Finishing off day 7

Well, as said before, today was the first day of pretty much just sleeping. She is heavily medicated now, but it appears to be helping her rest peacefully. We have also noticed an increase of a wet cough. Sometimes she is able to get something going and we have now asked for suction. Anyway....the big move happened! Now...it certainly did not happen as expected. When Laura and I left the hospital for a bit, our understanding was that she would stay at St. Mary's through the night and then be moved to the Charter House. We thought it was all set up. Well, at some point the idiots realized that her health insurance, because we are freaking out of network, doesn't cover hospice care, pretty much anywhere in Minnesota. So, real cool...sure we will pay for room and board and morphine and nurse care all out of pocket! Un-freakin believable. Not to mention my sister gets a phone call from a different social worker and then another social worker from some Heartland Hospice Care. That makes a total of 5 social workers that have come into our life and not one of them was able to accomplish anything. I mean seriously on what planet, when my mom is listed as terminal last Tuesday night, does a social worker not call her insurance. I would think that is the first step...but I don't know!

So...all that being said...my aunt Mary decided to join my aunt Marsha at the hospital to have some sister time. While here, my aunt Mary, in her aunt Mary way decided to thoroughly explain to the doctors the ridiculous care we have received in terms of final placement. She went through all the social worker troubles and the strain this has caused on us, making us have to make unnecessary decisions and phone calls. She also pointed out that my grandfather worked diligently for the Mayo Clinic and that his family deserved better then this! Well, way to go aunt Mary...my mom was moved down 3 floors and put in a beautiful room. Now we were told by social worker Michelle, in her sweetest most annoying voice, that, "Oh no we don't have any respite or hospice care in this hospital." Hmm...I am sitting in a room that looks a lot like a hospice room. On another day when the question was asked by other members of our group, doesn't St. Mary's have some kind of room, the answer was, "Oh yes, we have just one room and its on the 6th floor." Hmm...I am sitting in a room that is not on the 6th floor, but the 3rd floor. Guess nobody really knows this hospital very well. BUT anyway, here we sit in a big room, with a pull-out couch and a fridge. It is a perfect room and my mom will be able to stay in the hospital. She didn't even know that she moved. We did tell her that she was in a new room and she picked her head up to look. Marsha also explained how hard Mary worked to help keep her here and she seemed like she understood. So...there we go. Now what...she gets to end her life in the same hospital she began it.

Oh by the way, my aunt Mary's profession in life was social work. Obviously, not one, of our social workers knew how to do their job! Ok...let me take that back, one of the social workers did her very best to get us in the Charter House and was excellent in my grandma's care.

We took Frankie and Sandy around to look at Rochester. We looked at the Hayles residence, the house the Pingatore's lived in, the Hyland's house, the Plummer House, where my parents were married, Mayo High School, where my mom graduated from, Folwell Elementary, where the Hayles went to elementary school, Lincoln at Mann, where the Pingatore girls went to elementary school, the Mayo Clinic and many other sites around Rochester. It was nice to tour the city.

Matt and Chase boarded the airplane and are en route to Minnesota. They will land in the Twin Cities around 11:30 tonight. They will sleep at my dad's house and head down here tomorrow morning.

We will have to say bye to Frankie tomorrow...