Penny has had dementia for a few years now. Sadly, as the disease progressed, it was very difficult to watch, and by the time her family found out, it was too late, and she had not planned for the cost of medical care. Medicare does not cover much. We have had a difficult time assisting her with the care she needs, but for the past three-plus years, we strived to make sure she had a good quality of life and was thriving as best as she could, which we were successful in accomplishing.
Now, here is where the story gets grim. Penny, having had genetic hypertension and the diagnosis of vascular dementia, developed a bleed in her brain caused by this hypertension, even though her last doctor visit a few weeks prior was good, and her medications seemingly had been working to control the condition. She suffered this bleed on August 17th and was admitted to the hospital. The neurosurgeon stated she was to be observed to see how her body would heal this bleed; no surgery would be performed. Fine. We were hopeful she would heal in the hospital under their mindful watch and get back to her baseline and quality of life with us.
Well, this turned into a nightmare quickly with the politics of healthcare, and Penny being the victim of this, a pawn in the middle, shall we compare it to. The hospital, after a few days, was already wanting to discharge her, stating her condition was not acute and she was ready for a skilled nursing setting. Say what? We appealed the discharge, knowing common sense that this was not a safe thing to do so soon while she was just beginning to heal, and things were looking up in our opinion. At least they must have been since the hospital was so eager to get her out of their facility and into the “rehab,” as they called it. We lost our appeal, sadly, and Penny was transported to a five-star skilled nursing facility, one of the few that would accept her feeding tube.
The cost of care was going to be something we had no clue how we would pay for, but we were trying in the meantime to keep her safe and make sure she had the best care with an optimal opportunity for recovery, as the first three months are a crucial time to attempt this goal. Medicare only covers the first 20 days at 100%, and she was going to need a much longer period, and perhaps even long-term care. We have to wait and see how her body heals at this point. Fine, we lost the appeal. We felt very upset, defeated, and passionate about our cause and helping her. They gave us until the next day after notifying us at 3 pm on the 24th; we had until the next day, her birthday in fact, the 25th at noon. She was transported to skilled nursing, and we were going to have to just about bankrupt ourselves to figure out how to come up with the additional 80 days that Medicare allowed in this SNF. They pay 80%, and we pay 20% until she reaches the maximum allowable days, 100 calendar days. How outrageous! Fine, we would worry about that later after she got settled, we told ourselves.
She is the widow of a career marine, so we felt we might try to get assistance from the VA for some form of long-term care facility, to which after we applied, we were told those benefits, unfortunately, were cut for spouses because veterans needed the care first and budget constraints. We agreed. Next…
So then she was transferred to this SNF on the 25th in the afternoon, and the very next day, within 24 hours, we received a call from them. Someone walked by her room heard a thump and found her on the floor! Nobody seemed to know what happened, and what kind of injuries she sustained, so they were calling 911. WOW! We are blown away. No words can describe to you all how we feel at this point. What this poor woman has been through, how this type of care is unacceptable to us, how we are bankrupting ourselves to pay for this care and only until December 1st?
So now she is admitted back to the very same hospital that we told them was not safe to discharge her, and she is now admitted once again. New conditions are developing: swelling of her brain, malnourishment, low blood pressure, and lethargy. It is appalling to us. The hospital then wanted to discharge her after, again, a 24-hour admission back to the same SNF. Is anyone else finding this appalling or repulsive? We talked to a new doctor in charge of her, and he agreed to change up a few things and give her a few more days before discharge. Meanwhile, we are receiving calls from their case management and social workers asking us to choose a nursing home. The next available two choices are a one-star and two-star, or she can go back to the same one she had this mysterious fall at; the five-star one will accept her back.
We are making this plea to all of you to help her with any donation you can so that we can find a long-term care placement for her after December 1st and be able to pay the SNF what we owe until then. We are out of options; it is disheartening. We hope she will recover, but this will take weeks to see if the bleed will clear, then rehab. It will be a long process, especially for a woman already afflicted with dementia. We need help; she needs help. Please consider helping us to give her the best care possible.
We wonder what other elderly people with health issues do in situations like this without advocates like ourselves who have all of these financial roadblocks to proper care when they have just straight Medicare. What do people do? How are Americans satisfied with this type of abandonment? Most people work their entire lives and sadly live paycheck to paycheck, and when they retire and count on Medicare, how is this taking care of our elderly? Thank you for considering our campaign. Please send her healing vibes at the very least. Thank you for your time.