General Update #15

At 11:15 a.m. the occupational therapist stated to Dusty (who was outside the room while the therapist assisted the nurse in getting Joyce into bed and prepared for suppository application) that she would return in about 2 hours to finish PT exercises with Joyce. She indicated that they now have to wait for the suppository which was administered to Joyce to take effect. Joyce's lack of bowel movement could delay transfer to the skilled nursing facility (Good Samaritan).

Dusty was readmitted to room at 11:20 a.m. Nurse informed Dusty that Joyce was given two hydrocodone for pain relief (which she stated should work better than the Tramadol Joyce had previously been given). Nurse is also going to request permission from Dr. Brown to apply a lidocaine patch (Icy Hot) to the painful area on Joyce's side in attempt to make Joyce more comfortable. Joyce laying in bed on her right side, expressing she was in pain. 

Room service returned at 11:23 a.m. to take Joyce's lunch order. Joyce selected meatloaf with gravy, baked sweet potato, peaches, and hot tea for a beverage. Delivery estimated to be around noon.

Nurse's aides arrived to check on Joyce's blood sugar level. They asked Joyce about her pain levels and if pain medication had been administered. Joyce said "I think I was given pain medication." 
Reading was 235. Joyce's oxygen levels fell below 90 and triggered audio alarm as they were packing up blood meter kit, so nurse's aides coaxed her to take deep breaths and cough. Informed Joyce that she needs to keep breathing correctly ("You need to cough, or take deep breaths like you're smelling flowers.") Nurse's aides departed.

Joyce rolled over in bed onto her back in an effort to become more comfortable at 11:43 a.m. 
She began vocally saying "Ow!" repeatedly until settled. Effort caused her oxygen levels to fall again so Dusty worked with her verbally to continue breathing pace. Dusty continued working with Joyce on breathing pace for ten minutes and at each time the oxygen level alarm sounded (Joyce struggled as she appeared to try to hyperventilate by rapidly blowing air out of her mouth only without really inhaling deeply through her nose and oxygen tubing). Joyce appears to struggle to think about breathing deeply and regularly, reverting to shallow breathing by default causing oxygen meter to constantly fluctuate.

Nurse's aides stopped by to check on Joyce at 11:59 a.m. but left thinking she was asleep (in actuality, Joyce could not hear them announce themselves due to her hearing problem). Joyce was merely laying in bed resting following latest round of breathing prompts from Dusty. Dusty called out to nurse's aides to let them know Joyce was actually awake but by time he extricated himself from his portable workstation they had disappeared to elsewhere. 

Message(s) from Joyce:
None.

Current location:
Gritman Medical Center, Room 226.

Current pain level:
Unknown. 

Visiting information:
No change from previous post.
Confirmed with nurse's station shift leader at 9:30 a.m. - currently only 1 visitor per day for Joyce, no exceptions. Once current visitor departs Joyce's room, no further visits for the rest of the day. No swapping out visitors (example, Dusty cannot remain on hospital grounds while Craig goes to sit with Joyce for an hour and then Dusty returns to room).

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