24 January 2025
Today I took Joyce a bill to pay as well as her laptop. I'd just installed my checkbook program on her laptop a few days ago and wanted to show her how to use it.
It has complete data from two accounts from 2023 already. After she wrote her check, we entered it into the MySQL database using the PHP check entry form in Safari and saw her balance change instantly. Then I showed her how to view her expenses, income and monthly reports as well as group expense by category for taxes. All in the blink of an eye.
And she followed along with no issues.
We'd just been sitting on the side of the bed. She was wary about getting into the wheelchair, which requires standing up. And she insisted she wasn't going to walk today.
She'd been so alert at the keyboard that when I got her in the wheelchair to have lunch sitting up (instead of in bed as she preferred), I asked her what she felt like when she stood up to walk. And she gave me a cogent and clear answer.
"I feel unbalanced and unsteady," she said. And she confirmed the feeling did not go away as she walked. Even if she walked 50 feet, as she did the other day.
Well, I thought to myself, let's just take her at her word.
If it isn't a "fear" but a real perception of danger maybe there's a physical reason for it. If she were visiting her primary, she would order a CTscan. And it has been a couple of years since she had one (which came back clean).
So I went to the desk and said I wanted to talk to Dr. Dimaano. All I got were puzzled looks. Julian the transport guy said they didn't know how to get in touch with her but she wasn't in today so I could talk to Eric in the office but it's his last day. Anne, the woman who has been doing Joyce's dressing changes, is taking his place.
So tell Anne I want to convey a message to Dimaano.
Anne came to the gym where I had taken Joyce to work on the SciFit, which isn't busy during the lunch hour. I began explaining what I was up to and stopped myself when I started to describe what Joyce had said. Instead I brought her over to Joyce and asked Joyce to repeat the symptoms herself for Anne. Which she did.
Anne said they could measure Joyce's blood pressure when in bed, seated and standing to see if there was any difference. And they could do it now.
It wasn't easy, so she got a reading seated on the SciFit (102/71) and, after three attempts, standing by the bed (92/70), a 10 point drop. She called this orthostatic hypotension and promised to report it to Dimaano and get back to me Monday. There is some medication that can address that.
I also asked her to enquire about a CTscan to see if there was something else going on.
And when I got home, I messaged Dr. Khanna , Joyce's Memory Clinic doctor, to ask if what she described when walking is a common symptom of dementia or a sign of some other disorder.
After all, it would do no good to move her to a dementia facility if she had some other issue.