31 August 2020
Yesterday was difficult. Today is maddening. And tomorrow is another day. In between are the nights with alarms going off and a jack hammer in the distance.
SUNDAY
Sunday began in the dark, of course, with the Wound VAC keeping us up all night. It sounded like a jackhammer. Which was odd because previously it had sounded like gentle rain falling on a skylight.
I called the 24-hour number for home healthcare but it was just an answering service.
Instead I turned off the machine. And a little later it started beeping that therapy had been stopped. Can't do that, Mike.
Joyce can sleep through anything. I took refuge on the couch. Until I heard her crying and returned to the bedroom. I buried the Wound VAC under pillows and blankets until the jack hammering sound as if it were coming from across the street.
That let us finally get some sleep.
No brunch this Sunday. We have lunch instead. A light one. Joyce finished her garlic and clam pizza and I had a little pasta.
Then just as I put on Chocolat, Mary1 called. I was streaming it, so I just waded back upstream after her call, no problem. Except it wasn't a very good call. Sorry, Mary. As she observed during the call, Joyce responded in monosyllables.
She's been very depressed. Not at all herself.
When we return to the movie, she enjoys it for a while but can't make it to the end. About two-thirds through she goes into the bedroom to take a nap.
But the Wound VAC won't let her. It beeps and beeps. "Canister Full!" or "Leak Alarm!" But the canister isn't full and there's no leak.
I do change the canister when I see something green inside. That shouldn't be there, I think. I take a photo and send it to Dr. Tong.
Now we're down to one canister. Who reorders? I go through the paperwork. It says they will ship 30 days of supplies right after the initial shipment. But we would have gotten that by now. Hmmm.
I call Tyler, the home care nurse, about the beeping. He calls the service to find out who's on duty, calls back to say I'll be hearing from them and to call him if I don't.
I don't hear from them and the Wound VAC keeps beeping as Joyce tries to nap.
We finally get a call that someone will come at 6:30. So at 5:30 I start dinner. Fries in the toaster oven, mushrooms sauteing in the skillet, pork chops in the frying pan. The timer doing double duty.
That, of course, is when someone calls. Joyce tries to handle the call but she's not understanding a word. They want to talk to the chef. Put them on speaker phone, I suggest. She doesn't know how. She forgot. I suggest they call back in 10 minutes when I've plated everything.
They never do.
I do learn something though. It seems the false error messages are triggered by the position Joyce is in. And we get a night of soft rain again without burying the Wound VAC to muffle it.
MONDAY
I order supplies from Apria when I get up. That's the company renting the machine to Kaiser. I also get them to schedule a tech to come out to replace the battery charger/power cord that keeps falling out. I've been holding it on with a couple of rubber bands.
I also check her email, something else she hasn't been able to focus on. She passed her blood tests and is Covid-19 free.
We have a 1:40 pre-op call after the noon tech visit. I get some work done in the morning and then dash down to the bank to pay a bill. But I get back before the tech arrives.
Because, you know, he didn't come. It's 4:45 now and the latest ETA (after calling Apria to find out what's up) is 6:30 and as late as 9 p.m.
But Tyler did call to find out if anyone contacted us yesterday. Nope. And it's still beeping.
Well, he says, if the sponge doesn't have suction, it isn't cleaning out the wound, so call the surgeon and see if you can get it replaced today instead of tomorrow.
Meanwhile, a guy on a bike drops off a prescription that she already has a full bottle of while leaving us with one zinc pill left. I try to help her reorder that but the order fails for some reason.
The Wound VAC beeping seems under control now (so surgery can wait until tomorrow). The 1:40 call confirms she has to fast eight hours before surgery anyway. And I gave her an Strawberry Ensure Banana smoothie for lunch. She liked it, too.
But Joyce can't remember she has the device attached to her, gets up and knocks it to the floor. It's heavy and there are going to be divots in the floor before this is over.
She also can't manage the power cord, forgetting it's attached.
But she is worried about bills. She likes to pay early. But she can't get past the sign-on screens to do it. I try to stop her before she gets locked out.
Just one frustration after another.
But during a lull this morning, I did order a washer and dryer. Should be here in the middle of September.
Time for dinner. If you're scoring at home, tonight will be grilled tuna with a side of pesto after a nice caprese salad with an heirloom tomato and burrata mozzarella.
We'll probably be joined by a tech here for dinner, too.