User blog comment:Gideoncrawle/MIL Update for Mother's Day/@comment-1874924-20100515195442

In a surprise development, my MIL got her catheter out earlier this week. This was a welcome development because, in addition to requiring an external urine bag, the method of securing the catheter leaves the patient with a constant feeling of needing to urinate.

Also, she is now allowed to take unsupervised walks on the hospice grounds, because her leg strength has improved to the point that she is no longer considered a fall risk. (She has always been accustomed to walking, but all the time she spent in hospital last month caused her leg muscles to atrophy somewhat. She is only now getting that strength back.)

Despite her improvement, she will remain at the hospice for the foreseeable future. She does still need skilled nursing care; and a nursing home might cost more than the hospice, and probably wouldn't be as nice an environment into the bargain. We don't expect her to improve to the point that an assisted living facility would do. In any case, the insurance carrier normally reevalutes a hospice patient's situation after 90 days.

The timing of her admission was most fortuitous. Normally, patients at this hospice start with a semiprivate room, and can move to private rooms as they become available (for an extra $30/day). Because my MIL entered hospice care at a time when there were several vacancies, she got a private room from the start--and it's apparently one of the nicest rooms in the place, with 2 large windows instead of the usual 1.