August 27, 2008 Update

First mom had been doing great, the physical therapy department at the nursing facility was great. She had regained movement in her right arm and both feet. As of last Monday the 18^th the insurance company decided they were not going to cover the rehab any longer. The insurance company gave her 2 days to be out or they were no longer going to pay anything. The nursing facility asked them to give us at least 3 days since that is the standard for this type of situation. The insurance company agreed and gave us 3 days. That gave us Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday and she was discharged Friday the 22^nd. On Wednesday and Thursday the pastor at our church and another person from church helped me get the garage enclosed and turn it into a room for mom. We got a bed, lift, and wheelchair delivered on Friday afternoon and the ambulance brought her about 9:00p.m. that night. There was a lady from home health that came out Saturday and got her in the system. Now we have ran into other problems with the insurance, come to find out her insurance doesn’t cover non-emergency transportation so that means we can’t get her to a doctor. As of right now the only way she can be transported is by stretcher. There are some other sources but none come this far out of Memphis. Without her being seen by a doctor she can’t get any supplies or equipment ordered that she needs and can’t get any refills on her medicine. She has not received any physical therapy since she has been out, so her body is starting to regress and lose all she has gained. Physical therapy is one of the things the doctors have to order. All I can get from the insurance company is that they tell me to put her on Medicaid, put her in a hospice home and leave her to die. The leave her to die is not there exact words but it is the just of what they want to happen. I feel that they are doing this because she is costing them money and they don’t want to pay for anything. I have been told about the hospice route before and what will happen is they will take her off her chemo medicine (actually all her medicine) unless she gets a cold, they will never do physical therapy on her again to help her get better. Medicaid will then give her $40/ month for any expenses she may have or need also when she passes they will confiscate all her belongs and sell them to cover any medical expenses she had. Mom’s cancer is in remission and she is not terminal at this point and she has a long life ahead of her and I don’t feel that sticking her in a home to lay there until she dies is a route that needs to be taken at the moment. If they would/could do physical therapy on her legs and help her get strength back in them she would be able to get up and start living a normal life, because that is really the only thing holding her back right now. That is where we are right now. I’ll let you know how things are going as we progress.