General Update #7

Joyce's breakfast was delivered at 8:12 a.m. She enjoyed biscuits with sausage gravy and scrambled eggs. Tea and tomato juice accompanied as beverage choices. 

Nurse stopped by to check on Joyce's pain levels at 8:44 a.m. Joyce responded that she was experiencing pain in her back. Nurse departed to obtain pain medication (hydrocodone) and other pills (iron supplement, Vitamin C, multivitamin, etc.) for Joyce. Joyce reported her pain level a 6 out of 10 at time of pill ingestion at 8:48 a.m. Nurse also administered insulin to Joyce at that time. 

Nurse verified that room phone number is functional and people are free to call to speak with Joyce. If you are interested in speaking with Joyce please send a text message to Dusty's cell phone number and he can provide the phone number to room if needed (and to ensure Joyce is available to talk).

Nurse arrived at 9:17 a.m. to announce word had been received from the osteopaedic surgeon that he felt Joyce's spine injury is not serious enough to be a risk to her mobility, overall health, or to prohibit walking under her own power. Physical therapy department has been contacted and they'll begin preparing Joyce for mobility work. Nurse removed catheter around 9:19 a.m. as part of preparation for Joyce to begin walking with the physical therapist. 

Dr. Brown (female) arrived at 9:30 a.m. to report that she was able to make contact with Dr. Soloniuk from St. Joseph Regional Medical Center "late last night" and he has deemed Joyce's spine injury as not precluding walking. Dr. Brown says that Joyce's oncologist needs to be spoken with to potentially have radiation treatment initiated for Joyce (Dr. Soloniuk encouraged this should happen to resolve any potential spinal cancer if it exists). Dr. Brown emphasized that they are not certain at this time if there is actually spinal cancer present, at this point they are uncertain. Dr. Brown will be calling Joyce's oncologist today to obtain plan for radiation treatment. Plan is still to discharge Joyce from Gritman later today, timeline unknown at this point. Dr. Brown checked Joyce's bruises, breathing, and overall pain levels. Joyce reported to Dr. Brown that her pain levels were around a 5 out of 10. Joyce expressed that she did not recall being given pain medication. Dusty clarified for Dr. Brown that Joyce was given pain medication at 8:44 a.m. Dr. Brown noted that Joyce has not had a bowel movement as yet since being admitted and so Dr. Brown ordered what Dusty interpreted to be a laxative to be administered to Joyce. Dr. Brown will check back in once she hears back from the radiation treatment team and Joyce's primary care provider, Dr. Collins. Dr. Brown was unable to contact Dr. Collins yesterday as due to lateness of Dr. Soloniuk's response, Dr. Collins was unavailable. 

Nurse's aide arrived and took Joyce's vitals at 9:37 a.m.

Message(s) from Joyce:

Wheat hearts is mom's favorite breakfast meal. It goes back to her childhood as it was a treat instead of oatmeal. Her parents would buy it in a bulk, a fairly big bag of it. It was economical.

Joyce is looking forward to returning to the farm house.

Current location:

Gritman Medical Center, Room 226.

Current pain level:
5 out of 10 following pain medication administration. 

Visiting information:

Confirmed with nurse's station shift leader at 8:54 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).