Ben's Tuesday Update

Well last night after getting home from Kaiser around 7:00 PM, I had dinner, talked to a friend on the phone and then stayed up until midnight watching TV. I just could not go to sleep. I know I was upset about the disability papers and the lady and Kaiser in Panorama City not helping me. I turned the TV off and fell asleep in a few minutes and slept for about 4 hours then work up, but I dozed off and on after that. I had emailed Ben's and my primary Kaiser doctor last night and he said he would OK Ben's disability and told me to take the paperwork over to the Kaiser office here in Santa Clarita and find the Insurance office. I headed over there around 8:15 AM and found the Insurance office. There were 2 very nice ladies there. After I explained to them what was going on, they told me not to worry that they would help me. They were so helpful and understanding. So I felt much better about things when I left there. I came home and got some stuff together (like my lunch) and headed for Panorama City. There wasn't much traffic so I got there in about 30 minutes. They had some student nurses helping out today. They were a couple of young kids (a guy and a girl) and they were so nice. Didn't care much for about Ben's regular nurse Letty. I kept telling her he wanted ice chips and she said he could not have them, even though I told her the surgeon last night put it in his order that he could have them. I bugged here several times to check the order and she kept telling me she could not find any ice chips mentioned. Finally my friend Lynn came by to see Ben and went to the charge nurse and asked her to check the order. When she did, she found the OK for ice chips. She told Letty to get him some and Letty got mad. Anyway, when I first got there, the were dressing and sore on Ben's butt. They think he got it from lying too long in his own excrement at Henry Mayo and when I looked at it, it does appear to be from that. Ben could not talk today. He kept trying to, but nothing came out. They told me a therapist had come by and sat him on the edge of the bed, but did not get him up off the bed because he is so weak. They still have him restrained because he still keeps try to get out of the bed by himself. When he saw me, he kept mouthing "I want to go home". I feel so bad for him. The floor doctor came in to talk with us and to examine him. She is a young black woman named Dr. Freeman-Jordan. She was very nice. She said she had read his report from Henry Mayo but asked me to tell her the entire story because she feels she gets a better idea of it all from the family. She told me that Ben will probably not come straight home from the hospital, that he will probably have to go into a nursing home for rehab and therapy. They are going to have to teach him how to walk again and help him with his speech, plus re-teach him how to do his everyday things. He's not going to like that at all, but there is nothing that can be done about it. I checked and there is no charge for skilling nursing facilities for 60 days. they said he may need a "home" nurse now and then too. I got a call from the woman at Kaiser that I sent my grievance to about them sending him home all the time instead of finding out what was really wrong. She told me that he should NOT have to pay anymore co-payments for the rest of the year for the hospital, doctors, etc. because he has reached his yearly out-of-pocket maximum. This is strange because Member Services told me he would. The woman at the grievance office told me to see if I can make an appointment with the Financial Consultant at the hospital and they will go over all of the charges with me and let me know what we will have to pay. I'll have to try to do that tomorrow, so Lanny, if you are there, maybe you could help me with that. Would you believe that it got up to 89° here today? I left the hospital at 2:00 PM because I needed to come home and go do so grocery shopping to pick up a few items I'm running out of. I want to go for a walk, but I'm waiting for it to cool down a little. It is 4:38 PM and still 83°