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Pulmonary rehab post COVID infection
Post-COVID Recovery & COVID-19 | Last Active: Aug 24, 2021 | Replies (9)Comment receiving replies
You are correct. He is in a long term acute care hospital. We were hopeful he would qualify for inpatient rehabilitation but he will have to have lower oxygen requirements at least for local inpatient rehabilitation centers. We would consider bringing him home if that could be arranged safely. We don’t have anyone helping to coordinate care. He has a case manager but it seems we are stuck and feel we need to do something more to get him better
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What an difficult situation you and your husband are in! I think, if you have the strength and ability to do it, that bringing him home is not impossible. But, the 24/7 care that a trach & hi-flow O2, plus all the other disabilities introduced by his condition make care a Herculean task.
Let me give you an example - my nephew, age 67, was at home for post-surgical care & rehab after brain cancer surgery last year. His care team consisted of daughter (an RN), son & daughter-in-law, all healthy and in their 30's, with occasional help from others. After less than 2 months, they had to admit it was not sustainable and place him in an appropriate residential facility. He did not have a trach, so they were not limited to an LTACH, but it was still difficult to find care.
Here are a few things to consider:
What is his prognosis - in other words, with proper therapy, do the doctors believe the trach & high-flow O2 are temporary? What about mobility and cognitive ability after rehab?
Do you have long-term care insurance and/or Medicare to help with the huge costs?
What is the availability and cost of at-home therapy in your area, and who will cover it?
How many willing & able helpers will you have to assist you, including someone reliable overnight so you can get quality sleep to sustain the effort? As far as I know, it will be difficult to get anyone to cover 24/7 professional care in your home, so there will be many hours of help needed.
What is the availability of in-home care in your area? (My 70 yo friend and her sisters have had to take over as PCA's and RN for their disabled brother because there are no reliable agencies or employees in our metro area of 3 million, even if they were willing to supplement the workers' pay.)
If you cannot find suitable care in your immediate area, would it make sense to find a rehab facility in another city or state that would work?
Maybe you can get help from the case manager to find a care coordinator to work with you. This may be through a local council on disability or aging, or someone independent.
Here are some possible helps in your decision-making process
https://www.aarp.org/caregiving/home-care/info-2019/providing-homecare.html
I hope this gives you a few things to think about as you work through this very tough decision.
Sue