Let me start by saying I'm dictating this into an iPad, so please forgive the inevitable grammar and word use issues.
Well, 10 days ago mom went down real hard. It was one of those phone calls that make you throw the suitcase in the car and drop everything. I think she'll be OK in the long run but it could also be a tipping point, she'll either go up or down from here. She took a fall in the kitchen and broke her upper arm very badly up by the ball of the shoulder and also cracked her pelvis. Had surgery the next day and replaced the ball half of the shoulder joint. I've been having all kinds of trouble in her town trying to find enough resources. I got her out of the hospital a couple of days ago and now she's in a group home, contracted physical therapy starts today, so I will see how it goes. Since she is not in a nursing home, that means that the 100 days of Medicare paid room and board does not apply. Everything is out of pocket, Ouch!
I believe that she can completely heal, 80 to 90% anyway. It's going to be a matter of compliance on her part and since she has been in the hospital for a week and now yet another unfamiliar setting her dementia is kicking in fully and she is completely spun out. I want to get her back into her own place as soon as possible so that she can start comprehending what's going on. I know that going forward, assuming I can get her back into her apartment, the amount of additional staff I will have for her will be going up on a permanent basis, she needs it.
For myself I really wish this had happened in the spring. There are three mountain passes between us and we're just starting snow season. The passes are frequently closed for a few days at a time all throughout the winter, they are nasty and remote. Oh well, when it's mom I will do whatever has to be done.
Of course since she had been doing so well for the last year and a half I finally decided to go ahead and do some big improvements on my house. So now there are a lot more scheduling issues to work around. But that's about me, and this is about her. She's a hell of a lot more important.
So I guess that's my update, things are going to get interesting…