Thank you very much for referring Ms. Choi for geriatric assessment. The main concern is that of decreased cognition.
She is an 85-year-old lady who was born in China and came to Canada for over 30 years. She is married and lives with her husband in a co=op apartment. They have 5 children, 3 sons and 2 daughters. One of the sons is in Toronto and one of the daughters is in Toronto as well. she speaks Cantonese. She is a retired part-time cleaner. She had no formal education.
Her son, Mr. Choi is present with her for the interview today. She complained about having a decline in her cognition for over 5 years. She is forgetful with conversations and has decreasing comprehension. It is getting worse over time. There are no hallucinations
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There is no dizziness or weakness. There is occasional pain over the hips for which she takes Tylenol. There are no falls in the last 6 months.
The ADLs is that she is independent in all aspects of basic and instrumental ADLs. She carries a cane with her now. She does the shopping, cooking, cleaning and laundry and also finances.
PAST MEDICAL HISTORY:
1. Hypertension.
2. Hypercholesterolemia.
3. Arthritis. She used to take Celebrex in the past for arthritis.
4. Bilateral cataract surgery.
MEDICATIONS:
Her medications include Lipitor but that has been stopped over the last 2 months or so, Norvasc 5 mg p.o. daily, Tylenol Extra Strength 500 mg 1 tablet on a p.r.n. basis, Celebrex 200 mg daily p.r.n. She takes over-the-counter medications including Caltrate 1 tablet daily, lutein 20 mg 1 tablet daily and some Chinese tablets 3 tablets daily.
There is no known history of drug allergy. She takes the medications herself from the pill bottles.
She is a nonsmoker and occasional drinker. She would like to drink beer when she is anxious but the son has not bought it for her in 6 months.
On physical examination she weighs 126.7 pounds. Her visual acuity is 20/70 on the right and 20/50 on the left. Blood pressure is 170/66 sitting and 160/70 standing, pulse 72 per minute. JVP is not elevated. Heart sounds are normal. There are on murmurs heard. the chest is clear with on wheezing or crackles. The abdomen is soft and nontender with no abnormal mass
No history of skin disease. Skin is pink, dry, and void of bruising, rashes, or lesions. No recent hair loss; head is normocephalic. Pupils equally reactive to light; no history of glaucoma or cataracts. Ears are in normal alignment; no history of chronic infections, hearing loss, tinnitus, or discharge. Nose and sinus history includes clear nasal discharge “since last October”, and occasional nose bleeds; states she use to get nose bleeds often as a child. Mouth and throat are absent of lesions; no bleeding gums, sore throat, dysphagia, hoarseness, or altered taste. Neck is void of pain, swelling,
PHYSICAL EXAM: Temperature 98.6, Blood pressure 140/90. Pulse 110. Respirations 26. Her lungs are clear, showing mild signs of distress. Heart sounds are normal, irregular rhythm and bradycardia noted. No edema noted in extremities. Patient skin is cool to touch, slightly clammy. EEG shows prolonged QRS wave, with ischemic ST changes and PVCs. Chest radiograph clear.
and vomiting (N/V). She has also had coronary artery disease (CAD) for several years, and 2 years ago
Hi Roseann. Good Job. Your Unit 7 Initial Post is very informative. Her verbal report of fatigue, bilateral lower lobe crackles, skin is cool to touch, +2 edema in bilateral ankles, and heart rate of 112 are signs and symptoms of congestive heart failure. Her medical history of high blood pressure and coronary artery disease could also lead to heart failure. My focus would be is to teach her with CHF symptom management and to prevent exacerbation. To avoid hospitalization I would educate and give her a list of preventable measures such as avoiding salts, measuring her weight every morning, and fluid restrictions. I would advise S.P to notify her doctor with weight gain over 2 pounds. Medication compliance is also important in managing her
She lives in a small home that she and her husband built the year they were married. It is out in the country on a few acres of land that she still maintains by herself. Her husband unfortunately died of cancer only 5 years after their son was born. She makes sure you know that she does not need a man. This lady is highly independent and has a close knit group of friends that keeps her entertained. Her grandkids are clearly the apple of her eye. She helps take care of them as often as she can and makes almost
Elizabeth is taking many medications at once. She is experiencing blurred vision, orthostatic hypotension, and dizziness. Since she's always sucking on hard candies, this it is safe to say she has dry mouth also. What Elizabeth is experiencing are anticholinergic effects from one of her medications, or a drug interaction from them. There are also many other problems with the medications Elizabeth is taking.
