The Waiting Game

Yesterday I mentioned how we were waiting for an opening at a geropsych facility.  Today, the social workers again started checking on a facility that could take Sheila as soon as she was ready to leave the hospital.  This is what they found out:

• The unit at the University of Utah Hospital still has no beds available.
• Salt Lake Behavioral Health says Sheila is too medically ill for them to accept, but might be able to take her when she is much better.

In the meanwhile, the social worker is looking at a long term acute care (LTAC) facility.  There is one, Promise Hospital, in Salt Lake City which is in part of Salt Lake Regional Hospital.  This facility would be used to treat Sheila medically until at a point she would be physically ready to go to a geropsych facility.  A LTAC facility is a step down from a hospital but able to treat patients that need more care than a regular long term care center, or nursing home can provide.

Sheila is still improving each day.  This was day 5 in the ICU.  She spent most of the day sleeping.  She would talk to us as we fed her her lunch and dinner.  She is receiving steroids to help with the inflammation in her lungs and to make it easier for her to breath.  Because of the steroids, they have to keep an eye on her blood sugar levels which requires a finger poke.  She is still on intravenous antibiotics to fight the infection.  Overall, it was a rather quiet and uneventful day.

One of the highlights of Sheila's day was that she got to talk to Holly on the phone.  She was so very excited to get a call from her "baby".  She gave a great big smile when we told her that Holly would be home and in to see her tomorrow evening.
 
Tomorrow we will try to explain why Sheila needs a geropsych facility.