Update on Mother

As most of you know, Mom was released from the Hospital last Thursday and went back into the Rehab facility she was in. They treated her real nice and I breathed a sigh of relief and had a little hope that things would be better.

Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday were all good days. Mom was treated well. She also got therapy on Friday, Saturday and Monday. She actually walked a little Monday using the walker. She was doing awesome! And, I was beginning to trust that Mom would be treated well again…

Today was a different story. Mom needed to be shifted and changed before lunch and they said “we’ll do it after lunch”. So, she ate with an aching back and couldn’t sit up much for it. She pressed the call button again just after 1:00 and someone came to pick up her food tray. They told her they’d tell someone. It was 1:39pm before someone actually came. And even then, they only changed her. They didn’t bother to shift her.

By the time the physical therapists arrived around 2pm, Mom was in a tizzy. She was hurting (in pain) and angry. As a result, she refused to do therapy. She wouldn’t listen to me. I had to text my brother and he ended up calling her. Mom finally agreed to do it. She was hurting so bad and was so shaky that all she could do was stand.

The unit manager came at the time Mother was doing physical therapy. I told the unit manager what was going down. She said that it was unacceptable. In the meantime, Mike called the center administrator and explained what I said (in text) went on.

The center administrator came to me a few hours later and asked what was going on. I told her exactly what went down and she also agreed that it was unacceptable. I also told her that I’m not trusting that she’s getting her drugs because her pain levels seems 3 times worst today.

She said that she had a meeting with all the unit managers and they all agreed that it was unacceptable and they all informed the current shift staff that this was no longer going to be happening. They will inform the day shift tomorrow. She also suggested that the weather may be making her pain worst.

The one thing that bothered me was that she said “We’re all human. We make mistakes. We’re all humans taking care of humans”. I thought to myself, “Yes, we’re all human. However, we should not be making mistakes -- especially in the administering of drugs. And, we should be treating patients with respect, with diginity, no matter what state they’re in.” But, I just nodded and agreed with her because I don’t like making waves.

(By the way, I'm not saying that they didn't administer her pain medications. I'm just saying that I doubt they did. They could have delivered it and it was just an extremely bad day due to the weather, not being treated right, etc., & etc.)

My fragile trust in this facility has been shattered. I just don't know. I only know that I most likely will be hyper vigilant once again because I don’t want Mother getting sick again. She was doing fabulously and now this. I just hope it was a very bad day for her concerning pain. I just don’t know.

I shouldn’t have to do this (fight for Mother). I’m scared that Mother just may not get back home – that she’s giving up. My heart is breaking. I can only hope that tomorrow will be a better day for her; and, for me.

I had a migraine while I was still with Mother and downed two Excedrins hoping it would go away. This was probably not safe considering I took one Excedrin about four hours earlier. But, it worked because I no longer have a migraine. I am going to bed right after I post this – earliest I’ve gone for a long, long time. Hopefully, I will get plenty of rest and/or sleep because I know I need it.