Last update on Mom--she's home. [View All]

[Lyric]

What it comes down to is this: she doesn't have insurance and she's no longer "critical," so they sent her home.

The bypass surgery? They dropped the idea when they managed to stabilize her without it. Whether or not she has a heart attack next week doesn't seem to matter--they were only required to stabilize her by law. In fact, I doubt if they'd have even mentioned the surgery if the cardio docs had known ahead of time that she was uninsured.

So now there's nothing else we can do. She's at home, on blood thinners and oxygen. We have no idea what's next. She was told to "follow up" with her "regular doctor" in a week, but she doesn't HAVE a regular doctor, so that's out of the question.

She's been trying to get Medicaid for years, but they want her to register with job services, and she cannot work. She can barely stand without losing her breath, she lives in the middle of rural nowhere, she has no transportation, she certainly can't walk to work, and she's on constant oxygen--what job do they think she'll be able to do?? Also, registering with job services would undermine her fight to get SS Disability; they've denied her twice already, and she's working on her third appeal. Social Services want a statement from a regular doctor that she's no longer capable of working--well DUH, if she could AFFORD to see a regular doctor, she wouldn't need Medicaid!

I'm so upset I could scream. She has severe emphysema, severe coronary artery disease, and can barely get between the living room chair and the bathroom, but the government keeps screwing her around on Social Security and Medicaid. They won't even give her Food Stamps.

Well this is the last straw for me. She and I are going to get to the welfare office somehow this week, and we ARE going to get her on Medicaid. The cardio docs were kind enough to give her a note about what she can and cannot do for a while, and that should be good fucking enough for Social Services to prove that she cannot work. As soon as she has that Medical Card, she can get her current new crop of prescriptions filled--at the moment, she has only what they gave her to take home, about two days' worth, because she was "lucky" enough to be released on a Sunday. Grrr.

Dammit, situations like this are what our public assistance programs are SUPPOSED to be FOR. It infuriates me to no end that she's having such a hard time getting help.

Anyway--she's alive. I'm grateful for that much, at least. Thanks for the thoughts and prayers, and please excuse my rant. I'm still in shock that they sent her home so soon when she's in such bad condition.

:(