Mom says the first three days in the hospital was mostly pain. The next few days was getting started using the knee, after the initial trauma of the surgery was past, and that got a little better. But now, the real work begins...
Medicare requires a minimum of 3 hours per day of therapy for an in-patient facility and our rehab lives up to that. In the morning, a therapist sweeps mom up in a wheelchair for and hour of Physical Therapy. She practices working the new artificial knee and building up the muscles around it, then taking a few more steps each session with the walker.
After lunch, the activities are repeated. That schedule would be good for most people but at 86, mom is small and pretty frail in some ways.
And rehab isn’t helping her in all aspects of her care. She still has pain and nausea meds. When you add in all the workouts, she stays tired and, because she isn’t eating well, she isn’t as strong as I would like.
We had heard that this rehab had good food. Unfortunately, mom doesn't agree and she isn't eating much. She has never been a big eater, but I know what to cook for her to get her eating. At home, we both look through magazines and agree on new recipes to try. And she watches the food channel and will have me pull something up on the Internet if she thinks she would like to try it. I also mix in some of her favorite recipes (see the sidebar). I make sure she gets small snacks between meals and an evening snack. When she was real sick last summer, I made the evening snack an ice cream cone or a small sundae.
Last year she suffered a severe leg injury and was in the hospital nearly 4 weeks out of the first 6. She went down to 81 lbs and I was able to help her get back up to 107. She only lost a pound while she was in the hospital for 4 days but she's lost two more in the rehab. She is feeling weak and tired all the time. The pain medication and the nausea pills don't help at all, but she needs them.
I have an appointment on Monday with the rehab administrator to see what we need to do to remedy the situation. She is supposed to have two choices at each meal and a special diet if she needs it. If she won't eat what they serve, I will just have to bring her home, and either get some training in what exercises she needs, or have a home health agency sent a therapist. I have gone through this too many times to let her get so weak ends up back in the hospital.
I worry each time when she tells me "I don't think I will make it through this one." I just keep telling myself she has been very ill in the past and each time, she's gotten through it. We'll make it through this one, too.
To help her even more, I check with the facility yesterday. They do allow visits from small, well-behaved pets. Mom has a long-haired Chihuahua named Lucy. When the groomers open on Tuesday, she is going to get the works, bath, grooming, nails trimmed, etc. Then, I'm taking her to visit mom. That should help her morale for awhile anyway.
SUGGESTION: Add to your "What to look for in a Rehab" list. If your loved one is really into to TV, can't miss favorite shows, or is into sports, you might need to be concerned with what kind of TV the facility has. While the hospital had dozens of stations on cable, this rehab has just one large antennae and very poor reception of 5 local TV networks. Very Poor! Luckily, mom has her crocheting and her "Books for the Blind" on tape and her earphones, so she can keep occupied between therapy sessions.
Until next time, Take care of those you love...and yourself,
Kathy F
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