General Update #101

Andrea called Dusty last night (8/3/20) around 9:37 p.m.
Test results were available and it was confirmed that it appeared that Joyce had a urinary tract infection. Joyce's primary care physician, Dr. Collins, has been updated and directives are pending. Most likely a course of antibiotics will be prescribed by Dr. Collins. Andrea confirmed that Joyce was resting comfortably, still lethargic, but had a good dinner and all of her vitals (blood pressure, oxygen levels, blood glucose) were fine.

Andrea offered to transfer Dusty to Joyce's room phone but Dusty declined based on Joyce's status as lethargic and sleepy. 

---

Dusty called Aspen Park around 10 a.m. today (8/4/2020), following conclusion of morning meetings and appointments at work, to request an update on Joyce. Dusty spoke with Maggie (Joyce's nurse for the day). The Aspen Park team is waiting on the urine culture that was collected. Once that data is available (which type of bacteria are present), an antibiotic will be prescribed at that point by Dr. Collins to treat the urinary tract infection. Joyce is reported to still be hallucinating and lethargic today. Maggie stated that it is hard to keep her awake. 

All therapy work with Joyce (occupational, physical, cognitive) has been temporarily suspended as she is not able to participate in their exercises.

Dusty inquired about how the family would go about assisting Joyce, when she returns to her home, with diagnosing and treating UTI occurrences. Maggie said that family as involved in a patient's care giving world as Joyce's is will notice mental imbalances and behavioral change quickly (as occurred on Sunday) and can immediately contact Joyce's doctor. A urine sample will either be collected by the family and delivered to the doctor's office, or Joyce can be brought in to provide it for the doctor's office and treatment begun in a similar fashion (prescribed antibiotics). It should be a manageable process as the family knows what to look for in Joyce's outside of established baseline behavior.

Maggie thought that the family will want to consider following up with a urology specialist for Joyce, because of these chronic UTIs, for potential solutions. Maggie will ask Dr. Collins today to confirm if the urologist can/will be pulled into discussions about Joyce's UTIs going forward as there may need to be more work done (stints) for Joyce in the future if the UTIs are chronic or chronic kidney stones are an issue. 

Maggie assured Dusty that they would keep him updated on Joyce once they hear back from Dr. Collins and initiate treatment.

Maggie confirmed that Joyce's discharge date would be paused while they get Joyce treated for the UTI. Maggie will coordinate with the Aspen Park social services team to ensure they are on the same page about the change to the discharge plan. Discharge plan for Joyce will be re-evaluated and rebuilt post-UTI clearing and Joyce returning to baseline normal. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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 rela...
Read more

General Update #95

07/27/2020 Dusty called Joyce to check in and wish her a good night while he was preparing dinner for Jess. Joyce was alert and quite talkative. Dusty reviewed the plan for the telehealth appointment scheduled for tomorrow and Joyce stated that no one had told her that was occurring. Dusty suggested to Joyce that they were going to visit with her tomorrow morning ahead of the appointment based on what Rachael had told him and Joyce concurred. Dusty questioned Joyce about her decline of participating in the urinary incontinence therapy as well as her reported lack of performance with physical therapy. Joyce stated that she had been looking forward to the urinary incontinence therapy work but according to her they only spoke to her once about it and then never again approached her about it.  Joyce felt like they don't do enough PT with her even though she wants to do more PT. She cited today that they only had her walk back and forth using parallel bars for a few minutes before givin...
Read more

General Update #85

Dusty and Jess called Joyce in the evening on July 4 to wish her a happy Independence Day.  Joyce reported that her pain levels were fairly low, even after doing upper body physical therapy work earlier in the day. She was a little disappointed with her meals served. She had been hoping that they would serve hot dogs and potato salad for lunch or dinner but none were to be had. Joyce could not recall what she ate for any of her three meals she was served. At the time of the phone call Joyce had not seen any fireworks out her north facing window but she could hear several concussive blasts of fireworks being set off near Dusty and Jess' apartment.  Joyce said that she did not see or hear the Let Freedom Ring Tour (a B-25 Mitchell, a F-7F Tigercat, a P-47 Thunderbolt, a P40N Warhawk, and a P51D Mustang), which was sponsored by Hangar180 , fly overhead around 5:45 p.m. but she might've missed it most likely owing to having been napping at the time. She stated that she was excited...
Read more