28 August 2020
Joyce slept in today. About 15 minutes before the home healthcare nurse was to arrive, I roused her. She was sitting on the edge of the bed when I heard a knock on the door. I happened to be on the phone with Dr. Tong at that particular moment.
I put Dr. Tong on hold a second, let him in, told him what I was doing on the phone and invited him to sit before returning to the phone.
Dr. Tong said she'd tell the recovery staff to keep Joyce a little longer next time and make sure she can get up from a chair. If she's too weak, she said, she'll admit her overnight. She doesn't want that fall to happen again.
She thought she might expedite the clinic appointments for sponge replacement to avoid 1) Covid-19 testing for surgery and 2) sedation.
She asked my opinion and I said let's leave it at Tuesday and Thursday in surgery next week and see how she does Tuesday. Dr. Tong was fine with that. She emphasized she didn't want to rush anything and was happy to do whatever Joyce decided.
It's homemade garlic and clam pizza tonight.
So we left it at that.
Then I returned to Tyler Smart, Joyce's home nurse. By then she had come out of the bedroom to meet him. He had her sign the consent forms for treatment. And he gave us his number and a 24-hour emergency number should the Wound VAC start beeping about something.
He checked her vitals (normal temp, clear lungs, 122/80 and normal oxygen after he found a finger that worked). Then he went through her medications and supplies, showing me how to change the canister on the Wound VAC.
He recommended Boost (which Carol had mentioned in an email). Chill it, he said, and toss in a banana so it doesn't taste like medicine.
He'll be back tomorrow just to make sure Joyce is doing OK.
When he left we got ready for Joyce's Covid-19 test at French hospital. I didn't realize you couldn't drive through Golden Gate Park now. The roads are blocked for recreation. But we got there just in time.
It took a couple minutes before we were on our way home. She remained in the passenger seat while the pleasant nurse swapped the back of her throat and each nostril for 10 seconds. Results in a couple of days.
She sat downstairs for a while (Carol's suggestion again) to catch her breath before getting up the stairs. She only had to catch her breath on the last two. But she made it. Stronger than yesterday.
So maybe it was the sedation.
She did have lunch. Leftover meat ravioli. And I picked up some Ensure and a few bananas for her. It's homemade garlic and clam pizza tonight. I have to save the salmon burgers because the pizza dough is about to go.
There you have it. Let's think of it as slow progress under the watchful eyes of a smart nurse.