update on my MIL
Stephen had a meeting with the doctor's today to get an update on his mom, and there is some promising news -
She passed her swallowing test this week so they have removed the feeding tube and she is now on a soft foods diet. We're going to get her some babyfood goodies later today so she'll have some snacks in-between the meals the hospital feeds her.
She came off the vent while were in Montana, and they removed the trach last week so she is breathing exclusively on her own now, though of course they have the oxygen thingies up her nose (standard for any hospital visit where you have any trouble breathing)
She has developed pneumonia this week however, and still has no use of her arms (though she can move her hands and feel pain so it's not paralysis)
They finally announced it on the local news last week that there are two human cases of west nile in Birmingham, one female has already been released from the hospital and another female (Stephen's mom) who developed encephalitis who is still in the hospital. The encephalitis was news to us, but the doctors confirmed that she had had it today. She's recovering of course, but the swelling around the brain and spinal cord take quite a bit of time to recover from.
They also told us that she will probably be in a wheelchair for 6-12 months, but that's still better than what she claims she was told yesterday, that she may never walk again. She can move her legs just fine but she is obviously very weak, and not having use of her arms makes walking around darned near impossible.
Medicare has agreed to switch her over to the regular Medicare from their Humana HMO plan that she was on (better drug coverage with HMO but doesn't cover as much for this sort of care) and she is being put on some other Rx plan to make up the difference. Medicare is going to cover 100 days in a sub-acute nursing home where the Humana branch would only cover 20.
Keep those good vibes and such coming our way, the progress has been slow but it is good progress and soon she should be released from the hospital and will go to a sub-acute nursing home, and then after that a rehab facility. My biggest concern is that she keeps picking up all this other stuff while in this hospital, she's already gotten an antibiotic-resistant staph infection and now pneumonia.
She passed her swallowing test this week so they have removed the feeding tube and she is now on a soft foods diet. We're going to get her some babyfood goodies later today so she'll have some snacks in-between the meals the hospital feeds her.
She came off the vent while were in Montana, and they removed the trach last week so she is breathing exclusively on her own now, though of course they have the oxygen thingies up her nose (standard for any hospital visit where you have any trouble breathing)
She has developed pneumonia this week however, and still has no use of her arms (though she can move her hands and feel pain so it's not paralysis)
They finally announced it on the local news last week that there are two human cases of west nile in Birmingham, one female has already been released from the hospital and another female (Stephen's mom) who developed encephalitis who is still in the hospital. The encephalitis was news to us, but the doctors confirmed that she had had it today. She's recovering of course, but the swelling around the brain and spinal cord take quite a bit of time to recover from.
They also told us that she will probably be in a wheelchair for 6-12 months, but that's still better than what she claims she was told yesterday, that she may never walk again. She can move her legs just fine but she is obviously very weak, and not having use of her arms makes walking around darned near impossible.
Medicare has agreed to switch her over to the regular Medicare from their Humana HMO plan that she was on (better drug coverage with HMO but doesn't cover as much for this sort of care) and she is being put on some other Rx plan to make up the difference. Medicare is going to cover 100 days in a sub-acute nursing home where the Humana branch would only cover 20.
Keep those good vibes and such coming our way, the progress has been slow but it is good progress and soon she should be released from the hospital and will go to a sub-acute nursing home, and then after that a rehab facility. My biggest concern is that she keeps picking up all this other stuff while in this hospital, she's already gotten an antibiotic-resistant staph infection and now pneumonia.