Does anyone have experience with shoulder surgery complications or old surgical hardware left in?

Hi everyone. I am the caretaker for my 78 year old mother who lives with me, my husband and 2 children. She suffers from a few things such as spinal stenosis, depression, macular degeneration in one eye, osteoarthritis, plus a few other ailments. She has had spinal stenosis for about 10 years and over the past year it has been impacting her mobility. Here comes my dilemma.

She has never been great about using her walker or cane in the house. On 10/1/22, she fell in the middle of the night walking to the kitchen and fractured her humerus. She ended up having surgery on 10/5/22 which consisted of a metal plate and pins in her shoulder. Before the surgery I asked the orthopedic surgeon if she could go to a subacute rehab after the surgery from some PT to strengthen her legs so that we could try to avoid another fall. I was told that the procedure was outpatient so that was not an option and that patients don't normally go to subacute for upper extremity injuries. However, I was able to get her some at home PT and OT.

Well, it caused damage to her shoulder because she was not keeping it in the sling and was using it to get adjusted in the bed. The hardware came apart and the pins fell out causing her extreme pain and excessive bleeding. She was not able to get around on her own at all from the time she broke her shoulder the first time. Her legs were just too weak and she had no balance. Bring her back to the ER and was told she needed to have a reverse shoulder replacement. The surgeon said he didn't do that type of procedure so found another surgeon who would. Second surgery took place on 10/18/22...this time with a hospital admission so she was able to go to subacute thereafter. However, the new surgeon informed me that a pin from the first surgery fell deep into her arm and it would have been too invasive to remove it. She also had very bad delirium from the anesthesia for about 3 days.

I won't even get into the fiasco that went on at the rehab but long story short, she developed an abscess and bad infection in the incision after 3 weeks so back to the hospital. Was admitted on 11/12/22 for 1 week and then had to continue IV antibiotics with a wound vac at a different subacute rehab for 4 weeks.

This brings us to now. She was making very good progress at the new rehab. She is much steadier on her feet. Had a follow up with the surgeon on 11/29/22 and he said everything looked good and she could start PT on her shoulder. Since the second surgery she has had very little pain.

However, about a week ago mom tells me she banged her elbow (the surgery arm) on a dresser and has been in a lot of pain ever since. She also has numbness in her hand and can't move her fingers. Her whole arm is limp and she can't move it. New rehab thought it was another infection but blood culture came back negative. Mom is getting discharged from the rehab next Tuesday and we have appointment that afternoon with the surgeon. I was thinking there are either complications because of the pin that was left in her arm or some kind of nerve damage.

Her mental health has been declining since she hates being in the rehab and it’s been 2 months now. I have been constantly running back and forth from hospital to rehabs now everyday for 2 months and I'm worn out.

I guess I'm not really looking for answers but maybe if anyone has experience with multiple complications after a shoulder surgery and what may be causing this new issue. Or experience with old hardware being left in the body?

Thank you all so much!