The mystery weigh ins continue. I think they have decided that the 175 to 177 lb. range is as close as they can narrow it down to. The 203 lbs that I witnessed yesterday was marked out on the chart when I got there today. At any rate, I don't think he is losing or gaining massive amounts of weight in short periods of time.
Today was the prelude to the next chapter in Dad's recovery. The mid-week eval was done this morning and an evaluator from Health South Rehab Hospital came to see if Dad was ready for their facility. I was somewhat surprised that she said that Dad was ready to move. Dad quizzed her about what they could do for him and gave her the run down of his concerns. I expressed my misgivings about the lack of PT he has received at Regency and that going from 30 minutes of PT once a day to 3 hours a day at HS seemed a little extreme. She assured me that they would evaluate what Dad was capable of and gradually build on that baseline. We discussed the medical requirements and assistance levels that Dad continues to have and we were assured again that they were equipped to handle these needs. She said that she would take Dad's profile to their eval team and they would make the final decision as to whether Dad is ready. One of the Regency doctors came in and checked Dad over and spent some time trying to explain some of the inexplicable things that have occurred eg. weight. We got a lesson in drug interactions and dietary this and that. Unless the xray shows something abnormal, I assume they will release Dad when a bed comes open at HS and they approve Dad's eval.
I have some strong opinions about Regency which I am choosing not to express in this venue. From the cynical point of view I have developed concerning the medical business, I will say that I find the timing of this latest development highly coincidental, after all their own goal was to discharge Dad on February 20th. I can only hope for Mother and Dad's sake that the decisions being made are truly from a medical standpoint and not a business one.
I took a tour of Health South while Dad was still at WRMC and thought he would do well there. At that time he was a lot stronger but he had the blood infection, BOOP, and his sternum was still very fragile. I like the facility and the staff I met, so I am hopeful that Dad will be able to make long strides toward getting home in a relatively short period of time. My next mission will be to look at barriers at their house and see if I can make it a walker friendly place. Most of the challenges will probably be in the bathrooms.
Pray that this is the right time and the right place for Dad.
God is good.
No comments:
Post a Comment