Keeping Track
The older one gets, I think it becomes more important on keeping track of details, of doctor visits, nurse visits, test results, but man, it takes a lot of preparation to do. Even if you are computer savvy, it is difficult to anticipate what you need to track, and then HOW.
I’ve used Excel, and yet, it is cumbersome in a lot of ways.
The problem is, what do you store, how often do you record it?
What to track
I wish there was an easy to follow template, but there isn’t, so guess I am going to have to actually spend some time, and think on this one. There are some good resources out there, one from a twitter I noticed, which I’ll have to go back and find. That’s the downside to twitter, finding past tweets.
Things I know I need to include in my template
- blood pressure readings
- INR results
- dates of Nurse visits
- dates of Doctor visits
- frequency of bowel movements
- weight
- innoculations
- medications
Now the real problem is to record any outside details, such as things to watch for. A handy list of possible side effects would be good too, for easy checking, but then, that’s maybe going too far. And yet, I don’t know, as a person ages, their reaction to things change. Side effects DO happen, and it’d be nice to know what they are, to double check.
Example, Dizziness. Can be from a rapid drop in blood pressure, can be from the blood pressure medicine, or other meds.
This certainly is a lot more complicated than I thought. Time to read more on Excel, to see what it can do, so I can better track things, including how to make it simpler to do. Time is not an ally.
Take A Pill
I have been looking after Mom now, for over ten years. Have gone with her and Dad to the same Family Doctor for over 13 years until the Doctor up and retired. Then our new Doctor visited the house, and since we’ve changed, the new new Doctor also comes to the home.
What gets me, is that over my entire life, the solution for many of one’s complaints, has been to prescribe a pill. At least until this new Doctor took over. Mom’s physician from way back, gave her Amytryptilene, to help her sleep. However it is also an anti depressant, and boy does it have some nasty side effects.
In fact, it sent Mom to the Hospital for a month, because she was losing her balance a lot. Seemed it was a side effect of the drug, which she was taking 150 mg. of each night.
Now, after that it got cut back, but not eliminated, and until Dr. Rosenberg took over, she was taking 50 mg. each night. Her walking hasn’t been great, and yet no one, until now, bothered to check the medications she was taking.
Today she is taking 10 mg. a night, and that will soon be reduced to ZERO.
And you know, it hasn’t changed her sleeping patterns one single bit. Which makes me wonder, why was she given the drug to begin with, and secondly, why was it increased all those times?
