After a severe fall that resulted in a broken femur with life-changing consequences and more than a year of ongoing issues, my mom, Dorothy Alemadi, needs help.
In October 2021, my mom had a severe fall in her home while transferring from her knee scooter (in 2018, she had to have a below-the-knee amputation due to two failed ankle fusion surgeries that led to a pressure ulcer). When she got to the hospital, they found out she had broken the femur in her leg with the below-the-knee amputation. The doctors said the only option was to take the amputation above the knee. So, with no other options, she went into surgery. They also found out from the scans and x-rays done before surgery that she had broken two fingers and damaged hardware around the femur in her other leg that was put in when she broke that femur in her what we now call her full leg. She had been able to live at home by herself before her fall in 2021. Unfortunately, the fall in October 2021 was the start of ongoing issues.
After the surgery, she was sent to a rehab/transitional care unit in a nursing home to recover before returning home. When her incisions were healed enough to start rehab, they determined that the hardware in her full leg had some unexpected fluid buildup that needed to be tested to see if there was an infection. Luckily, those tests were negative, but the rehab work on strengthening her full leg had to be put on hold while the infection cleared. Once that hurdle was passed, she was ready to get to work! Unfortunately, after years of taking care of herself after her first amputation, the doctors told her that her shoulder was shot. She needed to have it replaced before she could do physical therapy again to strengthen her arms and transfer herself again. Because of that, she could not make enough progress in therapy anymore, and they removed her from Medicare coverage. That meant she had to start paying out of pocket for the nursing home. In January 2022, she went back to the hospital to have her shoulder replaced.
She was in the hospital for a few days and then returned to the nursing home for assistance while healing from the shoulder replacement. After a few months of paying out of pocket, her retirement/life savings were almost completely depleted, and she needed other options. She wasn’t strong enough to be alone and care for herself, but going home and hiring in-home care would be half the cost of staying in the nursing home for a few more months. So, she went home in June 2022 with aids that came into the house to help with care and transfers. She was so grateful to be home. But the PT/OT in-home visits were not as frequent or intense, so she plateaued. On one of her doctor visits in the Summer of 2022, they found out the hardware in her full leg was more damaged than they initially thought, and she might not be able to do the intensity of PT/OT needed to get her back to full recovery (pre-October 2021).
After months of out-of-pocket pay at the nursing home and home aids, she had used up every spare dollar she had put away, her retirement funds built during her 40 years as a nurse. So, she did something she never thought she would have to do, apply for Medicaid. The senior aid company continued to come to the house, assuming she would get approved for Medicaid. But after she racked up over a $20,000 bill with no answer on her Medicaid application, they had to stop coming to the house to help. She was desperate and had to ask friends, past nursing colleagues and family to help each day, but it wasn’t enough.
In early September 2022, after still no answer on her Medicaid application, she needed to find some rehab help. After calling all her doctors and other social service people, she could get into a local rehab hospital, but only for two weeks to do some strengthening. With almost a year of non-use of her full leg, she needed lots of work to regain strength. After two weeks at the rehab hospital, she was transferred to another nursing home for PT/OT and transitional care.
Then she got the bad news that her Medicaid application was denied. She is appealing since she has no savings or retirement fund left and is going deeper into debt each month. On top of that still worrying how to pay off $20,000 owed to the senior aid company while adding more debt each month.
All this to say – she needs help. She had never wanted to ask for help and doesn’t like that it has even gotten to this point where I had to help her start a GoFundMe to help with all her medical expenses. But she has seen the generosity of people on this site and said it was worth a shot. After being a nurse for 40 years and always helping others, I hope she gets the help she needs. Any money this GoFundMe generates will go directly to Dorothy’s medical debt and ongoing out-of-pocket medical costs.