Spoiler: I apologize in advance for the bitch fest rant that I am about to unleash. I normally don't complain or am angered to this magnitude. But when it comes to sheer incompetency at the risk of lives - I cannot help it.
First things first...as you know mom got discharged Friday afternoon from the hospital and into a transitional rehab care facility called Robbinsdale Rehabilitation & Care. Dr. A along with the hospital staff worked tirelessly to make sure the Robbinsdale Rehab would have all the direction they would need to facilitate care for my mom for the week or so she was going to be there. I was told that everything at the other end was good to go and that they were ready for us. So, we got discharged, loaded mom up and head to the rehab facility. I was so happy that mom was going to get the care she needed, and I was happy to have some of the stress alleviated off of me. But, things quickly took a sour turn.
We arrived at Robbinsdale Rehab around 6 PM and were told that once I arrived that their staff would assist me in getting mom from my car to a wheel chair as well as getting her oxygen hooked up right away. But instead, I was directed to track down a wheel chair and get her to the room all by myself. When I struggled to get everything together (being 6 and a half months pregnant didn't help!), I went back in and asked for assistance. They seemed annoyed that I was bothering them.
While getting mom from my car, they had to unhook her oxygen from her. Typically, when we've done this before, there's only like a minute time span when mom is completely off of her oxygen and they hook her right back up. But, the nurse said we'd hook her back up once inside. I said ok and told her that we must be quick in the transition since I didn't want her breathing to act up. I quickly went to park my car and hurried back to mom's room. Mom was there in her wheelchair just waiting. The nurse had just left her there and didn't even hook up her oxygen. I looked around and couldn't find anyone. We must've waited for 20 minutes until the nurse returned...holding a plate of food for mom. She told me she went to get dinner. I was livid but bit my tongue. I couldn't believe she was more concerned with bring my mom a few chicken nuggets and some mixed veggies THAN oxygen! I told her that we needed to get mom's oxygen hooked up right away...she looked at the tank and said that she didn't know how to operate it and she'd be back. She was gone for another 10 minutes...then finally came back and hooked mom up to one of their barrel-like oxygen tanks..which I could barely move due to the weight. And for sure mom wasn't going to be able to in her weakened state. I noticed that the cord was only a few feet long too and if mom were to have to get up, she couldn't without unhooking her oxygen. Lovely!
I attempted to get mom out of the wheel chair and into her bed. I noticed that there was just one flat pillow and asked the nurse if we could have a few more since mom has significant breathing issues and she needed the support to be propped up at night. Her response was, "One is all they get". I got mom as comfortable as I could but I could tell in her face that she was absolutely miserable....tears began to settle in her eyes. The nurse left the room and mom pretty much told me that this wasn't going to work out. I couldn't have agreed with her more. I told her that I'd contact Dr. A or his back-up first thing tomorrow. We agreed that she'd stick it out for the night at least and see how it went.
I hung out with mom awhile longer and at around 9 PM, the admissions counselor came in. I asked her when mom was going to have her nightly medications and TPN as they were already overdue by a couple hours. She said that they didn't have half of mom's prescriptions in stock. I told her that the hospital had called over to ensure they would be prepared and were told they had everything and were ready to care for mom. She told me she'd see what she could do but seemed annoyed at me.
About an hour or so later, I was starting to get tired. Mom insisted that I head home and get some rest. Reluctantly, I did, but I left with just a pit at the bottom of my stomach. As I drove home, I just cried. I could not believe that this was the best there was to help me care for my mom. I just felt so broken. I couldn't sleep at all that night.
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