March 20, 2010

Yesterday Dad got a couple of spring-loaded arm braces to help stretch the contracting tendons in his left arm.  He has no movement whatsoever in that arm still, and complains of "pins and needles" feeling.

The lower-arm brace will very slowly stretch the wrist from a curled position to straight or slightly bent back.  He is supposed to wear that one 4-6 hours per day.

The upper-arm brace fits under his armpit, supports his elbow and goes to his forearm.  That one attempts to straighten the arm at the elbow and un-twist it.  That one can be worn overnight.  The problem with that time-schedule is that the "qualified" restorative aids are only there from 6:00 AM - 2:00 PM daily.  

I'm very concerned we're paying tons of money for these braces and the staff is not going to put them on at the appropriate times or intervals.  We shall see, but I am quite frustrated with the lack of organization of Orem Rehab...   The arm brace salesman suggested making a schedule and asking the aids to document when they removed or put on the braces.  That could allow us to come in at nights when he hasn't been wearing the brace during the day and we could put it on him and have them remove it in the morning.

The brace salesman seemed to think we could be getting more help from Medicare than we're getting, so that has got me re-researching the coverage provided by Medicare Plan B.  I read on their website that physical therapy is covered when ordered by a doctor.  So that is the avenue I'm going to be taking.  If that doesn't work out, we have decided to just pay for several sessions of physical therapy per week.  We have to get dad out of that room.  I think he's mentally and physically suffering from the lack of interaction with the therapists.