Temprest Lofton
August 2022
Temprest
Lofton
,
LPN
Home Care
Carle Physician Group
Urbana
,
IL
United States
She then sat down and called my mother’s doctor, waited on hold, and then had a conversation with the care providers which confirmed her assessment.
I recently flew out to Illinois to help my 83 yr old mother, who had spent some time in the hospital due to COVID and extremely low sodium levels, recover at home. When I got there, I saw things were more complicated than I had realized because she was having memory difficulties and was so exhausted she wasn’t eating. I spent several manic days trying to arrange home care and untangle all the information I was receiving from insurance and doctors, and also cooking and cleaning and getting my mother to eat several small meals a day. I am an only child, and my mother’s only family member left.
Temprest came for her first Carle Care appointment with my mother on the day that I discovered two bottles of the same medication with drastically different dosages printed on them. I knew that she had been taking the higher dosage, but when I checked the printout I had gotten from the doctor two days prior I saw it had listed the lower dosage, so I panicked. While Temprest talked with my mother in another room, I called the doctor who told me that I needed to take my mom to the emergency room. I hung up and had a meltdown. Temprest was just passing by the room I was in, and I motioned to her to come in, where I, a normally competent 57 yr old university professor, was sobbing and hysterical, and she immediately took charge. I explained the situation, and she told me that she felt going to the emergency room was an overreaction because my mother exhibited no signs of overdose and all her vital signs were excellent. She then sat down and called my mother’s doctor, waited on hold, and then had a conversation with the care providers which confirmed her assessment. My mother did not need to go to the ER. Temprest also got a plan to deal with the prescription in question. In addition to that, she got the ball rolling with a pharmacy to send out prepackaged dosages of mom’s prescription so that I don’t have to worry about her counting out pills incorrectly. Finally, she took an extra blood draw so that the doctor’s office could order a toxicity screening to determine any ill effects from the medicine overdosage, which is what they wanted to happen at the ER.
I have never been in such need of a competent, care professional as I was that day. She will say, “Oh that was nothing” but to me it was everything. She turned what could have been a miserable and terrifying situation into a minor problem and threw in helpful information and life-saving services to boot. I am so grateful for her.
Temprest came for her first Carle Care appointment with my mother on the day that I discovered two bottles of the same medication with drastically different dosages printed on them. I knew that she had been taking the higher dosage, but when I checked the printout I had gotten from the doctor two days prior I saw it had listed the lower dosage, so I panicked. While Temprest talked with my mother in another room, I called the doctor who told me that I needed to take my mom to the emergency room. I hung up and had a meltdown. Temprest was just passing by the room I was in, and I motioned to her to come in, where I, a normally competent 57 yr old university professor, was sobbing and hysterical, and she immediately took charge. I explained the situation, and she told me that she felt going to the emergency room was an overreaction because my mother exhibited no signs of overdose and all her vital signs were excellent. She then sat down and called my mother’s doctor, waited on hold, and then had a conversation with the care providers which confirmed her assessment. My mother did not need to go to the ER. Temprest also got a plan to deal with the prescription in question. In addition to that, she got the ball rolling with a pharmacy to send out prepackaged dosages of mom’s prescription so that I don’t have to worry about her counting out pills incorrectly. Finally, she took an extra blood draw so that the doctor’s office could order a toxicity screening to determine any ill effects from the medicine overdosage, which is what they wanted to happen at the ER.
I have never been in such need of a competent, care professional as I was that day. She will say, “Oh that was nothing” but to me it was everything. She turned what could have been a miserable and terrifying situation into a minor problem and threw in helpful information and life-saving services to boot. I am so grateful for her.