Nova in Hospital {Official Green Room Thread}

Whew.

What's coverage like in her area? Which providers work best? We need to know that before getting her a phone. Doesn't do anybody any good to get her one that's cheap, but has no cell service in her area.

Also, does the hospital have wifi? If it does, then a cheap Android phone with the right apps on it could enable her to make calls for free.

• Nova
  I have had [my wife] reading the green room tread to me over the phone wanted to ask you to respond to dinner and others commenting about her not driving please clarify that while we are loath to discuss her personal medical business you should know that she doesn't drive because of panic and anxiety issues
  
  
• Nova
  and as for her not caring she cries all day every day because she's not here with me
  
  
• Matthew Johnson
  Glad to hear from you! I'll be sure to pass it along.
  
  How are you feeling?
  
  
  
• Nova
  be patient this is a long answer we will take it bit by bit
  
  expect to be in in patient rehab until mid march
  
  
  
• Matthew Johnson
  No worries. Also, I'm still at work and have to run errands before I get home so it might be a fee hours before I can put your message up.
  
  
  
• Nova
  I have good function in all lower limbs and joints but still have numb sensation
  
  I can stand with assistance and hold myself up unaided prognoses for walking long term is good
  
  I am told that the fact that i can feel the need for bowel movement is a very good sign
  
  the big concern is fine motor control in my hands it's a different nervebundle that takes longer to heal
  
  i have some movement in my hands and wrist but very little control that loss of function is the big worry it is very unpredictable
  
  all that said my surgeon is very impress with my progress he even used the word miracle before the operation he didn't offer much hope he's surprise i'm doing so well. still everyone implies that it usually takes up to a year to know if you get the use of your hands back
  
  
  
• Nova
  I want you to make a post that from me Nova
  
  on the green room tread
  
  
  
• Nova
  I am asking everybody to stop speculating in the negative about my wife the only way that i can read this tread is through her and I don't want to have to ask her to endure that kind of crap some of you are questioning her concern without knowing she can't stop crying because we're apart some are questioning her ability without knowing all the facts facts which are really not your business anyway so please be supported and not critical
  
  
  
• Matthew Johnson
  Will do!

The problem with a laptop is that even a light one is going to weigh a couple of pounds and shifting it in and out of bed with your neck immobilized is probably going to be difficult.

Tracfone is 60 minutes for $20, with higher numbers probably being cheaper per-minute.

It does in parts of the hospital, but it does appear that the rehab area does.

Republic Wireless offers unlimited text and voice for that price.

The phone is $300, and can't use your own phone with their service.

That would work if they've got wifi available to her, I think. There's a number of fairly inexpensive tablets available that Nova could potentially use. IIRC, Skype costs money if you want to call a landline, a tablet that can use Google Voice and GV Phone by MO+ is able to call landlines for free. That might serve her better. If somebody who knows the address of the hospital Nova's in, where she lives, and where she's likely to do her physical therapy is willing to do some time googling about looking at the various cell tower locations in those areas, it would help a lot. Any towers that are in a 2 mile radius (4G/LTE is a bonus) are fine, and a GSM Android phone could use Google Voice and GV Phone apps I mentioned, without cell service (provided there's wifi). Unlocked Blu phones are pretty cheap on Amazon and Nova could drop a T-Mobile or AT&T prepaid sim into it once she got out of the hospital.

Potentially, if Nova's in the right coverage area, she could piggyback off my account for next to nothing, but I don't know. This is why somebody who knows the specific addresses involved needs to pull up the tower locations. That'll tell us which service providers are a viable option for her, and enable us to figure out inexpensive ways for her to connect that we can pay for while she's in the hospital (if need be) and once she gets out, she won't have to struggle too much to pay for on her own.

I've checked for where she is at, and the hospital doesn't have wifi except in a few spots. The cafeteria and the waiting rooms. So a tablet while a nice thought, probably would not work out well for Nova.

How does somebody go about finding the tower locations?

There are a couple different websites that will let you punch in address and they'll show you the locations of the towers along with who owns them. Google a phrase like cell tower locations and you can find them.

Did they have cell phones before? Do they know what doesn't work? Helps narrow things when there are only like three cell carriers anymore.

TMobile is absolute shite in the state of Mississippi. I've been to two different areas while in tech school and a couple months ago and had crap to non existent service.

AT&T works pretty well out there, though.

I sell a cellular based security system. I can tell you that the area Nova lives in has virtually no coverage with T-Mobile.

I also have an app I use for this that confirms.

AT&T has a pre-paid option, and at least one of the smaller carriers is just piggybacking on AT&T's network, but I don't remember which one it is ATM. So, that's a bit of a start.

There's probably others. I know that in some markets, whatever the name of the pre-paid wireless service Wallyworld promotes uses AT&T in some markets, Verizon in others. If we knew what other networks were available, that would help, because even though many of the smaller carriers use the networks of the big 4, they often have better rates. Its been a while since I did a check of the rates of other carriers, but I know that at one time, if you had a pre-paid smartphone on AT&T you automatically had to pay $30/mo. just for data, and you couldn't drop data one month if money was tight, you were billed for it no matter what.

...outside of any and all metropolitan areas.

It's most likely that all of your Tier 2 Carriers (T-Moble, Metro PCS, et. al.) are going to be non-starters. Sprint is more than likely a non-starter too. Voice may not be a problem on some pre-paids, but unless you're talking about Verizon or AT&T, you can pretty much hang up data sans Wi-Fi. Sorry, but that's the way it is in rural areas.

It really all depends on the specific location. I've been in places where a major carrier didn't have good coverage, while the Tier 2 carrier I was on did. It really depends upon what local carrier was there first, and then which of the major carriers bought them later on. You can't trust the general coverage maps, because where I live is technically covered by Sprint, however, the signal strength varies based upon where I am in my house, with it going from zero bars in some spots to four bars in others. That's why it helps to know where the towers are located. The range for a tower is 2.5 miles, I am 2.4 miles from the Sprint tower, which is why I have signal issues. Anyone located 2 miles from a tower is going to be fine, in terms of coverage. (There's differences in range between GSM, CDMA, and LTE, but I am so not going to get to that level of splitting hairs. If you're ~2.0 miles from the tower, your signal strength is fine, no matter who your carrier is.)

Got some more info. Long and short of things, we should continue thinking about what makes sense for a phone, but Nova says that it looks very much like her workman's comp case manager will be able to get her a phone. We should still investigate in case that doesn't pan out.

But to me, the much bigger and more important info here is that she has an active claim and a case worker. Some of us thought Wallyworld might drag their feet on this, but it appears they aren't, which is fantastic news.

Just because she's got a case worker, doesn't mean that Wallyworld isn't dragging their feet. The issue is when Wallyworld starts cutting checks. That's when the delay comes in. The worker needs "just a bit more information" before they can issue the check, or their "waiting to hear back from corporate," or "we're still investigating exactly what happened." Do not think of relaxing until the first check has been cut, and the amount is reasonable. (Trust me, I know how this works, not only from Wallyworld, but from other companies.)

Rather than all the speculation, given that Nova is able to get this thread read out, can Nova not just ask the nurses that actually work in the ward what provider functions best? Surely the nurses, doctors, cleaners et all will have that one narrowed right down???

Also, does anyone have a status on how the family's managing rent, utilities, food?

Shit, it's $2.50 for a day pass here, and our system isn't even on speaking terms with "decent."

I don't have time to read all these posts, but all the best to you nova. I have almost had a trip to Corinth a couple times and think of a meet up.