April 30, 2021: The day my life changed, temporarily

April 30, 2021 my wife, Terri, was walking our dog, Roulette, on the correct side of the street and was struck from behind. Yes, the driver crossed the center of the road and hit her.

Terri has a long road to recovery. Roulette is becoming more herself and wanting to play. More details and updates are here

The Application that is needed

Upon Terri returning home from rehabilitation facility and my realization that I needed to care for her I found keeping track of medications was quite difficult. The complexity to keep track of drugs as one drug was 2 pills every 6 hours for 7 days then 1 pill every 6 hours, another was 2 pills every 8 and others were as needed every 4 hours but no more than n mg in 24 hours.

While I am keeping track of this on paper I decided I'd write an application, a pill reminder.

Expectations

I am taking FMLA to take care of my wife and just taking it one day at a time. I am not sure when I will be able to work and want to keep my skills up.

I am also not sure when each part of building this application will be released. It might be one a week or month or might disappear for a while.

Requirements

I've determined the following requirements for the first version. I want to keep this simple. The minimal features to make a the application viable. A Minimum Viable Product (MVP)

Add a medication/vitamin to be track which contains

• title (name of drug)
• number of pills / amount mg
• frequency taken (as needed, n hours)
• not to exceed n pills in last 24 hours

Alert when it is time to take the next pill

Answer Can I take something now (as needed meds) or the next time I can take med?

RESTRICTION Since the application deals with medical information the initial version will not store data in the cloud or share data with other devices.

Future Requirements

I have a wish list of features that aren't necessary but would be useful additions. Many of these features start sharing info with others.

Share drug list with family and care givers

Alert when medication dosages are taken or missed.

Ability to scan the drug bottle when taking to auto list what was taken and avoid error.

Verify medications being taken against a list of drug interactions

List common drug side effects

Email a weekly report of when drugs are taken

End Notes

While I won't get to use this app with the start of my wife's medications it will still be useful.