July 15-21

The Barnstormers returned home on Tuesday for a three-day series with the High Point Rockers (the ALPB's newest franchise), they played a doubleheader on Tuesday followed by a pair of single games. The visitors from North Carolina took the first three games before the Stormers salvaged a win on Thursday night. I was there on Tuesday and Wednesday but not Thursday because there were other things happening that were simply more important. My mother was discharged from the hospital on Thursday morning, she was brought home because she had no other place to go. We had discussed sending her to a rehab/therapy facility which the hospital had already set up, when her insurance denied coverage she refused to go because it would have required paying out-of-pocket. I was present when the wheelchair van crew brought her home, it was obvious immediately that it was a horrible mistake. To call it an unmitigated disaster would be kind. They carried her into her bedroom on a stretcher and placed her on her bed, she was virtually immobile and could not get up either by herself or with help. The hospital had arranged for visiting health care, the nurse arrived about an hour later. Within a half hour she exercised her professional prerogative (the words she used) and called an ambulance to have my mother returned to the hospital. She said she could not in good conscience leave our house having witnessed the situation without doing something about it. After the ambulance left she told me in confidence that the minute she arrived and saw my mother the first thought she had was "why is this person not in the hospital". In the ER they said my mother was discharged because they had done all that could be done from a "medical" standpoint but the fact is she is in no physical shape to be at home with me as her lone caregiver. On Friday afternoon the case manager and I had the same discussion we'd had before, when the rehab facility was mentioned my mother shook her head "no" but I asked her what other legitimate choice there is. Right now she can be in one of three places: (1) the hospital but she can't be there forever, (2) at home but Thursday proved conclusively and in spades that she simply CANNOT BE at home right now or (3) a care facility where she can get proper therapy, rehab and nutrition. I should mention that the hospital asked me to come in on Wednesday to get some training on the tube feeding. I told them I'd seen it done and watched closely, they said that puts me ahead of the curve but they still wanted me to do one personally. It all went well, I did another one at home on Thursday before she went back out. When she's able to return home it shouldn't be an issue, it's relatively easy once you get used to it. On Sunday evening she was still in the hospital with the move to the rehab facility imminent. Through it all I still managed to have two lunch dates with Jenny, we did Friday morning instead of Wednesday (when I was in the hospital doing the tube training) and Sunday instead of Saturday (because we didn't want to go back-to-back). Take care, thanks for reading.