Medicare made its decision, and sided with the hospital. She comes home tomorrow morning. She is still having delirious episodes that aren't consistent with HE, so I'm concerned that she won't be compliant with her meds.
I spoke with the doctor at length today. She basically said that Mom is headed to a skilled nursing facility, and very soon. She actually wanted me to put her in one now. She said that Mom can't manage her meds by herself, and since it's always a bad idea to have a family member manage them (i.e. Mom won't let me and we'll just end up fighting, cops being called, etc), and we can't afford to hire a third party for the amount of care that means, placing her would be the only option. She also said that Mom's on too much medication and mixes them in a way to cause CNS depression (central nervous system depression...low blood pressure, low oxygen, heart rate drops, etc). She said that part of Mom's delirium was caused by low sodium, that it's a common problem in liver failure because of the water pills, and will get worse over time.
I agree that Mom's overmedicated. The rest...I don't know. I don't know what to do, and it's far too much to think about right now and too large of a decision for just Mom and I to make. I cleaned up Mom's room, fixed the stuff she threw everywhere, and organized the house quite a bit. Moved furniture. I'll pick up Mom at ten so we'll be out of there by noon. I pray she's lucid enough and takes the antibiotics.
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