My mother-in-law injured her foot on Monday. It’s bad. REAL bad. The trauma doctor said it’s a life changing injury. Her internist said he’s never seen a case like this – that’s our Jo, she’s an original!
She’s still in the hospital now, awaiting a surgery that can’t happen until some of the swelling from the original trauma subsides. While we help her navigate through doctors and nurses and Medicare, oh my, I’m getting a good glimpse into the labyrinth that is U.S. health care. And into the secondary maze-within-a-maze that is family communication during this process. I already have many stories, but really they are hers to tell, not mine.
My head has kind of stopped spinning. She is stable, so I’m not worried about her immediate health. But her husband, three adult children, sister, and I all want to help: the resulting overlapping phone calls means information is flying about, sometimes outdated in five minutes as something else occurs or another factor pops up. I’ve already started a notebook of pretty much every interaction I have with doctors, administrators, transportation agencies etc.
How else should I keep calm and carry on?
PS. If you would like to add her in your prayers, her Hebrew name is Alexsandra bat Rivka v’Pincus
2 Comments
The notebook will be really, really helpful. Another suggestion is that there always should be someone with her when she speaks with her doctors, as it is sometimes hard for the patient to take in all the info and to remember all of the questions that someone wanted to ask. A refuah shleimah to her and a Shabbat shalom to all of you – xoxo
There is a website you can you to where you and all the rest of the family members can post updates, and you can give the web address to those people you want to be kept up to date. I’m sorry, but I can’t remember the site, but I bet if you google it, or perhaps stop in the hospital social service dept, there might be someone to help. It helped a great deal when I had a family member undergoing heart surgery out of our area. Good luck to your mother in law in the upcoming days and weeks of her surgery and recuperation.