Post #8: The Bureaucratic Run-Around

Dear everyone,

What a nightmare yesterday was - caught up in the bureaucratic shuffleboard between rehab care and hospice. They wanted to toss Mother out of Premier Healthcare yesterday - without giving us the mandatory 48 hour notice. The reason is that since Anita is not eating and is not participating in therapy, her insurance company will no longer pay for her being there as a rehab patient. But they are supposed to give you a 48-hour "eviction" notice first. Then John made the decision to put her into hospice care. So they got the conversion-to-hospice process going only to run into snafus.

First they said that Anita could stay at the same facility she's currently at (Premier Healthcare) for 5 days under the respite stay provisions of hospice care after which she would be brought home. That would give John and me time to get the house ready. So yesterday John went back home around 3:30pm or so and I stayed on with Mom. About 6pm I get a call from the hospice gal (from Family Hospice Care) saying there has been a mix-up. Mom's insurance company contracts with the Premier Healthcare facility for a set number of hospice beds and they are full to capacity! So Mom has to move to another facility that evening!!!!!

Luckily the hospice gal thought of an alternate plan: technically don't put Mom officially into hospice status, keep her in her current status, and wait for the facility to issue a new 48-hour eviction notice. So that maneuver bought us at least a couple days lead time to find her another good facility and hopefully one closer to John's house.

What a bunch of bull, not to mention emotional ping-pong. This morning John and I have been on the phone talking with not only Family Hospice Care but also another hospice group called Odyssey Hospice which has a facility in Palm Desert. So now I am waiting to hear back from the Family Hospice admissions director as to whether they have secured Mom a spot in our facility of choice, which is Manor Care here in Palm Desert. As it happens, Odyssey Hospice has it's own separate wing in back of the Manor Care facility. So . . . if Family Hospice screws this one up, we will switch to Odyssey. But what a pain in the backside.

As for Mama, she is still refusing to eat and is sipping minimal amounts of water. Her eyes are getting more sunken and her face more gaunt inasumch as she hasn't eaten since March 5th. She is still aware and responds to questions, but she is gradually getting more listless. Yesterday I brushed her hair with a dry shampoo (as I do everyday), gave her a manicure, dabbed on some perfume and rubbed on some hand & body lotion. The TV was off when I got there. I asked her if she wanted to watch some more and she indicated she wasn't interested. I tried to get her to respond again by pointing to the "yes" and "no" magnetic letters, specifically to the question of "Do you want to go home? She seemed to indicate "yes" but later when I asked her had I understood her correctly, she seemed to indicate "no." So it is still impossible to determine what she is really thinking.

News Flash: Just got a phone call from the Family Hospice people. They have found a spot for her at Manor Care here in Palm Desert and will be moving her there this afernoon, probably around 1pm or 2pm. I will keep you posted on the move.

Melissa