Age: 75-years-old
Date of Admission: 04/12/19
Admitted From: Jupiter Medical Center
Discharge Date: 08/27/19
Discharge To: Home
Length of stay: 136 days
Reason for stay: Fractured right ankle and was non-weight bearing.

Details of experience:
Imagine a beautiful sunny Florida day on a Sunday afternoon and all you want to do is relax and read a good book. For Marcia, this was exactly what she had planned to do before the unthinkable happened. She was getting ready to sit with a good book and relax, and she was moving the footstool out of the way when she tripped and fell on her ankle and landed on a glass table. The table shattered into pieces all around her, she couldn’t move because of all the broken glass. She was calling out for her friend Paul, whom she was taking care of while his family was away, to have him call 911. After she arrived at the hospital and had tests done, Dr. Vena, her podiatrist, and the surgeon came and informed her that he would be able to fix her ankle fracture. The surgery was scheduled for about a month later and was sent home.

After being home for a few weeks Marcia decided that she was going to leave the house and go to the Dollar Store to do some shopping. While she was walking around the store she started feeling ill and was having a hard time breathing, she checked out and drove home. Her daughter-in-law, who is a nurse, came to check on her and when she saw her she immediately got her in the car and drove her to the hospital. The staff rushed her into the ER and hooked her up to the crash cart. Marcia’s kidneys had shut down and needed to have a pacemaker placed in her heart. After her pacemaker surgery, she was doing great and was sent home to wait for her ankle surgery that was rescheduled. A few hours after arriving home from the hospital she started coughing and could not catch her breath, her granddaughter kept checking on her and she called her mom who is a nurse and her mom told her to call 911. When Marcia returned to the hospital they ran many tests and they found out that she had a heart attack. Two days later, they took her into surgery to place 3 stents in her heart but could only place 2 stents because the dye they use to show where the stents need to be placed affect the kidneys and hers were still recovering from the previous hospital stay when they shut down.

Marcia arrived in our community on April 13, 2019, due to the ankle fracture that she had sustained. When she arrived she was non-weight bearing on her right leg and her status at the time of evaluation was minimal assist for bed mobility, functional transfers and was able to walk 15 feet with a rolling walker. In her activities for daily living she was independent with self-feeding, minimal assist with hygiene, bathing, using the restroom and upper and lower body dressing. When Marcia’s podiatrist gave her the all-clear and told her she was no longer a non-weight bearing on her right leg, she was finally able to start therapy to strengthen her leg and ankle. By the time she was discharged, she was able to perform all her activities of daily living at a modified independent level and her mobility went from minimal assist to modified independent.

Marcia’s discharge day was bittersweet for everyone as she made many friends among the staff and residents. She was a ray of sunshine for everyone but especially to our residents, she was caring and always sat and listened to their stories. As sad as everyone was, we were also very happy that Marcia would be getting back to the active life that she lived before that tragic event on that Sunday afternoon that led to other medical complications. Team Jupiter wishes Marcia all the best!