Joyce's KP Adventure mikepasini.com headlines
A Better Day
25 October 2024
I got over to the hospital just before 1 p.m. Joyce hadn't eaten yet and was sound asleep in bed. Dr. Pondicherry popped in briefly. She's going off duty for a few days and handing Joyce off.
She said Joyce has been dehydrated from not eating so she had an IV. And she's been given pain medication including Tramadol prior to her physical therapy.
She didn't think Joyce's legs were unusually swollen or that she was retaining water but she hadn't been weighed. I wondered if extra weight was making it hard for her to move around. Later we learned her weight was 149 lbs., which is below her usual weight.
When the physical therapist arrived, Joyce did get her legs to the side of the bed before screaming, "I can't do it, don't you understand?!" But I insisted and she tried again, getting a bit further, almost sitting up before repeating her complained.
But on the third try she was upright and stood up on the walker and shuffled to the bedside chair. The physical therapist made her comfortable and suggested she sit up a while. I put on the TV to distract her.
She actually sat there comfortably for over two hours. During which the palliative care team visited. Jennifer, who had visited on the weekend, with Dr. Sherry Golden, who assessed her pain and sleep medications.
There's no physical therapy on the weekend so it will be up to the nurse and me to get her out of bed. No backsliding.
After that it seems like they're giving her a couple of days to start walking so she can do physical therapy at a skilled nursing facility. That's where she'd build up the strength to climb stairs. Dr. Pondicherry said she'd argue for one close by so I can do the dressing changes.
Dr. Golden said she sees a lot of post-operative disabilities from laying in bed too long. Not only has Joyce spent 12 days in bed but she was living a very sedentary life at home. That causes not only weakness but dizzyness and disorientation, she said. And Joyce has complained of both.
While in the chair, she had some lunch (salmon with polenta and zucchini) and got her hair washed for the first time in a while with a dry shower cap that includes shampoo and conditioner.
Not out of the woods yet but after yesterday this was all good news.