Hello, my name is Vonda. My husband had a brain tumor removed in
May. As a result of this, he suffered what has been classified as
a "severe" brain injury. After the surgery, we found he could not
move his right side, and was unable to speak. He spent 10 weeks in
hospital, 9 of it in ICU. After that he went to a nursing home, and
2 months ago moved to another nursing home closer to our home. He
has been receiving PT/OT/ST since July.

He is regaining some sensation in his upper leg. He is now eating a
regular diet with thickened liquids. His main speech probem is
apraxia. He also seems to have no short-term memory. His memory is
for things that happen the same day at best; sometimes he forgets the
morning by evening time though.

Needless to say, he still requires 24 hour care and a lot of
therapy. Our problem is this: his insurance, which has been pretty
good about paying, only provides 120 days of nursing home care. We
met that this week. I now need to decide what is best to do for
him. I think that with the money we would spend on room and board at
the nursing home (out of pocket) we could get some home care
cheaper. I thought this group could help point me toward different
options and resources. We live in southern Indiana, very rural.

Also, my husband doesn't have a specialist physician right now. He
is monitored by the GP at the home (ie--not very well at all) and
sees his neurosurgeon occassionaly for CTs and check-ups. What type
of doc should we be looking for?

One more thing, I delivered our first child last month. We found out
about the baby 2 months before the tumor.

I appreciate any advice you all can give, especially if you have
already been down this path. Thank you all very much.

Vonda