Just wondering if any of you wise people here can help me brainstorm. My mother is immobile in a wheelchair after a serious septic infection last November. She can ambulate with her feet but cannot even stand alone.
She thinks PT will help her. They do not. I have a call in to them to inquire what it would cost out of pocket for them to work with her more. They are not rushing to return my call even though I have clearly stated I understand this would be a cost we would pay for.
My mother has often had a lack of realism. I do feel though that I should try to help her until it may prove fruitless which is likely.
I realistically can only take this to a certain level as she is on private pay which is a little over 9,000 a month and the fund we are drawing from could run out depending on how long she lives.
While I want to give her a sense of hope I also have to factor her lifelong lack of reality. I have posted before that this has become my worst nightmare. She has been overweight for years. Oddly now she is losing some weight but not any large amount. I do not say "I told you so" even though I think that. Some previous calls to PT have gone unanswered but awhile back when I inquired about this they actually said not to waste the money. I will continue to pursue the cost issue. I guess I am wondering what my position would be if they flat out refuse regardless of my willingness to pay.
for auggestions.
maybe he can recommend some “exercises” that will help her where she is. Maybe something with balance and just overall better wellness. I know you don’t want her to lose hope but you want to be able to get some benefit if you pay for some sort of service. Good luck and wish you well.
We braced it against a wall and made sure her wheelchair was locked. After much effort she was finally able to pedal on her own. This is the most movement her legs have had in 7 months. I am hoping it will continue. It requires her to be in her socks as the shoes she needs don't fit in the pedals. I will just have to be sure she spends some time in her socks and gets help with shoes when she wants to pedal herself out of the room.
It was so gratifying to see her able to move her legs. We positioned the table for her food and phone near her and also had all this placed within access to the TV.
I am somewhat annoyed PT could not have cared enough to figure this out but such can be life in a NH. I just hope this routine can continue. As I mentioned it took us at least 10 minutes of moving her legs ourselves before she could do it on her own. Thanks again for that suggestion.
Please check to see if the footstraps are adjustable. I was on a recumbent bike at my gym the other day and realized that the pedal straps could be adjusted. If not, perhaps the company can provide a larger strap.
They're not continuing with her because they aren't interested in private-pay clients because they can't collect enough.
Whereas if it's insurance paying, especially Medicare or Medicaid, the sky's the limit on what they can charge for the service and insurance will pay it. Then they send a second bill to the patient for what insurance didn't "cover". This is why they don't want to deal with your mother who insurance isn't paying for. The same with a nursing home. They like to get the private cash-paying out of the way as fast as they can to make way for the real money - Medicaid.
When my father was in the nursing home on private pay the cost was ten thousand a month. For the first two months he was there Medicare and his secondary insurance was paying. The nursing home collected $80,000 which comes out to ten thousand a week.
If you want your mom to continue with PT, see if her doctor or maybe some other will order it. Once they find out insurance is paying, they will open mom back into PT with open arms.