Pullman Regional Hospital - Tuesday April 6, 2021

 These entries will be a bit odd as I (Jess) will be transcribing text messages from Dusty of the events as they happened and he had time to reach out to myself and the family. I will have him come back and edit/add more when he can. 

8:39 a.m. Dusty: Dusty back on site. Joyce working on eating omelet and peaches for her breakfast. Doc and head nurse dealing with other patients in ICU needing attention, they will check in with Dusty when able.

8:40 a.m. Dusty: Joyce knows who Dusty is and appears to be in good spirits at the moment

8:50 a.m. Dusty: Cindy (nurse) and Megan (CNA) stopped by. Joyce was on BiPAP from 1030pm to ~330am before Joyce wanted it off. Joyce's oxygen saturation stayed up after BiPAP removed so it was not restarted. 4 units of insulin was administered to Joyce after Dusty left last night.

8:54 a.m. Dusty: Medicine administered Lisinopril (blood pressure), torvastatin (?), aspirin, carvedilol

9:56 a.m. Dusty: Breakfast finished, 3/4 of omelet and all of peaches eaten. Cindy arrived to administer antibiotics, pull urine cache bag, and refill ice buckets storing urine sample jug.

9:59 a.m. Dusty: Joyce having problems remembering she has catheter in place. Joyce asking Cindy when she can go home, Cindy says doc should come in sometime soon to reveal plan.

10:36 a.m. Dusty: Cindy arrived to give next dose of antibiotics.

10:44 a.m. Dusty: Sarah (social worker) arrived to visit with Joyce. Recommendation for home health (OT/PT) to resume when Joyce returns. Joyce anxious to leave hospital. At least 6 hours of urine same collection to go, and then jug of material is sent to lab for test. Sarah thinks Joyce will be at PRH through tomorrow at least according to what she heard so far. Joyce not pleased at this news. 

10:57 a.m. Dusty: Megan stopped in to check on Joyce. Gave Joyce a new blanket. Joyce attempting to negotiate then order her clothes be given to her so she can get up and leave.

11:17 a.m. Dusty: Cindy arrived to check on Joyce.

11:48 a.m. Dusty: Megan arrived to check Joyce's catheter (and Joyce reported her gown was wet). Catheter still in place, assuming Joyce spilled her water cup and didn't notice? Urine collection bag emptied into container.

11:51 a.m. Dusty: Doc Mark stopped by (a customer of Phil's for firewood) to check on Joyce. No new info provided, just checking on antibiotics and wanted to say hi to Phil's mom.

11:59 a.m. Dusty: Dr. Mark arrived again to continue check on Joyce after getting called to other ICU room with problem patient. Megan collected vitals on Joyce after Dr. Mark departed.

12:09 p.m. Dusty: PT/OT team arrived to work with Joyce .

12:40 p.m. Dusty: Joyce returned from walk down ICU hallway, very exhausted from effort but determined to be doing well and comparable to activity logs family care providers keep. Lunch delivered (chicken sandwich, chocolate pudding, root beer). Cindy logged blood sugar levels, 160. 3 units of insulin administered.

12:42 p.m. Dusty: Lasix (diuretic) administered per doctor to help with Joyce's water retention.

1:41 p.m. Dusty: Lunch abandoned. 1/2 of chicken sandwich and all of pudding eaten.

1:43 p.m. Dusty: Joyce summoned Cindy to request Dr. Mark to get him to release her. Dusty apologized as he did not know that was what Joyce was wanting, she had initially  said "something was wrong" and she needed the doc. Dusty attempting to work with Joyce to get her to comprehend she is staying put at least through tomorrow. Joyce wanting to go home.

3:50 p.m. Dusty: Connie Fleener arrived to visit Joyce. Apparently hospital policy is 1 visitor per day but ICU team made exception. Connie in room with Joyce while Dusty is out front of PRH.

5:56 p.m. Dusty: Connie departed, Dusty back in room with Joyce. Joyce working on dinner. Ate her mashed potatoes, Dusty cut up her chicken breast and she working on eating that, Joyce saving her pudding for last. Dr. Mark stopped by with nurse to check in on Joyce, adjusted Joyce so she is less slumped in recliner.

5:57 p.m. Dusty: Joyce attempting to negotiate getting IV and cables removed as they bother her.

6:00 p.m. Dusty: Catheter removed while Connie was in room with Joyce, urine sample sent to lab for processing. 

6:56 p.m. Dusty: Dinner finished, Joyce begins asking for her clothes and to be taken home. Joyce not sure where she is.

7:36 p.m. Dusty: Peggy (night nurse for Joyce) arrived to introduce e herself, check Joyce, and take vitals.

7:38 p.m. Dusty: IV line cleaned. Joyce readjusted into more upright (less slumped) position in recliner. Evening meds administered.

7:44 p.m. Dusty: Peggy has no info on x-ray or ultrasound tests performed yesterday to share from the shift change meeting, she will ask for update.

7:48 p.m. Dusty: Vitals collected by Peggy's CNA (Kinsey). Temp normal, BP 143/79, Oxygen level @ 97%. Catheter confirmed removed around 4pm, Peggy and Kinsey will attempt to take Joyce for toileting soon.

7:49 p.m. Dusty: 2 liter oxygen flow rate confirmed, no orders to increase it. BiPAP to be used again when Joyce ready for bed. Joyce opted to sleep in recliner with BiPAP instead of in bed)

8:42 p.m. Dusty: Bathroom trip completed using commode as Joyce could not walk into bathroom even with Kinsey and Peggy helping. Small amount of urine and small bowel movement (type 1) passed. Joyce constipated, Peggy and Kinsey don't have time to wait out Joyce or coach her how to poop. New diaper put on Joyce and Peggy said they will just clean up the mess if/when Joyce "fires anything out"

8:46 p.m. Dusty: Blood glucose @ 153

9:43 p.m. Dusty: Peggy arrived to check on Joyce.

10:15 p.m. Dusty: Dusty packing up to head home and will return to PRH tomorrow morning. Patient down hall is high needs for ICU staff. Peggy said they will set Joyce up with BiPAP soon. 


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