Flu? Urinary tract infection, Call for PT/OT visitors

Hopefully Denise just had a bout of flu. She's on a clear liquid diet. She not eating much, but what she is eating is staying down and she's feeling a little better, though very tired. They put her on an antibiotic (Levaquin) due to a urinary tract infection. Her hospitalist (doctor in charge of her medical status, not her doctor in charge of her rehab status) ordered her up an echocardiogram, thinking that Denise's heart meds might not be necessary. That'd be nice. Apparently the hospitalist was on call the weekend of the discharge, but wasn't notified of Denise's vomiting. Also, she and my nurse aunt both looked at the "illegible" Tigan prescription and both of them were able to read it, and didn't understand why the prescription wasn't filled. The hospitalist also pointed out that we should notify Denise's primary care doctor of her case and have him visit her in the hospital and keep checking in with him in the future. That should be interesting, as I don't recall Denise ever actually going to see him for anything... she's always just dealt with her ObGyn. The hospitalist was wonderful about answering the seemingly endless heap of questions that we had. I've got my work cut out for me... obtaining records, arranging appointments, a slew of phone calls to make, paperwork to fill out. Fun, fun, fun!

I brought some Christmas gifts for Denise to open. She was tired, but got through them and was in a better mood. When she was done, she said she wanted to try walking. There's nothing to stop her from doing that, thankfully. But then lunch came, she ate, and was too tired afterward to walk. Since she's in the regular part of the hospital, there's no rehab. PT & OT would only come once or twice a day for a few minutes. Going back to the rehab part of the hospital apparently isn't an easy thing to do, and doesn't seem likely. I hope to help Denise work out instead. The bummer is that I think I've picked up the illness that Jacob had, and don't want to expose Denise. If you have a PT/OT background and might be able to visit Denise and do some exercises with her, let's talk.