General Update #116

Dusty called Joyce during his walk home from work (8/20/2020) ~4:45 p.m. Joyce was alert and talkative initially, slowing down toward end of phone call. 

Joyce reported that she rode the stationary bike as part of her physical therapy today instead of going for a walk down the hallway and did some upper body exercises with her arms. 

Dusty reviewed his day with Joyce and reported on the UI's activity level increase with the return of students and the general concerns over that population returning. Dusty informed Joyce he will be up at Camp Grizzly Friday night to help with the Service and Induction Weekend projects.

Dusty asked if Joyce ended up having her blood drawn at Gritman today and she reported that she had not left the Aspen Park facility or had her blood drawn. They concluded that the previous blood draw from last week must have given the St. Joseph Cancer Center the information they needed for Joyce's upcoming appointment.

She briefly was unaware of where she was, stating that she was at home and thought the voices she heard in the hallway (Dusty assumed it was the staff or other residents of Aspen Park's voices she was hearing) was her home answering machine going off in the pantry. Joyce recalled after being reminded of her location that she was not at home.

Joyce ended the call when her dinner was delivered to her room by Aspen Park staff.

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Dusty attempted to call Aspen Park staff front desk ~4:58 p.m. but the call went to the voicemail system. Message was left asking for an update about Joyce's blood draw and confirmation about the phone number to use for Carol, Connie and Dusty to call on Monday to join Joyce's telehealth appointment with the cancer center.

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Dusty did not manage to call Joyce in the evening hours due to conflict with his schedule and lateness of hour.

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Maggie called Dusty at 8:50 a.m. (8/21/2020).

The CT scan for Joyce will not occur today due to massive computer problems occuring at Gritman. It has been rescheduled to Tuesday, August 25. According to Maggie, the CT scan order was also updated to include the soft tissue area of Joyce's neck. Due to the computer problems, Gritman was having difficulty in getting that added to Joyce's CT scan order as well. Decision was made to move the CT scan because of the temporary systems failure.  

An error occurred at Aspen Park as well, with breakfast and metformin being given to Joyce this morning when she should have been fasting in preparation for the CT scan appointment - so things worked out with Gritman's computer systems causing delays in appointment.

Maggie is contacting St. Joeseph's Cancer Center to see if the Monday telehealth appointment should still continue or be rescheduled, owing to the CT scan delay at Gritman. Maggie will follow up with Dusty to let him know if it will continue as scheduled for August 24 or if it will be postponed. If the cancer center appointment is postponed, Maggie will provide update information to Dusty. When the telehealth appointment with the cancer center occurs, Maggie will use her own personal cell phone to link in Carol, Connie, and Dusty to the conference call. Dusty will provide a phone number to use to Maggie for her to call on the date of the cancer center telehealth appointment. 

Maggie provided general overview of Joyce's condition. Joyce is not progressing with therapy well, owing to her low energy levels. Joyce tires out easily. Joyce has returned to her "baseline normal" with energy and mental alertness it seems. Joyce is still not able to do her own medication management with primary concerns about her insulin self-administration. Maggie will contact Dr. Collins about this and see if Joyce can be taken off the sliding scale of insulin administration and instead have her long-acting insulin dose changed. This would make dosing Joyce easier for her and her family in the long run. 

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