General Update #203 - November 2, 2020

9 a.m. - Jess arrived at farmhouse. Joyce informed Jess that she was worried she had come down with a cold as she was coughing and had a runny nose "like a faucet."

9:20 a.m. - Morning medication and 1/2 of nutritional shake given to Joyce. Joyce had wanted grape juice and pulled out a jar dated 2003. 2003 grape juice was bad, Jess opened a jar of 2014 stock, which was fine.

Vitals taken. BP 159/93, pulse 81. BGL 139.

9:30 a.m. - Derik arrived to use the bathroom. Jess reminded him to wear a mask as Joyce was showing signs of illness. 

9:38 a.m. - Breakfast (1/2 banana, glass of grape juice). 

10:15 a.m. - Joyce dozed on and off, citing that she had not slept well last night due to her runny nose keeping her awake. 

10:30 a.m. - Bathroom. Urine and small bowel movement passed. Returned to recliner ~10:48 a.m. Compression stockings put on Joyce.

11 a.m. - Joyce settled down for a nap, Jess departed farmhouse.

~12:20 p.m. - Dusty arrived at farmhouse finding Joyce reading the newspaper in her recliner. Joyce stated that Craig had just been into the farmhouse kitchen and given her the paper to read. 

12:40 p.m. - Lunch (small bowl of chili, 1 slice of whole wheat toast with honey butter). 2 Tylenol for pain relief. Joyce gave 1/2 of the toast to Dusty as she said it was too much for her. Joyce did not finish the toast, only the chili, and asked Dusty to wrap the toast for her to have with her dinner this evening. 

1 p.m. - Joyce declined bathroom trip. Dusty started dishwasher to cycle. 

~1:07 p.m. - Robocall to farmhouse landline intercepted by Dusty.

1:15 p.m. - Joyce declined bathroom trip.

1:30 p.m. - Joyce declined bathroom trip. Dusty informed her it was her last chance to use the bathroom with him around to assist her before he had to leave to return to the university campus.

~1:45 p.m. - Joyce stopped Dusty from departing farmhouse for bathroom trip. Joyce toileted without incident, passing urine and small amount of fecal matter with flatus. Dusty assisted Joyce with cleanup. 

Joyce consented to a PT walk after toileting but cited that she would be slow as she was feeling very tired. Joyce asked Dusty if their visitor from the University of Idaho had returned to campus. Dusty asked to clarify what she meant by that as they walked together around the house and Joyce said that there was a man from the university campus who "stopped by to visit her and her son Dusty" and "he said that he was only going to be around for a short while at the farmhouse before he left to go back to campus." It was determined that Joyce was very concerned about taking a PT walk and leaving the man alone in the other room "if he hadn't left for campus yet." Joyce unable to comprehend the man was Dusty when Dusty explained. Joyce had some difficulty in walking final leg of PT out to kitchen. Joyce settled into recliner for nap with assistance from Dusty. Dusty departed farmhouse to return to campus. 

Carol arriving to provide evening care for Joyce ~5:30 p.m.

---

Jess informed Dusty that Craig had given Joyce a dose of Elderberry juice to help remedy her illness.

Dusty will call Kindred nursing team to confirm which cold/flu medications are safe to use with metformin and carvedilol if Joyce's symptoms worsen.

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