No Longer in ICU!

I've found myself away from the computer most of the week and in a constant state of motion... but the good word for the day is that my mother graduated from ICU to a regular room on Wednesday! She is no longer hooked up to all those monitors and is healing at a remarkable rate; the skin grafts on her legs from last week's surgery were a success (despite the few days she needed to recover)!

The nurses gave her a heavy dosage of pain and anti-anxiety medications to keep her calm during the move. When she woke up, she saw the TV mounted in front of her and heard the voice of her grandaughter in the room. She thought she had been smuggled out of the hospital and returned home in her bedroom!

Unfortunately we're not quite there yet...

She'll need another procedure to graft skin on her hands next Friday. The tips of her thumbs have exposed tissue but hopefully they have healed enough for a skin graft. If not, the surgeon will tuck her thumbs into her abdomen and "borrow" tissue to heal her thumbs.

On the down-side: The high & mighty insurance company has deemed her too healthy for her current cozy hospital room and want to transfer her to an LTAC (Long Term Acute Care) facility. However, this is an awkward time to transfer her - she has surgery scheduled next week, and because the LTAC facility doesn't have an Operation Room they would have to transfer her to and from and back again between both facilities. All that moving around is very exhausting for someone in my mother's state. We've plead over and over with the case manager but the insurance company (since they pay most of the bill) has the final say in regards to which facility they will and won't pay.

Any close friends or family who plan to visit Delia, please check with us before making your trip because we truly don't know when and where she'll be next. Feel free to call me if you have my number, or you can always email me at info@deliaking.com - Please understand that I am unable to share her information with anyone she does not know personally.

-Karen