Day Seventy

9:34 PM

WOW! What a day! I left the house early and stopped to eat breakfast in town. One of my dad's friends walked in ahead of me and we ended up eating breakfast together. As I was leaving the restaurant I received a phone call from the case manager provided by Don's insurance. She checks in after doctor visits and every few weeks. She was following up on the doctor's appointment from last week and to find out about the plan for going home. During our conversation she told me that she had been speaking with the discharge nurse from the insurance company. The discharge nurse had told the case manager that Don would be able to continue therapy but it would be at a cost to us. The nurse also stated that the center was out of network and that we would have to meet a deductible. By this time I had reached the center and when our phone conversation ended I headed into the building. Don was sitting in the lobby waiting on me with a smile. Before I had time to say hello the phone rang again and it was Dr. K's office following up on the request for out patient orders for PT and OT. She began telling me that Dr. K wouldn't write orders they way the rehab had requested. After pretty much reprimanding me for asking for the orders to be written in a specific way, I began to explain that Don would not be changing therapists or his plan of care but that we just needed the orders to say Out Patient instead of resident. She then repeated that to me asking if the orders could be written in that manner and I told her yes. After that conversation I made my way to the business office of the center. I spoke with the business manager and asked her to confirm what she had told me last week. She went back to her notes and told me once again that Don had met his deductible and his out of pocket expense. She also stated that there was no authorization needed nor limits to Don's therapy and that it would be covered 100%. We discussed all this last week and thought all we needed was the new out patient orders. I asked the business manager to please contact the insurance to just make sure. She called while we were waiting to leave we were told everything from we would have to pay 10% of all costs and that we needed authorization for therapy. While we were waiting for more clarification, Don informed me that he had a doctor's appointment at 3:30 with the Urologist and wanted me to take him rather than have the transport service to take him. At this point I am feeling so overwhelmed that I am almost wiped out. Don and the therapists that were going to the house to do the evaluation went to the car to get him situated. By about 10:45 we had everything clarified and the center was in network, we had met all the out of pocket expense including the deductible and therefore everything would be covered 100%. We headed for the house. Donnie Lee was home and I am thankful that he was. It was not at all what I had thought it would be to get Don out of the car and into the house. He used his walker to walk up the ramp and into the house. They had Don to go to his recliner and sit down to see how he would manage that. After resting awhile, the next event was to get into the wheelchair from his recliner and to go to the extra bedroom that we have set up for him. He was able to take the wheelchair down the hall and into the bedroom. It will be easier to use the walker as it is a very tight fit through the bedroom door. Kristi and I added risers to the bed on Sunday to make it higher. Next he had to get out of the wheelchair and onto the bed. He was able to do that fairly well. He rested again and then he was asked to go into the bathroom using his walker, to show how he could manage the facilities there. He could do that pretty good too! All of these things are done with great effort on Don's part. He has to have some help to be able to achieve some items. Don went back to the bed to rest again. he was then asked to get back into the wheelchair and to go to the kitchen to see how accessible the appliances, cooking utensils, food and dishes were. Everything was fine except the dishes. We will have to move the dishes to the counter on a daily basis so that Don can access them easily. He was asked to go to his recliner again and there we went over all they had observed. We were asked to move all rugs in the house so that they would not be potential hazards. They will order Don a shower chair to use in the shower stall. Those were the only modifications that we are aware of that we will have to make. The therapists left and asked that we have Don back tot he center before 5:00 if at all possible so that they would know that he had returned without incident. Don, Donnie Lee and I went to Fatz for lunch. That was an effort just getting him into the wheelchair and into the restaurant. Lunch was great! Donnie Lee got Don back into the car. We were too early for the doctor appointment but not enough time to do much else. Don didn't want to go back to the center or our house and have to get out and back into the car. It really wears him out! So we decided just to ride around. I got him to the appointment about 30 minutes early. Don wanted to use his walker and not his wheelchair. That was something! When they called him back to the exam room, the doctor had to come out and help him get up. When finally made it back to the exam room and had to wait a good bit. Don was very uncomfortable. We had forgotten to get his pain medicine to take with us during all the confusion this morning. The doctor finally came in and told Don that he was pretty sure that Don had passed a kidney stone without knowing it and that was the reason for the bleeding yesterday and since he is on blood thinners it was probably more noticeable. He also said that there was no bacteria or infection in the sample Don had given. Praise the Lord! Thanks for all the prayers! The doctor said not to worry unless there were additional episodes and he would see Don in about a month. Don walked back to the car and was absolutely give out when he sat down. I took him back to the center and it was about 4:30. He got out of the car and into his wheelchair and I pushed him back into the center. His OT came into the lobby while I was moving the car. She took him back to therapy and did e-stim and Bio-freeze on Don's arms because he was hurting so bad. We ate supper and sat up until about 8:00. I then put Don back to bed and changed his clothes for the night. Both the kids and I left shortly before 9:00.