Doctor's Visit

After Lyn's recent days of frustrations, Mom scheduled Lyn for an appointment with her physician again.  The physician checked Lyn over, gave her a bit of a cognitive evaluation and reviewed the neuro-psych results from the fall with them.  The physician was shocked that the clinician refused to state that Lyn has dementia "because she can still engage in conversation."  She believes that dementia is the correct diagnosis and this week's visit just confirmed it for her.

During the visit, Lyn told the physician about getting turned around at the casino four times.  The physician noted the frequency and that it was just being blurted out like a non-sequiter.  Lyn also told her about the medical alert bracelet which has been ordered.  The physician felt that was an excellent idea.  Lyn struggled with the date, time, and names of the state and city in which they reside.  Mom and the physician both praised Lyn for her efforts and good answers.  When the physician asked Lyn to draw a house, something she's successfully done previously, the physician sketched one out first to demonstrated.  Lyn responded with "No.  I don't like that shape."  The physician told Lyn to draw what she wanted and Lyn drew a triangle.  The triangle was the house for Lyn.

The physician is concerned about the frustration and emotional outbursts.  She's prescribed a med that is only to be used when she's having a tough time.  Hopefully, it will help.

The physician is also concerned about the marked increase in sleeping.  An oximetry test has been ordered for Monday night.  An oximeter will be delivered to the house during the day and Lyn will need to sleep with a probe on her finger.  It will record her blood oxygen levels and pulse through the night to see if she's getting enough oxygen.

The physician and Mom discussed the neuro-psych evaluation and decided that it is probably too soon for the tests to be done again.  Even though the results will be a benchmark for 2 years, the physician believes they'll need to be repeated within the year.

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