Our dealings with Home Health Care have been interesting. After Momma became bedridden, I finally got her signed up with a service that comes to the house.
After calling her old PCP asking for some Physical Therapy to be ordered, they said she would have to be seen in the office within 30 days of PT’s visit. I had just explained to them she had been in bed for over 2 months and could not get out. “What part of bedridden are you not understanding?” I wanted to yell. People just don’t listen.
So off we were to get an agency/doctor that would come to the house. The first one did not take her insurance. She changed from straight Medicare to a Medicare Gap coverage in January. The second one took 2 or 3 days to figure out if they would take her insurance. Then we were good to go! A Nurse Practitioner comes every 4 to 5 weeks to check up on Momma and will also come whenever needed. They can do labs and even x-rays at home. Great news.
Physical Therapy came and went. A very optimistic woman came in with the objective of getting Mom out of bed and sliding her across a board to a wheelchair. “For what purpose?” I wanted to ask. She can’t stand or hold herself up, so going to the bathroom would be impossible. And I’m not sure about changing a diaper of someone in a wheelchair, but my degree in Engineering tells me that just MAY be a slight challenge! These people crack me up. Oh, I appreciate that no one wants to lay in bed all day, but after a year of pulling Mom from one room to the next (sometimes with 2 people) I am just more realistic about the day to day dealings of someone with Lewy Body Dementia with Parkinson’s.
Today we had our 3rd visit from the NP. Momma’s knees are really hurting her and she doesn’t do well with narcotics so I wanted to find out what he thought about pain relief. I now have a nice bottle of liquid Tylenol 3 with Codeine in the cupboard. I’ll keep it on reserve for when the combination of Aleve, Lidocaine pain patches and BioFreeze don’t quell her loud protests when we move her legs.
Stay tuned!
Lewy, Momma, and Me 