Post Labor Day Update

I'm back from Labor Day. Not that you asked, but it was lovely. I spent 4 days with several good friends of mine who made me laugh (laugh really hard) and feel lighter than usual. For that I am thankful. I also came back with a nice glow from time in the sun. Nothing as fabulous as my mom's tan, but still...

Now, for mom. She's still kicking ass. Supposedly the "team" was to meet today and figure out a plan. We're not sure if that happened or not. My dad was planning to be a part of it and then of course conference Dee and I in since we can't not be involved, but he never heard from them. Kind of annoying and pretty disappointing because we all have lots of questions, but I'm not going to hate on the folks at RIC because as far as I can tell they're working magic on my mom. She's actually eating! All kinds of exciting things too. Muffin. Mashed potatoes. You know, all of the things she would secretly want to order off a menu, but would instead opt for a coffee or "rabbit food" (aka, salad). In fact, she ate enough yesterday that they didn't even have to supplement her nutrition with the feeding tube.

Other than that, dad says she's been working hard. Are any of us surprised? She's in some sort of therapy from 8am to 3pm with a small break. That's a full day for any of us, so you can imagine that she's pretty tired by the end of the day.

Lastly. As far as the three weeks, they've extended that date to September 21st. So another extra week...as of now. This whole thing is pretty confusing (and vague because it's insurance and doctors so are we surprised?). I'll try to explain, so bare with me. Apparently the way it works is that Blue Cross Blue Shield has to approve it by week, so every week they have to clear her to stay. And the way they determine if she "qualifies" to stay at RIC is by how much progress she is making. The more substantial progress she makes, the more likely they are to allow her to stay - essentially, the more RIC seems to help, the more they support the stay. I wish I knew anything more than that, but that's all I've got. When she does eventually leave RIC, she will either go to another place with constant nursing care OR go home and attend out patient therapy, but let's not cross that overwhelming bridge until we get to it, shall we?