A 32 year old female wheelchair bound patient of mine who has a rare condition of spinal muscular atrophy which has paralyzed both her legs to the extend that she can stand with assistance no more than a minute now. When I arrived at her house I see a handsome 3 year old son and a cute chubby 8 month old daughter. This condition has a 25% chance of manifesting in a person if both mother and father are a carrier. Both her kids are normal for now and she being a staunch christian prays to god that none of her kids gets the disease. She met her husband in college of natural medicine. Having like interests both fell in love and got married. Patient was walking with help of walker for short distance then, however main struggle started when she got pregnant. Although they were ecstatic that they were going to have a baby, she did not want to harm baby in any way so she stopped walking as she did not want to fall. pregnancy went well and they were blessed with a beautiful baby boy. They wanted to have one more kid and soon after the older one turned 2 they planned for another one. God blessed them with a sweet little angel. Along with 2 kids came responsibilities. Patient got busy in taking care of kids and did not get to spend time to take care of herself. She stopped walking altogether. Now that her daughter is 8 months old her only concern is that she will start rolling soon and she may not be able to save her from rolling off bed. She is not keeping her on floor till evening as she can't pick her up and put her back to bed. Never thought that these kind of simple things can hold such high importance to some of them. Patient has started walking now with walker once therapy started. The 2nd day she walked from front door of the house till bedroom and back. It took a while but she did it. Her son was so so amazed to see her mom walk. He said' Mommy you are doing an awesome job'... My patient was thrilled listening this. She responded ' Oh that is the best motivation I can have. I will walk everyday if that makes you so happy'. My day was made just listening to those 2 sentences. Small things in life can bring such great pleasures!
Thursday, August 21, 2014
Tuesday, July 15, 2014
July 15th-2014
Medical Dilemma: Mrs. X lives alone and has a 24 hour CG who lives with her to assist with her daily activities. Her son is her power of attorney. I arrived at the patient's home in the morning and saw patient making her own coffee. when asked why she is doing that, patient said that her CG was not there all night and she was alone. After some time CG arrived and said that patient has memory issues and thinks that nobody was there. It was hard for me to know the real truth. If I give the CG a benefit of doubt, then I am placing patient at a risk. If I assume that patient is telling truth then I don't know if I am blaming a sincere CG for something she hasn't done. I finally called son and asked him to install camera in house to be fair both to patient and the CG
9 to 5 job for my 89 year old:
Met this lovely gentleman who tells me that his Full time job at his age goes as follows:
To give you the background, patient's wife lives in an assisted living facility 5 mins away from patient's apartment. she was moved there 1 year ago as she needed a lot of assistance due to medical problems and patient was unable to take care of her. Patient wakes up in the morning, has his breakfast and is there to see her at 10 am. They spend some time in activity center, takes her to dining room for lunch. Since he cant eat there everyday, he drives around and gets a quick lunch from a fast food place for himself, comes back to her. Both of them rest in her room and take a short nap till 3:30 pm. after which it's time to wake up, take medications and get ready for dinner. He stays with her till she gets dinner. takes her back to her room. the caregivers get Mrs. A ready and he gives her good night kiss and he leaves after she sleeps. After leaving from the facility, he picks up his own dinner or eats outside, get back home, finish few home chores and goes to bed. Next morning same routine starts. He has been doing this for 1 year and wish to continue till he or she passes away as he told me. Patient had medical problem in his rt forearm and was hospitalized for 3 days. After being back home, he was not able to drive. He was sad that he hasn't seen his wife for a week now and is eagerly waiting for his hand to heal so that he can start driving and go back to his much awaited 'full time job'.
9 to 5 job for my 89 year old:
Met this lovely gentleman who tells me that his Full time job at his age goes as follows:
To give you the background, patient's wife lives in an assisted living facility 5 mins away from patient's apartment. she was moved there 1 year ago as she needed a lot of assistance due to medical problems and patient was unable to take care of her. Patient wakes up in the morning, has his breakfast and is there to see her at 10 am. They spend some time in activity center, takes her to dining room for lunch. Since he cant eat there everyday, he drives around and gets a quick lunch from a fast food place for himself, comes back to her. Both of them rest in her room and take a short nap till 3:30 pm. after which it's time to wake up, take medications and get ready for dinner. He stays with her till she gets dinner. takes her back to her room. the caregivers get Mrs. A ready and he gives her good night kiss and he leaves after she sleeps. After leaving from the facility, he picks up his own dinner or eats outside, get back home, finish few home chores and goes to bed. Next morning same routine starts. He has been doing this for 1 year and wish to continue till he or she passes away as he told me. Patient had medical problem in his rt forearm and was hospitalized for 3 days. After being back home, he was not able to drive. He was sad that he hasn't seen his wife for a week now and is eagerly waiting for his hand to heal so that he can start driving and go back to his much awaited 'full time job'.
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