General Update #70

Sue (Doctor of Nursing Science) and Rachel (administrator) at Aspen Park contacted Dusty via phone around 12:10 p.m. with an update on Joyce, reporting that Joyce was experiencing hallucinations. 

Joyce informed a nurse today that she has been seeing a little boy and a little girl in her room while she sat in her chair. The nurse asked Joyce to elaborate on what she was seeing and Joyce reported that for the last 2-3 days she would see the children playing and moving through the room in front of her, then lay down on the floor to rest. Joyce also reported that they would occasionally move behind her chair and kick her chair or move it as they played behind it. The nurse assured Joyce there were not children in the room, and that the entire facility was not open to visitors at this time due to COVID-19 safety protocols. When presented with this information Joyce asked to confirm if the children she had been seeing in the room were real and the nurse confirmed they were not.

Sue and Rachel asked Dusty if Joyce had reported audio/visual/tactile hallucinations before the accident and Dusty confirmed she had not reported anything like this pre-accident. Dusty reported the "spiderwebs" and prismatic effects Joyce insisted to have seen while at Gritman (June 7) was the only oddity he was aware of post-accident. Dusty relayed that the Gritman doctors had said it was most likely related to her lack of recent visitation to an optometrist or ophthalmologist to have her eyes checked out. 

Sue and Rachel are suspecting that the Tramadol pain killer Joyce was perscribed (which can cause sensory hallucinations in patients) is the culprit to the specific manifestations Joyce is experiencing. 

Sue and Rachel assured Dusty that Joyce was not in distress from these hallucinations. They are following up with Joyce's primary care physician, Dr. Deborah Collins, today to see about changing the pain medication to an alternative in the hopes that will relieve Joyce of the hallucinations.

Sue and Rachel will follow up with Dusty when they have new information.

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