Recently she isn’t having any speech therapy, she can remember things much better and she only go to physical therapy once a week, so it is very interesting to know that she is getting much better and improving every day which is a positive result toward her health. Based on the article “Menopause, Local Biologies, and Cultures of Aging.” by Lock and Kaufert, said, “Researchers have described women as facing a dramatic increase in the risk of heart disease, osteoporosis, stroke, and Alzheimer’s, all as the result of the impact of changing hormone levels, particularly the decline in estrogen.” Which mean, women are subjective in biological changes during their sage of life. It is very difficult to see those types of symptoms occurring unless
Mrs. Chen has had a progressive decline in her mental capabilities in the past five or six years. She had a CT Scan done and it showed that she had diffused cerebral atrophy. Cerebral atrophy as defined in our textbook is the wasting away of brain tissue. This means, she is experiencing a loss of neurons and the connections between them. Also, since her cerebral atrophy is diffused, it has affected multiple parts of her brain. Cerebral atrophy is commonly associated with Dementia and Alzheimer's. I think Mrs. Chen is suffering from one of these two diseases because of the description of her symptoms. Alzheimer's and dementia are commonly associated with memory loss, confusion, and the cognitive decline of a patient. Alzheimer's
Her sodium is 136, potassium is 3.6, BUN 21, creatinine 0.7, cardiac enzymes as mentioned were negative x3. Hemoglobin is 10.7, hematocrit is 31.0, platelet count is 343. INR 0.98.
This is a 66-year-old female who has indicated that she has been falling because she is “is tripping over her own feet”. Initially there was some question as to whether the patient may be displaying some Parkinson type symptoms. Patient is a type 2 diabetic with mild peripheral neuropathy of the lower extremities. In concern was that the patient’s falls may be related to low blood sugar or a result of the neuropathy. The patient reports that her blood sugars have been stable and, when checked after fall, they are not low. In fact, at times, they have been as high as 225. Patient reports that when she falls she is not able to get back up and must wait for help to arrive. Patient denies dizzy spells. Patient’s son is present for the consultation
A review of her medical records indicates that she has increased back pain and increased restless leg syndrome. She continues to suffer from chronic insomnia and chronic anxiety which is manage with Xanax. She suffers from chronic anemia and chronic depression.
There are no other complaints and she is not currently taking any medication. Ann state that her last medical examination was in June 2015. Ann states that she has no suicidal and homicidal ideation; and history of violence; Impulsivity. She state there is no history of substance abuse.
She finds it difficult to continue on with daily activities and will often have to call in sick at work or cancel plans and spend the day in bed (she has called in sick 4 times over the past 3 months because of this pain)
She has had no other significant worsening of symptoms associated with her eye symptoms. She noticed no rashes and she has always had arthritis in her left fingers and right wrist and has noticed no worsening of this or any other arthralgias. She has noticed no worsening of her baseline issues with breathlessness or any morning productive cough. She is not noticing any fevers sweats or loss of weight.
The patient tells me that she felt as though she could "feel my heart beat", for the last couple of weeks and she started checking her blood pressures more frequently. She has a blood pressure cuff at home and she says her blood pressures are running high. In addition, her pulse was up as well. Around the same time, she stated that her arms and legs were feeling weak, but on further questioning, said it was not weakness, it was a pain. She says when she is seated, it typically is not an issue, but as soon as she starts to walk, or use her arms, she develops some pain, which causes her to stop. Once she stops, it goes away. She has not fallen. There has been there has been no specific injury or trauma. There has been no vision or hearing changes from her baseline. She has had no pain in the chest. She has had no increased shortness of breath from her baseline. No wheezing. No coughing or cold symptoms. There have been no fevers, chills, or body aches. No nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea, currently. She did stop Victoza about four to six weeks ago because of some diarrhea and she said that went away when she stopped the Victoza. She has been monitoring her blood pressures. They are ranging from the 132 to 178 systolic over 60s to 90s diastolic. One outlier with a low at 84/70. She is not having any facial flushing. She is not