Wouldn't It Be Lovely...?

Yesterday, Bob and I met with a rehabilitation consultant. This fellow was flown in from Miami by our attorney and the meeting was held at Bob's bedside here at The Pink House.

I was told that the purpose of the meeting was to prepare a "life plan assessment" for Bob, i.e. what Bob would require for life-long care. I was under the impression that the rehab consultant would be doing a physical assessment, testing Bob's mobility etc., but it turned out to be just an hour and half long question & answer interview.

The consultant explained that a medical malpractice suit is broken down into two parts. The first part is to prove that negligence occurred and that negligence indeed caused damage to the patient. The second part is the settlement which includes such things as "pain and suffering", medical expenses, loss of income and quality of life issues. And he was here to determine the medical expenses and quality of life part of that second part. From our interview, he is to write a 45-50 page report, a sort of life-long care plan for Bob. His report will then be given to an economist who will put a dollar amount on the whole shebang.

Count me as a bit naive, but I figured "medical expenses" would entail such things as the cost of Depends, prescription and doctor co-pays, and the cost of taking the wheelchair transport, etc. Things we pay out-of-pocket for now. Imagine my surprise when he came up with a list that included the following:

a wheelchair lift van of our own

a power wheelchair with left hand controls

and a 24/7 live-in paid caregiver

When he mentioned the live-in caregiver, I said, where the heck do we put her? Because you know, The Pink House is a small, 2 bedroom bungalow and we are really crammed for space...

and that's when he said, he is also listing a bigger, single story, wheelchair accessible house with all the wheelchair accommodations such a wheelchair accessible bathroom...

then he went on, to add such things as:

at least twice a week, ongoing, year-round physical therapy

specialized intensive aphasia therapy programs (there is a "good one" he said in Illinois)

adaptive computer equipment and aphasia computer programs to help with speaking

cognitive therapy

music therapy

art therapy

and I can't even remember what else he said, because I was pretty flabbergasted over the whole thing.

Of course, I know, right now this is all a pipe dream. A sort of wish list to present to a jury, if and when we get that far--and who knows what will happen. The attorney warned me these things can take years and years before they are settled. And the attorney is still lining things up, getting our ducks in a row, doing the pre-investigation and hasn't even filed the lawsuit yet.

But right now, all I can think is----  Wouldn't it be lovely? Oh my.

Meanwhile, still no word if Bob can continue his therapy at Rehab... and thank you for all the comments on Bob's drawing. He really got a kick out of it! If you haven't already left one for him, please do!