25 replies to this topic

[Zany]

Just a question that has been on my mind a while. And as I've continued reading through posts, I figured I should probably check on this.

My brother-in-law was in rehab for exactly one month. From August 10th to September 10th. When they brought him in, they told him immediately he would be there for a month. But I don't think I've come across anyone's story on here yet where they have stayed such a short amount of time in rehab. Is this because of insurance? Do they seriously turn away patients who need rehabilitation because they don't have good insurance? He does have Medicaid, so I figured that would keep him in there. I may be wrong.

I just find it disturbing that he's probably not getting the proper care he needs at this point. It hasn't even been 2 months since his accident and he's already at home being left alone with his sister and my sister who still aren't very comfortable handling everything on their own.

May I ask everyone how long they stayed in rehab? And did it all depend on your insurance?

Edited by Zany, 20 September 2007 - 03:28 PM.

[silone74]

Hi i live in the UK from the time of my accident to coming home was just over 8 months i had other injuries to contend with though but 1 month seems to me to be very quick, from actually getting into a wheelchair while still wearing a brace to support my back i was in rehab for 5 months and had week ends home after about 2 of those months to get used to living and coping with everyday life i was told by the specialist dealing with me that the breaks in my back would take at least 8weeks to bond and even after that i had to wear a full body brace while sitting up in the chair,i could not have an opperation to fix the breaks in my back because of the other injuries i had sustained but you have not said the extent of the injuries sustained and i dont want to pretent to be an expert on this but i can only go on my own situation. still 1 month seems quick to me? I was in hospital with people with the same level injuries as your in-law and they where in hospital loger than me, I am not sure how the health system works where you live so i can not coment on any thing about the insurance just what i have been through and what i have seen in other cases.



Silone74

Edited by silone74, 20 September 2007 - 04:19 PM.

[alyssa]

I stayed in a rehab hospital from early January 06 to late June 06. I had a 3 month hospital stay prior to that where I recieved physio in the ICU and up on the SCI floor.I also recieved out patient physio from last June till present. Some was covered by my health insurance [I'm Canadian], some came out of my auto insurance settlement.

Two months just doesnt seem long enough to me.

Edited by alyssa, 20 September 2007 - 04:32 PM.

[silone74]

I was told that when a break heals there can be movement if not left to heal for long enough which can result in a miss shaped spine this is why i had to wear a brace when in a seated position and every other patient that i was in rehab with wore some kind of support while first up and about to make sure no movement happened while learning to use the chair and transfer's i was under the impresion that i was sent home early from hospital but seems not.



Silone74

[Tim13]

I was in for 6 weeks, seemed like plenty of time. I'd guess it varies with each case, there was another t-12 sci patient in rehab at the same time as i who ended up staying four months.
I had the best insurance my company's money could buy, he had state medicaid.

Edited by Tim13, 20 September 2007 - 07:57 PM.

[Doug]

I was in therapy for 2 months but ins. plays a huge roll in how long you stay in for.

[silone74]

Did every 1 have an op to pin or fuse there spine? i can only think this is why i stayed in for as long as i did because i had to be layed flat to let the spine heal on its own due to as mentioned before my other injuries,all of the people i was with in rehab where in for longer than yourselves only 1 i can think of that was out in about 2 month and he ended up walking out but still with a brace on to keep his spine from too much preasure being put on it.If any others from the UK have some time scale that they where in hospital could post it may be that the insurance has a big big part to play in the time spent in rehab in the US and Canada our health service is not insurance based but is free well i say free it is payed for buy tax paid on wages and trusts that run hospitals and government grants.



Silone74

[Zany]

Silone, he was injured in a diving accident. His head hit the bottom of the pool and he broke his neck. He was originally what they were calling C4 Complete. Before surgery and all, he couldn't move or feel a thing below his neck. After two surgeries (and fusing) is when he began to regain sensation and movement in his arms.

The thing that I found odd from the beginning was that they knew from the get-go that he would only be there for a month. That's what they told his family when he went in, that he would be released on September 10th. And sure enough he was. I just don't understand how ANY SCI patient can do 4 weeks of rehab and be ready to be sent home.

Also, after he was released and went to the hotel to stay for a few days, he kept telling my sister he wanted to go back. He wasn't ready to be in the "real world" yet. He wasn't comfortable with it. He felt safer in rehab where the professionals were.

[Cheshire]

I was only in rehab for 3 weeks...but my injury was S1, with the last few L's fused. My mother's a retired RN...probably played a role, but not sure.

They knew within a few days of how long rehab would take me...I chalked it up to experience and time tables. Voc Rehab was picking up the bill, which is state.

[silone74]

Hi zany i think that it does take alot of time to adjust to life after this kind of accident and i had help before i left hospital with psychiatrist i since have been left to cope alone i live alone and know that 2 years on from my accident i still feel i could go back to hospital where i was safe and looked after i can only say that after 1 month in rehab and 1 month at home this is not long enough not only for the injury to be healed but for the mind to try and deal with all that has happened i can and will if needed be here to help in any way i can if you or your in-law wish to just talk things over i am not in any way an expert but the offer is there i dont think something like this should be left for you to just deal with alone i am not up on any health schemes or how the system works where you are but i hope some 1 can put you in touch with an organisation of some kind that could help with extra rehab and with your self some help in being able to cope and help him with the care that is required i hope you dont think i am being patronising in any i am upset with the fact you have been left so to speak too soon.


