It's Time for More

Hey family, friends and Shug fans -
We received word today from dad's doctor and therapists that they are almost sure that by tomorrow we will be able to admit dad into a Post- Acute Rehab facility where he can receive three skills of therapy (speech, occupational & physical) - 6 days a week. His insurance will cover 100 days - 100%. So, after much prayer and consideration, we have decided that if we are going to give dad the very best opportunity for rehabilitation, that we must get him into a more intense program like this... right now he only gets 3 days of physical therapy and 2 days each of speech and occupational therapy - now he will more than double his therapy days. Believe me when I say, this decision has not come without many tears and emotions. We have loved having our dad here at home - being able to just relax with him here - and take care of him. But if we don't take advantage of this opportunity - we would be robbing our dad of the care he needs, the kind we can not give him because we are not trained. This is not a permanent placement - it is only for the time period mentioned above and then we can bring him home again and resume the type of "in-home" therapy we are doing right now.

Please pray for us and for him during this transition. It has to happen fast though, because it has to occur within 30 days of his discharge from Acute Rehab, so that means, by Tuesday at midnight (tomorrow) if everything gets approved today. . . we will have dad at Heartland in Martinsburg, on the Post-Acute Rehab wing. We really hope that dad doesn't see this as a step backwards, but honestly, he was regressing with his therapy at home. Like I said before, we missed the 2 weeks when we came home over the holidays because home health was all on vacation or booked, then when we got started, we had too many interruptions with health issues and weather related situations.

We plan to share the news with dad in the morning. If he knows too soon, he may worry about the move and think about it all night long. We want him to have a peaceful 24 hours here before we take him there tomorrow. The hardest part will be getting him settled in with his meds schedule and being there overnight without mama and getting used to a whole new team of nurses & therapists who will be helping him get better. I know I am going to cry - I already have. . . I just so badly wanted him to be able to get better here at home. But I have to swallow my personal desire to have him here at our homeplace - because what's more important is that he gets better and we realize that at the current stage he is at in his rehabilitation, he needs so much MORE than what he's getting now.