive matt in the back of moms hair while I did some simple math with her and the 'repeat after me' exercises. I believe she is getting better at these exercises. We also had talks about listening and comprehending and the fact that she has a problem with attention. I think she gets it, but then of course it fizzles away in the next minute. We are all taking baby steps here, even us as the teachers, she is mentally fragile and has a hard time remembering to focus on the context of the words and their meaning, instead of the actual words. We did some practice on that, too. I made her repeat something I said 30 seconds later, in her own words, and she passed! But, later, she couldn't remember what that was. It is still frustrating, to say the least, but I do see a light at the end of the tunnel. I still have hope.
We have hired a Geriatric Care Manager (GCM) to help us with Mom's needs and the execution of said needs. For now, she has no more therapy besides the Speech (ending in another week). The GCM will set up some outside therapies that Medicare will not pay for as of now. I feel wonderful making this decision to get the help that we are losing. They will also help with doctor's appointments, advocating for her, and anything that she needs or will need to get better. Ultimately, they will be her voice. One great thing about the GCM that we chose is the fact that she had worked in the very facility that Mom resides in for 7 years. She knows the staff, she knows the ins and outs of the facility, and she had some great chemistry with Mom.
We have the assessment scheduled for Tuesday, I will be there, and I hope it is lengthy and thorough. She needs this at this point, I can't think of a better way to spend money than for her care and wellbeing.
Saturday, August 1, 2009
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