Joe is in a regular room and making excellent progress. He is eating and will graduate from purees to more normal foods tomorrow. He is talking and they have him up and walking a little. He has an occupational therapist and speech therapist (who is mainly there to monitor hs swallowing issues, she's a real doll of a gal).
His heart is good. His headache is gone which means to me that the brain swelling has subsided.
The care on the regular floor has been very good.
I had a meeting with the ICU manager and a couple of others today and we went over all the issues. It was a good meeting and I hope, constructive for them.
The continuing care is still problematic. Joe needs a dialysis slot and a rehab slot, and no one here offers both under one roof. So the discharge planner is having a very difficult time trying to get it coordinated. There are waiting lists for each of those things.
The only facility which offered both was the far away facility. I have enlisted the help of Joe's Internist and he did help some. I also presented the discharge planner with the inspection summary of Green Manor Nursing Home in the Catskills. I was appalled. There were numeous violations, some of them egregious, things like not doing background checks on personnel, not giving proper meds, not giving ordered care at a professional level, theft of personal property, patient abuse and mistreatment, patient's worsening conditions, depression, failure to properly care for residents needing special services, including: injections, colostomy, ureostomy, ileostomy, tracheostomy care, tracheal suctioning, respiratory care, foot care, and prostheses. etc. It read like your worst fears about a nursing home. There were 24 violations, many of them at level four which is the most harm to patients.
It is an absolutely HORRIBLE place.
He will NEVER go there.
So we are waiting for a final plan, and I am standing very, very firm.
The most important thing is that he is getting better.
