A Day of Waiting

Alice told me yesterday that the hospital bed would be delivered today at 1. I knew it would take a substantial amount of time to take down my mother’s existing bed, so Jonathan, my husband, and I thought we’d arrive at her house to begin the process at 12.

Of course, we were delayed and didn’t arrive until 1:15.

Jonathan dismantled the bed and had it tied to the top of our car by 3:30. No hospital bed arrived.

Jonathan left my mother’s house to bring the old bed home to store it. My mother, Maria ( a sub nurse) and I waited.

3:38-no hospital bed. The company closed their offices at 5. I called, got voice mail. I left a message for my rep. She didn’t call back. We heard from no one.

4:30-no hospital bed. No deliveries are allowed at my mother’s house after 6. I began to panic. I called again and spoke to Susan. The bed will arrive between 6 and 9, she informs me. 6 and 9? WHAT? That’s unacceptable! But, my mother has no other bed!

4:45-I left to get to my hair salon before 6:30, (long story). I stopped by the management office at my mother’s building. I informed them of the 6 to 9 window for delivery. This is a ‘big problem,’ Orlando says. I have no idea who he is, but he seems important. I plea. I explain that her bed has gone. We need this new bed. They made an ‘exception’ for my mother, because she’s such a ‘wonderful’ person.

We wait. We wait. We wait.

8:45-text from Alice, “Finally they are here!”

They set it up. The sheets don’t fit. Alice finds something bigger to spread over the mattress. The bed takes up more space than we anticipated. The men help Alice move more stuff out of the way. I should have been there-but I wasn’t. We should have been there.

My mother is sleepy. She gets in her new bed.

Alice calls me and we FaceTime-a first for both my mom and me!

The Hospital Bed

Today’s adventure, so far, has been to order a hospital bed for my mother’s home. Her bed is too low to the ground for her to get into safely, and there are no railings to keep her securely in the bed at night when she is apt to want to wander. Plus, there are times when she needs either her head or feet (or both) elevated.

To order a bed, I called the company that supplied my mother’s oxygen tank, New York Home Healthcare Equipment, because they have her insurance information on file. Happily, Alice had this information handy-I had no idea where the tank came from. My mother has Medicare and a wrap around policy to cover what Medicare will not cover. Thankfully, my mother set that up herself years ago.

The representative at the company told me that her doctor will have to call in the prescription and:

•    ask for a hospital bed
•    submit a diagnosis code
•            indicate a ‘lifetime’ need

Once they receive this information, the company will verify the secondary insurance coverage and then arrange to deliver the bed.

This is great and relatively simple. What is more challenging is the idea of dismantling and removing my mother’s king-sized bed which she has had for years and that my father made by hand himself. Add to that the fact that 1) I have no place to put this handmade bed, 2) we are supposed to be going on vacation this week, leaving Friday and 3) there is no way in hell that my mother will accept this new bed or allow us to remove her old bed.

I'll keep posting…