This morning at 9:30 a.m. Kate had her annual physical. This was the second visit with her new doctor. I was happy but not surprised that her weight was almost exactly the same this time as before. In fact, it may have been a pound or two less than last time.
The first part of the visit was with the social worker. This was also a person new to the practice. She had recently graduated from college but had interned with the practice her last semester. I was quite impressed with her. The interview reminded me of the one Kate had recently with the nurse engaged by our insurance company to determine her eligibility for in-home care. She had such a hard time on the questions related to math that she asked the social worker to move on, and she did. She had an especially difficult time subtracting 23 from 100. She finally guessed 97.
The visit with her doctor went well. He asked a lot of questions related to what she could and couldn’t do around the house, health care power of attorney, living wills, DNR instructions, whether at this stage she wanted to go through any treatment that might be required if a mammogram or colonoscopy identified a problem. He explained DNR, and Kate said at this point, she would want to be resuscitated. I would have said the same. We are to get back to him regarding mammograms and colonoscopies. I plan to tell him I don’t see a need to do any more.
Our decisions on the DNR as well as mammograms and colonoscopies represent new markers on her journey. I believe she has too much quality of life ahead of her to have a DNR. On the other hand, if she were diagnosed with cancer, I would not want her to have to undergo surgeries, chemo, or radiation
We also discussed the donepezil (Aricept) she is taking and whether or not we might want to discontinue it. He asked if we thought it had worked. I told him I wasn’t sure because I don’t know how she would have been without it. I also said that what I know is that the progression of her Alzheimer’s has been very gradual. He pointed out that there is some evidence that discontinuing is followed by a more significant deterioration. We are going to stick with it.
This discussion about the donepezil came about because one of its side effects is diarrhea. Kate has been taking 1 tablet of loperamide each night as well as 1 tablet on Sunday and Wednesday of each week. That seems to be the perfect balance to prevent diarrhea and avoid constipation.
I had completed an information sheet before the appointment. It included the kinds of things that she does or doesn’t do around the house like laundry, house cleaning, bathing herself, dressing herself, etc. It also asked about any in-home care. He asked me to explain. I told him that I had engaged Daybreak to provide someone to stay with Kate when I needed to be gone from the house. He wanted to know when that had started. I told him September 6. I was interested that Kate didn’t respond to this discussion in any way. I wonder if she understood or whether she just accepted without thinking it indicated a problem at all. I suspect she didn’t process it at all. There are times like that when she just tunes out and lets me take care of things.
We also talked about her salivation problem. He asked a lot of questions. We (I) described the symptoms as clearly as I could. I had already talked with him by phone yesterday afternoon. We decided then for him to make a referral to a gastroenterologist. We will hear soon about an appointment.
He probed for other problems. We just didn’t have any. Once again, I feel we have been fortunate.
