And it was a foot doctor! Sorry to get your hopes up, but at least this appointment today was quick and easy and we were told that her feet are healthy. No neuropathy, no drop foot, her muscles are as sensitive as they should be, and the swelling is from the ascites. The freaky nails are likely fungus, and the doc clipped them for her. I made Mom laugh when I told the pediatrist that her feet scare children. :) It was like a mini pedicure, and Mom said all she needed now was to get her toenails buffed and she'd be set. It was a pretty good day today. I got her laughing quite a bit, and we went to the bank and a lovely lady at B of A walked her through her register and helped her make sense of it. She was so patient with Mom! It was awesome. But we did get the mail today, so Mom's pondering over the blood test results that came in and the doctors are charging us separately from the hospital, so we have bills that should have been covered by insurance. She's been babbling for almost an hour on the cell (as I type, she's on speaker phone babbling...she just needs someone to listen to her...she doesn't even really need me to respond, lol) about what she got in the mail and what the different things on the blood test results mean. She seems confused as to why she has so few pages of results when they drew so much blood. G-d bless her. "They took 11 tubes of blood and that's ALL they did with 11 tubes of blood?!?"
After speaking with the clinical psychiatrists, it looks like Mom needs "neuropsychological testing". The term "psych eval" is vague in the shrink biz, which is why the group kept telling me they don't do it. Now that I know what I'm asking for, I think I can manage to get it for her. We need to rule out psychosis so that her insurance will help us with her HE, and it'll also give us a better idea of what's going on and if it's psychological or "organic" (i.e. more mental or more medical) and knowing that will give us treatment options. Speaking to someone who was actually helpful from the insurance company was a breath of fresh air, and he said that she would be able to get cognitive rehabilitation. I'm trying not to get my hopes up, but that sounds better than chocolate to me.
Also, I'm putting in a bulk order for GO TEAM KATHY t-shirts. They're $16 +tax (and shipping if necessary, but that'll be just a few bucks, nothing fancy). Proceeds help pay for my mom's caregiver expenses. We're running low on funds, so even if you don't want a shirt, please pass this along! If you'd like a shirt, please email me [birdcage_99(at)yahoo(dot)come] the size you need so that I order enough of all sizes and your contact info. I take cash and paypal (paypal takes everything and you don't need a paypal account!). Thank you for any/all help!! <3 If I can get the order in on time, I'll have them ready by this Saturday's show. Big Frog is rather efficient.
We see the liver specialist Thursday. Let's all hope we get further with treatment and can figure out why she's stopped up lately. It's the holiday season, and things are moving slow with insurance, BUT we've got appointments for the liver specialist, urologist, neurologist, and tomorrow hopefully I can schedule some for a new therapist who works with elderly persons disorders and neuropsychological testing. It's all coming together. I really feel like things are coming to a head and we're moving in mud, but we're moving, and that's something to be very grateful for.
One more thing: if anyone knows where to get some refreezable ice cube things, please gimme a clue. Mom's driving me batty with wanting ice cold drinks *all the time*. The ice-maker broke, and even when it was working, she dumps a half-gallon of water down the drain as soon as it gets slightly below freezing. She already drinks out of an insulated thermos (I bought her 6 of them from In-N-Out one year for her birthday), and it's still not cold enough for her. I'm hoping having these frozen things and changing them out would kill less water and keep her as cool as her little heart wants.
No comments:
Post a Comment