It's been in the vicinity of 100 out every day this week. The AC runs constantly, and I don't even want to know what my electric bill will be. We have it set at 78, which feels wonderful when coming from outside.
We picked up Mom from rehab on Thursday. The social worker said be there between 10 and 11. Fine, but the nurse wasn't ready with paperwork til almost 11, and we got there at 10.05. I wasn't thrilled with the rehab, which is part of the Kennedy system. First off, Mom's mattress was lower on one side, by over an inch, and she kept feeling like she'd roll off. We told the nurse on Saturday, and she said she'd call maint. Told an aide on Tuesday, who insisted no one would fix or replace it. Told a nurse on Tuesday, who said she'd call maint. Finally on Thursday I called the nurse mgr, who had it replaced that day.
There was a storm, and their satellite TV went out for an hour or so, and MSNBC, Mom's favorite channel, lost it's sound. Again, told everyone and their uncle. One nurse checked the other rooms, and they were fine. The TV was never fixed or replaced.
The food was consistently wrong. She'd order her meal, and it was always an adventure to see if she got anything resembling her order. Heather actually had to take her tea bags and sweet and low, because dietary managed to get her hot water, and most of the time forgot the tea bag.
She had so much trouble getting her tylenol before PT, that I actually left her some tylenol there. She had some good PT's, and she says some were downright nasty. OT was ridiculous- Mom crochets every day, and her issue was not her hands, so why did they have her playing with silly putty and tinkertoys? Rhetorical question- so they could bill medicare of course.
So how do you know when you've had enough rehab? When the insurance money won't pay any more, of course.
Hospice is another institution that's getting on my last nerve. Sam's hospice nurse is a very low key, kind person named Pam. Sam has to be "tapped" for ascites every day, and it requires a set up which included a liter suction bottle, tubing, and dressings. The bottles come in boxes of 10. From looking them up on amazon (what did we ever do before amazon?) we know the bottles cost $90 each, which is highway robbery. When Sam gets to less than 3 bottles, she gets very anxious. It's an easy fix, make sure her supply is kept up. It usually takes a phone call to Pam to get the bottles sent. Sam likes to be tapped at night, so she can sleep. I go down almost every night around 7 or 8 to assist her, and if I'm not available, the on call hospice nurse comes out (and of course bills her insurance).
This week Vitas sent someone new out with a new type of bottle. Instead of suction, it has a bulb that you squeeze once and then gravity takes over. I went down, looked at it, and there was no dressing to put on afterwards, so I called Vitas for directions. They sent out the on call nurse, Julie. Julie is kind of snarky, and funny, and Sam and Lou love her. She couldn't believe they sent out that kind of set up, first of all. She said it would take hours to drain Sam by gravity. And the connections didn't match. Again, it comes down to money- this setup is way cheaper than the suction bottles. Luckily Julie had a bottle in her car, and used that. So the cheaper set up got trashed, and they had to pay the on call nurse to come out, and they had to send another person out with more bottles the next day.
Yesterday Franny, Ralph and I went to Pennsville to the Riverview Inn, which is right on Delaware Bay. We met Carol and Kamee there, for the second annual lauau to benefit the Pennsville Library. It was two hours of music, appetitzers, and door prizes, and a chance to get together. We had a nice time, and contributed to the library.
So another rant- why on earth do library funds get cut? Anyone with half a brain wants kids to read- readers are smarter than non readers, and to be a success in almost anything you have to read. In addition to books, libraries allow computer access to people who can't afford a home computer, and librarians are the smartest and most helpful people in the world! A lot of libraries even lend ebooks electronically.
This has turned out to be a post of rants, but I'll get off my soapbox now. I have to do some fun things like put the laundry away and clean out the fridge. Then I'm going to sit down and finish my book- Obsidian Prey, by Jayne Castle. Another Harmony book. The dust bunny in this one is named Vincent.
Stay cool!
Holly
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