Monday, September 16, 2013

How it all began part three

Hendersonville Health and Rehabilitation, Flat Rock NC. SanStone Health and Rehabilitation, Dr. Larry Joe Russell, Dr. Harold Picus, Susan Habel RN., Lara Mooney LPN, Maud " Cookie" Romeo, Christopher Sprenger, Mike Deloach, Paul Shogren.
I left off describing the conditions and problems we had with Hendersonville Health and Rehabilitation. I will pick up where I left off.
The staff levels are so low, that if not for the family, Mom would have been in bad shape. We were there to help her with her meals,as the surgery had caused her eyesight to deteriorate. She was able to eat fine, she just couldn't see her food. The issues with call bells was ongoing.On one occasion, Mom had asked my brother to make sure she got a shower. She said she was starting to smell kind of ripe. My brother found one of the CNA's and asked for Mom to get a shower. The CNA promised to get Mom a shower, but she had six people in front of her. While visiting one morning, Mom's roommate informed me that Mom had left the room the night before. She was trying to get to the bathroom and as was the normal no one answered the call bell. The nurse on duty confirmed that Mom was going down the hallway, using her meal tray as a walker. At the time, Mom made a joke about it, and we just assumed that they were watching out for her.
On my visit the morning of October 30, the roommate told me that Mom had fallen the night before. As was usual, Mom made light of the fall. She said that it felt like someone had "filled her shoes with shit" and slid her across the floor. It didn't seem significant at the time, and Mom seemed to only suffer a cut on her arm.
After the fall, Hendersonville Health and Rehabilitation decided that Mom had reached her goals and was ready to go home. There was some confusion on her release date, but she was to be discharged on November 3, 2011.
On Halloween night , Mom insisted we get her candy to hand out to anyone who came trick or treating. All of the grand children visited, and Mom had her candy to give out. My son was talking about a haunted house that we had been to that week. Mom said that you should be in her room at night, you could hear people begging for help, moaning and screaming. She made a joke of it, and with only two more days to her discharge, the family didn't make a big deal of it.
Mom continued to get her strength back. I would visit in the afternoon, and the therapist would tell her to do ten, Mom would do 15. She really couldn't wait to get home. Her roommate was sent home, and a new roommate came in. Not much out of the ordinary happened in the next two days.
On Wednesday, November 2, my wife and son picked Mom up from Hendersonville Health and Rehabilitation. She wanted to go to the bank, and get her finances straightened out. Mom also wanted to go shopping, for a new pair of jeans to wear home the next morning.
The next morning, November 3, 2011, I had gotten up at 5:00 am as usual. I was having my coffee when my cellphone rang at 5:07. It was someone at Hendersonville Health and Rehabilitation. The voice on the other end of the phone told me that Mom was not breathing, and they were trying to resuscitate her. I was sure they had called the wrong number. My Mom was doing so well she was being discharged that very morning. I didn't know what to say. I got dressed and sped across town to Hendersonville Health and Rehabilitation. When I arrived, I had to ring the bell to get in. The nurse at the end of the hallway, told me that Mom had been taking to Pardee Hospital, and that she had never regained consciousness.As I pulled up to Pardee Hospital and I saw them bringing Mom in. I was told to wait in the lobby. As I sat there I called my wife and she and my son were on there way. Then they took me back to the "family" room and told me Mom had died. I sat there by myself, wondering how this was happening. Then I realized that I was the one who had to call my brother and sisters and tell them Mom was gone.
 That is the story of what happened to my Mother. The next post I will explain what happened in the following weeks. A series of lies and misinformation, all leading me places I never dreamed.
Patricia Ackerman Lytle February 2, 1935 - November 3, 2011.

No comments:

Post a Comment