What's new
Fantasy Football - Footballguys Forums

This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Healthcare For Seniors Sucks! (1 Viewer)

northern exposure

Footballguy
Today is my Mom's 92nd birthday. Unfortunately she is spending it in hospital where she has been for the past two weeks.
She lives by herself in a seniors condo building. We visited her at the beginning of August and she was getting around fine with the aid of a walker. She said she would rather take it slow with the walker than fall and end up breaking a hip or something.

On August 8th she did end up falling and was unable to get back on her feet. One of her neighbors found her the next day and called an ambulance. At the hospital they looked her over and found nothing broken or fractured, so they sent her home the next day.
I called her and she sounded traumatized by her ordeal. She said she was sore and bruised, but on the mend.
On August 17th my brother tells me Mom is back in the hospital because when he visited her the previous day she was unable to get up from the couch. Mom was in a bed in the Emergency Department for 5-6 days before they found a bed for her in a ward.
She had a few visits from a physiotherapist last week, but they haven't seen much progress. Mom has been confined to her bed since she has been in hospital. I live 5.5 hours away from my Mom and my brother sucks at keeping me informed and being an advocate for Mom. So, my wife and I drove there last weekend. We visited with Mom and spoke to the Doctor.
The Doctor said they would have a physiotherapist treat Mom each day this week and if they see progress they will continue with that course of treatment. If they don't see progress, then we'll have to consider long term care for her and move her into a facility.
Honestly she's 92 and been confined to her bed for the past two weeks, I don't know how much improvement in leg strength they'll see.

tl;/dr I'm feeling badly for my Mom and what she's going through. I feel helpless.
 
Sorry, GB. I lost my mom when she was 71 and miss her every day. Sucks that the Healthcare she's receiving and the options available to her now are lackluster. As best you can, make up for it with superlative love, care, attentiveness and all-around "being there" for her as best you can. Which I know is hard given the distance but maybe make some plans to use vacation time or PTO to have extended stays nearby.

Hang in there, man.
 
Thoughts and prayers for your Mom and I mean it, NE. I just hope ours are both okay tmrw. Thats as much as we’ve got. I hate this aging crap. Argh.
 
Today is my Mom's 92nd birthday. Unfortunately she is spending it in hospital where she has been for the past two weeks.
She lives by herself in a seniors condo building. We visited her at the beginning of August and she was getting around fine with the aid of a walker. She said she would rather take it slow with the walker than fall and end up breaking a hip or something.

On August 8th she did end up falling and was unable to get back on her feet. One of her neighbors found her the next day and called an ambulance. At the hospital they looked her over and found nothing broken or fractured, so they sent her home the next day.
I called her and she sounded traumatized by her ordeal. She said she was sore and bruised, but on the mend.
On August 17th my brother tells me Mom is back in the hospital because when he visited her the previous day she was unable to get up from the couch. Mom was in a bed in the Emergency Department for 5-6 days before they found a bed for her in a ward.
She had a few visits from a physiotherapist last week, but they haven't seen much progress. Mom has been confined to her bed since she has been in hospital. I live 5.5 hours away from my Mom and my brother sucks at keeping me informed and being an advocate for Mom. So, my wife and I drove there last weekend. We visited with Mom and spoke to the Doctor.
The Doctor said they would have a physiotherapist treat Mom each day this week and if they see progress they will continue with that course of treatment. If they don't see progress, then we'll have to consider long term care for her and move her into a facility.
Honestly she's 92 and been confined to her bed for the past two weeks, I don't know how much improvement in leg strength they'll see.

tl;/dr I'm feeling badly for my Mom and what she's going through. I feel helpless.

I'm sorry GB. Hang in there. I'm glad she has you.
 
Sorry to hear. Hope your mom regains strength in her legs and gets mobile again.
You might want to start looking at longterm care options now so that if it's needed, hopefully not, you'll be prepared.
I wish you well.
 
Sorry to hear Northern Exposure.

Went through this last year with my partners dad. If someone isn't advocating and visiting a couple of times a days the medical community doesn't care. They'd leave food out of reach and him in wet diapers until we changed him. Excuse was always "not enough staff". That applied in the ER, hospital, and long term care. Mostly temp nurses that were just there for a check. It appeared the whole system was set up to speed him towards death.

Backstory - A functioning senior driving, paying bills, etc got lost. Police took him to ER, ER sent him to pyshc ward. In there if was a fall and pnuemonia. By the time we got him out he couldn't walk and was no longer functioning. Facility wouldn't even give us his keys so it took two days to get his dog out of his home. Long road from there ending up with a staph infection and then getting his neck hung in a railing on the bed in long term care. Partner walked in on him blue in color. It was quickly downhill from there.

Do anything you can to get her walking again asap.
 
That stinks. Hope she recovers.

We lost my mother-in-law to an incorrect diagnosis by the emergency room doctor. Won't go through the whole thing, but it bordered on malpractice by the doctor/hospital. She had nothing as serious as they determined, and it led to all kinds of incorrect medical procedures over 6 months and by the time they realized they had been wrong, it was too late because of the damage all their tests and tubes had done. Of course the hospital is protected from mistakes like that. So they made a fortune putting a 75 year through hell.

Also saw it with my grandmother in a nursing home. The care is horrible.

The key is to not be in the hospital. Once you go there at an advanced age, it gets ugly fast for a variety of reasons including all the disease that go around in that place. If possible move them into your home and get care brought in.

Hope you get her out of the hospital as soon as possible
 
Last edited:
This is one of those situations where I agree the care is horrible, but at the same time, I also think that nurses in nursing homes are heroes and am very, very thankful for the care my grandmother with dementia did get at the end of her days. Working in a nursing has to be one of the least appealing jobs I can think of after witnessing it first hand. And this was before COVID.

Hope your mom gets better soon.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top