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I was able to visit my father last evening, and was pleased with what I
saw.  They switched him on Sunday from a total of 7 Sinimet 25/100 tabs
per day to 3 Sinimet 25/250, and the results are remarkable.  The
confusion has abated (I joked with him that he now has a bit of a
credibility problem), and he says he has not felt this good physically
since he entered the hospital four weeks ago.  At one point, he bent
over in his chair to put a slipper back on, and remarked about how good
it felt to be able to do that.

He is doing well in PT, but is not yet considered ambulatory.  He
requires assistance to get in and out of bed, and for the bathroom.
Based on his relatively good physical skills when he entered the
hospital and his renewed flexibility, I'm optimistic.

Now for the problem...the care manager (that's an oxymoron...) on his
case, is pushing us to seek a nursing home placement.  I think that
would be disasterous for both his mental health and countinued physical
improvement.  Her attitude is "he's now been on this unit for 7 days,
he's stable, he needs lots of assistance, where else can he go,  I only
go by what I see ..."  He's in the subacute unit now, which is less
expensive than a 'regular' hospital unit, but it is obvious that the
focus is on length of stay rather than quality of care and desired
outcome.

Fact is, he has only reached this new level in the last two days.
There's good reason to believe he'll continue to improve, and I'd like
his doc can continue to tweak the meds a bit.  If pushed, I'd add that
part of the reason he has been in the hospital for so long is because of
poor judgement and inadequate care during the early part of his stay.
We also lost total of 8 days due to the Christmas and New Year's
holidays, and he was on bed rest for a week due to blood clots that he
developed as he became immobile.

I'd appreciate any suggestions on how to handle this situation.

Mark Klapper