Ashley Frizzell
January 2023
Ashley
Frizzell
,
RN
5North
Cookeville Reginal Medical Center
Cookeville
,
TN
United States
I feel like if Ashley had not kept digging into her past history and talked to the hospitalist who treated her at the previous time (2018 or 2019) she would have just been sent to a SNF and never improve.
My mom was recently admitted to the 6th floor as a patient. She went in for a UTI and was alert when she went to the ER. Then on Monday she contracted the norovirus and was very ill and by Friday she was completely out of it mentally. She didn't talk, she would answer if you asked a question, like "do you know who I am" she would say yes. But couldn't tell you her date of birth or anything. The nurses were just thinking she was always like that and had dementia. She had been living at home by herself, carrying on conversations, talking to people on the phone, keeping up with the news, etc.
Anyway, to make a long story short, one of the nurses who had been on duty when she was admitted, and knew that was not her normal behavior, looked back through her old records but couldn't find anything that would make her like that. Back in 2018 or 2019 she had been in for 3 weeks and got like that, and we were told she had herpes (which turned out to be something else) but after it was treated, she started getting better. So, my daughter and I talked to Ashley about her condition, filled her in on her past history, and Ashley kept digging in her old records until she found what we had been told was herpes and how they treated it. It didn't turn out to be herpes or the other condition this time, but they ran additional tests instead of just thinking she had dementia.
It was a group effort with Ashley, the nurse that was on duty when she was admitted, and a nurse practitioner who was worried about her enough to contact me and ask how she normally acted. But I feel like if Ashley had not kept digging into her past history and talked to the hospitalist who treated her at the previous time (2018 or 2019) she would have just been sent to a SNF and never improve. I'm happy to report she is a patient at NHC doing therapy, getting stronger every day, and her memory is improving more like she was before getting ill. I feel like Ashley went above and beyond to help my mom. The 6th floor unit has a great team, and they really care about the patients and helping them get well.
Anyway, to make a long story short, one of the nurses who had been on duty when she was admitted, and knew that was not her normal behavior, looked back through her old records but couldn't find anything that would make her like that. Back in 2018 or 2019 she had been in for 3 weeks and got like that, and we were told she had herpes (which turned out to be something else) but after it was treated, she started getting better. So, my daughter and I talked to Ashley about her condition, filled her in on her past history, and Ashley kept digging in her old records until she found what we had been told was herpes and how they treated it. It didn't turn out to be herpes or the other condition this time, but they ran additional tests instead of just thinking she had dementia.
It was a group effort with Ashley, the nurse that was on duty when she was admitted, and a nurse practitioner who was worried about her enough to contact me and ask how she normally acted. But I feel like if Ashley had not kept digging into her past history and talked to the hospitalist who treated her at the previous time (2018 or 2019) she would have just been sent to a SNF and never improve. I'm happy to report she is a patient at NHC doing therapy, getting stronger every day, and her memory is improving more like she was before getting ill. I feel like Ashley went above and beyond to help my mom. The 6th floor unit has a great team, and they really care about the patients and helping them get well.