Silone74

[Texaswheelz]

Seems very short to me and if they were told right from the start that he would be going home on that day then it does seem pretty weird. Are they doing any out patient therapy at all? I was injured on the 14 Oct and spent a week in icu, 2 weeks in the hospital and then 6 weeks in the rehab dept. i begged for them to let me go then or they would have kept me for another 4-6 weeks. i wanted to get back and finish school so i didn't have to go another year. I then went back for 2 months in june/july to finish what they started.

My thoughts on rehab though is that teach you want you need to know to survive, but not what ya need to know to live a full live at home. There were so many things that they told me I wouldn't be able to do or how I should or shouldn't do something that i now find laughable. Other then the way i still stretch my legs every morning before i get out of bed, I don't do anything the same that they had taught me.

If he doesn't feel ready to go home or the people that are helping to take care of him don't feel they are capable yet from that month I would see if I could find a Dr. that would put him back in. Medicaid should pay for more then 1 month of therapy.

[megatrig]

To make that snap judgement of one month seems unbelievable!

especially for a C4!!!

Not trying to say life is easier for lower break para HONEST!!! however rehab and the return to the real world can be quicker (not necessarily easier).

All of the back-up needed re care packages for a C4 as a lot of help would be needed takes a while.

The list then goes on n on!!

I really push for people to get out of hospital and back to the Real" world ASAP .. HOWEVER there has to be realism in there somewhere!!

Very very odd!!

Hopefully he is making great improvement despite being thrown in the deep end!! (not a pun on his accident honest .. well not much!! .. hey we have tolaugh at each other ... everyone else does! .. joke!)

[Nichole]

I was in the inpatient rehab at the hospital for three weeks. Plenty of time as I started out-patient rehab immediately following.

[Zany]

Nichole, on Sep 21 2007, 02:40 PM, said:

I was in the inpatient rehab at the hospital for three weeks. Plenty of time as I started out-patient rehab immediately following.

I believe he starts his out patient rehab, which is once a month, after about the first week of October. That will be close to a month since he left the facility. Maybe I'm expecting too much or overreacting, but I just feel like there should be more to it than what he's received.

[silone74]

I dont think it is plenty of time at all i was in rehab with a guy who was incomplete neck break he was in rehab longer than me and now has just completed a mile walk unasisted for charity if he was not given the time and help from physio they would have just let him go home with no help it seem's here in the UK there is more help for patients and in my case going down to physio every day for 5 months got me ready to face the trials of the outside world i was shown every transfer in the book and only from the say so of the physio that i was discharged home when i was able to do all of the things needed to look after myself even down to bowel management and bladder management which was all shown to me by the nurses, they showed me how to dress my self i mean they showed me every little thing that i needed to know i had psyciatric help also and i needed it.


Silone74

[DragonsDad]

Interesting topic, our son is just about to finish his rehab in the US.... should be a bit more than 6 weeks, here in UK at Stoke Mand.. he would do at least 18 weeks. Two different systems diff philosophies. Is time completely cost driven, are goals different, is one more aggressive than the other? Whose right? Anyone have any thoughts on this?

[airart1]

8 weeeks in my world in tennessee, then i used a turtle shell we called them, a brace around the mid section, everyone wears one i'm sure, but i did rehab till private insurance quit paying for 2 full years.......i would be aggressive as possible with rehab...........

[Ches]

I had a 5 week stay in rehab. I started May 2 and was originally going to be discharged on the 24th. The hospital has huge volumes of trauma patients that need rehab, so they try to get you in and out as fast as possible. I begged my PT to tell the docs I needed some more time, I was scared to go home with only 3 weeks under my belt. I spent the next two weeks busting my ass. My bottom half paralyzed, my top half completely broken. God that was torture. I wasnt showing any signs of recovery, and I had learned to get around. So I guess the 5 weeks was enough time for me. I did outpatient and the PT was horrible. She didnt know anything about SCI's. I just ended up going once a week to get stretched and use the standing frame. That only lasted 2 months.

[kewlcatkez]

Hello,

I am in the UK (like Silone),

I actually had a bad experience in the beginning. I was in the orthopaedic dept and a box of catheters was thrown at me and I was told "you are a nurse, you know what to do, so get on with it" ~Seriously!!!

Eventually I had my rehab, it was almost 6 weeks. I was supposed to stay a lot lot longer. However, my children (one was a baby, both were very young at the time) were really suffering emotionally, having nightmares etc etc. So once I had got to a certain point I got my Consultant to agree to my discharge. I had PT as an outpatient for 6 weeks. She didn't have much experience with paralysed patients and even less with EDS and dislocations. It most;y wound up being hydrotherapy ( to avoid my frequent dislocations) and ROM exercises.

Due to my dislocations I am supposed to have long term PT, however, what you are supposed to have and actually do have, sometimes don't marry up. My Consultant keeps trying to persuade me to have more rehab, partly due to what I have said above and due to my upper body being more paralysed due to spinal shifting..

