My mother is 65 years old and has a recent C6 injury. She was airlifted to the UC Davis Med Center and had surgery the day after her admission, after which she was placed in the Neurosurgery ICU. Early on she did pretty well, altho her throat swelled after she was re-intebated the second day in the ICU, that left her stuck on the ventilator...eventually she chose to get trached. About 3 weeks in, she was doing great...over 48 hours off of the ventilator when she developed complications with her breathing, but this happened at the same time it was noted that the hosing to her trach was dry (staff couldn't say how long they had been dry...perhaps part or all of the night). There were several days there where she almost died. I think that altho her system is altered a bit because of her injury, a lot of the problem was that she was still getting over pneumonia and the mucous in her lungs dried out and clumped together. But she went thru a lot of trauma as a result, got her worried about her ability to survive and prosper, worried about her ability to breathe, and also the hospital is taking a much more conservative approach to weaning her off of the ventilator. After 1 1/2 months, she was declared "stable" and moved to a transitional unit that could theoretically accommodate her ventilator while providing her with some rehab, but she's gotten very little OT/PT during her stay. A doctor in this new unit was very proactive in recommending she be switched to Santa Clara Valley Med Center for rehab. But, after an interview, Mom was turned down as a candidate because she has an active sore on one of her buttocks. Apparently SCVMC is really proactive and a lot of their rehab work centers around the use of a wheelchair, and it is part of their protocol to turn down people with active sores in such a pivotal location. SCVMC suggested that Mom consider a rehab facility in Marin...called Kingston or something like that (sorry am at a coffee house using their WiFi and am away from my paperwork). A representative from that facility will be interviewing Mom tomorrow (Wednesday). UCDMC also suggested looking into Kindred Sacramento. Really, I want a place that will work at weaning Mom off of the vent and provide some regular OT/PT, because right now she is just lying there a lot of the time. I don't think this particular unit is UCDMC has enough access to OT/PT personnel...or maybe UCDMC is low on OT/PT personnel in general. Anyway, I would love to hear any of your suggestions. BTW, my mom is on Medicare and AARP Medicare supplemental insurance. We do have someone looking into what things will be covered as Mom's stay in the hospital or rehab facilities becomes more extended. I understand that things get difficult around the 3 month mark, or at perhaps a monetary cap. Another delightful concern to have on our family plate.