General Update #92

07/24/2020

Dusty missed calling Joyce due to personal schedule conflicts.


07/25/2020

Dusty called in to check with Joyce at 1 p.m. following a training session he attended for Scouts BSA.

Lunch today was spaghetti "with a delicious meat sauce," a side of veggies and dessert was vanilla pudding. Joyce confessed that she might not have remembered it had the tray not still been sitting beside her with the remnants of the meal.

She had today off from physical therapy but did have speech/mental therapy. She said that some of the questions that the speech therapists ask her are "laughable" because they ask her if she has lived in rural areas and then ask her about what she thinks living in the rural areas are like after already verifying she lives in the country. Dusty suggested that the therapists are trying to use something basic, like knowledge of Joyce living in the country, to then ask questions about living in the country to see how Joyce recalls information or relays it back to them. Joyce (either not hearing or not interpreting what Dusty stated correctly) expressed that she thought that they were misdiagnosing her mental capabilities and that the staff should be asking her different things from what they already know about her. Dusty attempted to clarify and Joyce became defensive, continuing on non-sequitur manner about how "doctors, physicians, and experts misdiagnose mental issues all the time" and that could be what is happening to her. Dusty attempted to steer conversation back and assure Joyce that no one is arrayed against her and that he just wanted her to consider that the staff's questions were not laughable or to be derided but to consider instead that they were attempting to find out through simple questions where Joyce's mental perceptions and memory recall were as part of their testing and therapy work to establihs baselines and any new deviance from it. Conversation continued and Joyce stated that she treated the staff nice, not "making them feel odd or anything." She just answers the questions they ask her. 

Dusty reviewed his day so far, gave an update on Jess' art commission work and state of news from the UI as he knew it and rough plans for the weekend.

Joyce ended the call, stating that she felt a coughing fit coming on that she needed to deal with.

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Dusty called Aspen park around 1:20 p.m. to check in with Joyce's nurse.
Andrea reported that Joyce is doing great. Therapy team, wound care nurses, director of nursing, all checked in with Joyce throughout the day yesterday. Joyce was alert, even spunky, and answered all questions easily. Joyce performed well in therapies. Joyce did request some Tylenol at one point, as she stated that her back was feeling a little tight, and did not want to take any heavy duty medication. Tylenol was administered to Joyce in the evening before bed.

Andrea stated that it was noticed Joyce tends to "drop forward" in the recliner (Joyce apparently keeps it near completely in the upright position, even when sleeping). When this occurs, Joyce's head practically goes down to her knees with Joyce slumping into a ball shape. This might've affected her lung expansion and respiratory patterns. Joyce was shown again how to work the recliner's remote and adjust the chair to variety of more comfortable positions. After the recliner was moved to a leveled out position Joyce fell asleep and "slept hard." Andrea confirmed that Joyce slept through the night after she had checked in on Joyce prior to leaving at end of shift ~11:30 p.m. last night. Andrea thinks another contributing cause to the other night's issues Joyce experienced could be that she potentially napped too much at some point during the day and/or got off her sleep schedule as well? 

Today Joyce is alert, blood sugar levels are excellent. Andrea is hoping that things have leveled off but is continuing to monitor Joyce through the weekend. Andrea offered to transfer Dusty to Joyce's room phone but Dusty stated that he had already spoken with her and that Joyce ended the call citing oncoming coughing fit. Andrea said that she would go check on Joyce following conclusion of call with Dusty to check on Joyce.

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