DragonsDad your son will also have the child development team input too and should have fairly open ended rehab, due to his age and the fact that growth process etc can mean that fine tuning to some of his transfer techniques etc may be made, plue he has a greater scope of changes due to his youth,

Take care,

K

Edited by kewlcatkez, 21 February 2008 - 04:49 PM.

[nomis]

I’m staggered by the short time some are spending nowadays in rehab. Mostly that’s a good thing but also it must often leave a big gap in potential learning and care.

I went through the NZ system before we had dedicated spinal units but did have good specialised staff in 2 of the general hospitals. This was nearly 40 years ago! We followed the then Stoke Mandeville procedures which meant, as a para, six weeks on bed rest before they considered the bone stable enough to get up. Then four more months in rehab all day 5 days a week with increasingly active social activities at the weekend. Much of the last two months were spent trying to convince them that I was good enough to go home. They had certain milestones that had to be achieved, like all paras have to be able to get back into their chair from the floor. I was going mad being cooped up. Little did I realise how it’d be once I got home.

[airart1]

i believe we should actually do some sort of weekly program for the rest of our lives, my opinion, we wouldnt have near the pressure sores or problems that occur post injury, i wish i could have did 2 days a week the rest of my life...........but it all falls back to insurance and money........

Edited by airart1, 21 February 2008 - 01:08 PM.

[Hawkeye]

Back in 1980, after spending almost 2 months in "recovery", I transfered to a hospital that had a rehad program. IIRC... I was there for 5 or 6 weeks. Length of stay was up to me, with input from the Dr. Insurance had no input.

Joe

[feather]

Hawkeye, on Feb 21 2008, 09:46 AM, said:

Back in 1980, after spending almost 2 months in "recovery", I transfered to a hospital that had a rehad program. IIRC... I was there for 5 or 6 weeks. Length of stay was up to me, with input from the Dr. Insurance had no input.

Joe

My son's total hospital with rehab time was one month he is T9-T10. we tried pool therapy once he was home, and the therapist said he would be able to get him walking with braces!! I thought that was great.

then we went for land therapy and the guy asked my son what his goals were???? What??? Then told him that if all he wanted was a strength program the insurance would not pay for that, that was not true. So my son never really got an excersice program of any kind and now he will not do anything. His specialist kept tellling him he would not walk again and never even tried to send him to a good rehab or PT.

I know there is alot more out there for him and I just do not understand how these so called professionals could have done that to him, he is only 22 he was 21 at time of his motorcycle accident,( on my bike). What is wrong with people.

I could just cry, I would like to beat that PT to a pulp, I do cry and why is it so hard to find rehab people that care or Dr.'s that care.

I do have a glider for my son and would really like to get him a FES bike, I am working on that purchase and as soon as I get the money. No fund raisers here my son would hate that.

I will do anything for him but at the same time I do not want to push him, what the hell our medical system failed for us and it sounds like many others too.

[carole338]

I was a rehab in-patient for almost two months. They kept me as long as there was progress and I was able to do many things for myself. My wheelchair-friendly home was also considered and they were concerned about how I would get around. I was scheduled for out-patient rehab as soon as I was discharged. This continued for 6 months. They got me walking with full leg braces and a walker. I have the option of asking for further rehab appointments if I see any improvement and need therapy to assist this improvement.

My insurance definitely had the last word on my stay and further therapy. It was up to the doctors and therapists to justify my therapy visits and report to the insurance company of my progress.

[Thatguy82]

Zany, on Sep 20 2007, 07:26 AM, said:

Just a question that has been on my mind a while. And as I've continued reading through posts, I figured I should probably check on this.

My brother-in-law was in rehab for exactly one month. From August 10th to September 10th. When they brought him in, they told him immediately he would be there for a month. But I don't think I've come across anyone's story on here yet where they have stayed such a short amount of time in rehab. Is this because of insurance? Do they seriously turn away patients who need rehabilitation because they don't have good insurance? He does have Medicaid, so I figured that would keep him in there. I may be wrong.

I just find it disturbing that he's probably not getting the proper care he needs at this point. It hasn't even been 2 months since his accident and he's already at home being left alone with his sister and my sister who still aren't very comfortable handling everything on their own.

May I ask everyone how long they stayed in rehab? And did it all depend on your insurance?

I was in rehab for about a month maybe less and I had a really good insurance... maybe the worst year injury is a longer you stay in rehab but I don't know.

[ems]

I was in stoke for 8 months and a 3 weeks. But 12 weeks of that was in bed as I didn't have a fixation. I spent year in a hard jacket. ( well it come off about 1 month after leaving stoke!)Apparently now in stoke and other UK spinal wards fixation is now *the thing to do* as your only in bed for a few days, so your quicker into rehab, and quicker out of the door :@)
Its not uncommon now for a para below T6 to be out in 12 weeks, in the wheelchair training sessions, some have literally only been in hosp 4 weeks, so they are still in *healing mode*.
It does stop the feeling of being institutionalized, Stoke was home for quite a while, which is I think now quite abnormal.