Family meeting and Christmas
Today’s family meeting mainly discussed Anita’s period at home over Christmas. The staff wanted her to be at home for a period of 2 weeks. They think it will do her good because she has been in hospital for such a long period. We voiced concern over her not having any physio over this period. The physio didn’t think it would affect her adversely although it was suggested that I carry out a predetermined programme with her. They think there will be lots of benefits such as increased motivation and an improvement in her psychological wellbeing. She will be home from 17th December. There will be carers from an agency in the morning and evenings, apart from Friday and Saturday evenings. It will give us the opportunity to test things at home.
We also talked about the recent prognosis that the doctor had given (she would see no functional improvements in her arm and leg). They gave me the impression that they agreed with me in that we would see improvements. I asked if she couldn’t have some kind of device for her leg that would mean she could walk but the physio thought not. A difficult problem at home will be that if she can’t walk then just how she is going to move around.
I also asked if it would do Anita any good to be in a different hospital. I have this feeling that there is always something more I can do for her that I am missing out on! Since her prognosis we wondered if the staff had given up. She was told this was not true and that she would not progress any better at another hospital. They see the approximate date for her discharge around March. Although we are desperate to move on from the hospital I remain to be convinced that she will continue her progress at the same rate with the services offered in the MK community. I will question the MK side of things much more to find out what they will do for her.