Hi all. Well, my sweet mama fell on Thursday evening and broke her humerus in dominant arm. She also bruised her face as her head struck the wall. We are very fortunate there was no internal bleed as she is on Eloquis twice daily. Aside from breaking my heart to see her in pain I am really afraid she might not be able to come home again after this incident. She turned 94 on Monday and although I definitely feel overwhelmed being her live in and primary care giver but boy does the thought of mama not coming home make me incredibly sad. I feel awful when I leave her each day at the rehab. We have been in rehab before but with each incident my anxiety gets higher as she is getting older and more frail. I simply cannot afford to cut back my hours any more than I already have and am really worried as this is a major setback for her. Anyone had similar experience? How did things work out?
When my dad was 91, he fell at home in his independent living apartment and broke his hip (refusing to use a walker). After the hospital surgically repaired his hip, he was sent to rehab where he made no progress; Medicare stopped paying for his stay and they insisted he stay there permanently in their long term care (Skilled Nursing) section of the facility. I said no b/c mom was alive and they needed to stay together. So I found them both an Assisted Living facility to live in together, and with PT, dad started to make some progress. But he had a brain tumor (that was discovered during an MRI after the fall) and that wound up killing him 10 months later. His broken hip turned out to be a major setback indeed, but mostly b/c he had a brain tumor and never was able to walk again afterward.
What's important with your mom is that she can make the necessary progress in rehab TO come back home. If so, great. If not, then you can discuss alternatives, such as hiring in home help to be there with her when you aren't.
Wishing you and mom the best of luck and a full recovery for her.
I'm expecting it to be a disaster but I'll let you know.
Your mom may do much better considering it was just her arm, but will need significantly more help.