November 30-December 4 (Acute PT at UVRMC)

Dad was moved Monday, November 30th, into the Acute Physical Therapy wing at UVRMC. He had at least one nurse in the room 24 hours a day to make sure that he did not try to get up and walk and injure himself, as well as to attend to his every need. His therapy there consisted of a rigorous schedule. Starting after breakfast, he'd have 2 hours of continuous therapy, including physical, speech, and occupational therapy. Then a break for lunch and another 2 hours of therapy after.

We brought in a picture of Dad and Mom sitting together in the sunshine and set it across from his bed. He said it felt like Mom was watching him and mentioned that Mom's sister, Gae, had told him that Mom is watching down on him from Heaven. I know Dad would love to have Mom there to tell him to work harder and get better and tell him not to tease the nurses too much.

Dad has had a lot of problems with bowel movements during his stays at all the hospitals, but it seems to be continually getting worse. All that lying still in bed is not good for his system. That is his most common complaint, now that his neck soreness has subsided. He also complains of pain in his rear and back (from lying on them too much), and pain in his right knee which needs a knee replacement and has been bothering him for years. The odd thing is that he also complains of pain in his left shoulder and left leg, which he still cannot move.

The physical therapist's largest challenge with Dad seems to be that his mid-line orientation is way off. When they sit him up (he is not capable of sitting himself up at all), he does not realize that he isn't sitting up straight and often, when he is sitting up straight, will over-correct and actually push himself over with his strong arm. His reading abilities are still good, but the problem comes in when he consistently neglects that he has a left side and will only read the right side of the printed words. He must be reminded each time he finishes a line of text to go all the way back to the left side and start from there on the next line. Dad has not regained any motion in the left side of his body. Both the leg and the arm have zero active movement, but the left leg will shrink away reflexively when pain is inflicted on his foot or toes.

Due to his lack of progress, Medicare has told the Acute PT at UVRMC that they are no longer able to keep Dad there as a patient. Due to the intensity of PT, number of nurses, and daily presence of a doctor, etc., the care there is extremely expensive (upwards of $2000 per day). So Medicare has mandated that he be moved to a less treatment-intensive facility, which is therefore less expensive. That came as quite a shock to us, as we had been informed earlier that they would keep Dad for a short term, but a term closer to 4-6 weeks is the estimate we had heard. The goal of the Acute PT unit was to get Dad ready to be able to come home with a family member, but his progress was not enough to allow that to be a possibility.

So we had to scramble a bit to decide where he should go next, but we decided to put him into the Orem Rehab and Nursing facility which is located just a mile or so from Janice's house and is very central for all of us, so it will be very easy for us to visit him every day.