Hi
My MIL is in stage 6. In mid Dec. she fell and broke both arms while in assisted living. On March 5th after almost 2 months of rehab; she was released to a new assisted living facility as the old place would not allow her to return. I think she should of gone to a nursing home. As of yesterday;17 days after she was admitted to the new place ...she fell and broke her hip. AShe had surgery last night and now will have another 2 months of rehab. Has anyone experienced surgery with someone in stage 6? I heard that the effects of the anesthesia really take a long time to reside. I think this time she will definetly have to go to a skilled full time facility after rehab. Any ideas or thoughts on how her outcome will be?

My mother fell and broke her hip when she was in late Stage 5. She never recovered enough to go home.

They said Medicare would pay for 90 days of physical therapy. But after less than 2 months the PT sent in a report saying Mom ''was not meeting her goals." So Medicare withdrew their support. She was unable to cooperate by practicing the given exercises several times a day. She cooperated while she was with the PT, but then forgot about it; indeed, she refused to stand, try to walk, etc, maintaining that her doctor had said "No weight on the broken leg."

To make a very long story short, she never got out of the wheelchair, her dementia got worse, and she was never able to go home. The NH cost her whole life savings, outside of a prepaid funeral and a small allowance for her daily needs (they also keep her SS check) .. so after only 3 months she was poor enough to qualify for Medicaid. This was a long drawn out procedure we thought would never end. Paying an elderlawyer to help get it through was a good investment and we were allowed to pay him with Mom's remaining money. Now she is on Medicaid (it was retroactive and the NH waited a month or so before it came in). Now a year has gone by and Medicaid is investigating her again. After reducing her life savings to less than $1200, they are now making sure that she didn't win a lottery, or inheritm money from along lost uncle (she is 98) since last March. Unbelievable. They are obviously disappointed that she hasn't died yet.

So in my experience a broken hip is really really bad. But if your MIL is younger, maybe she will recover. Mom was 97 when she fell.

Love,

Martha