Joyce's KP Adventure mikepasini.com headlines
The Wound
7 September 2020
This morning Joyce had her second in-home wound irrigation, dressing change, sponge replacement. It goes by all those names but it's all the same process, begun half an hour before with Oxycodone, Tylenol and Ativan.
In 15 minutes Tyler removes the old drape with the tubing attached, carefully takes each piece of sponge up, inspects the wound, cuts new sponge to fit, covers it with drape, affixes a new lily pad and tube, covers that in drape and starts the suction pump again.
If all goes well, the pump sucks the sponge into the wound and doesn't find a thing to beep about (like a leak or low pressure). And all went well this morning.
With the wound exposed, I asked a few questions about what I was seeing. I also took a few photos. Both Dr. Tong and Tyler have taken photos but except for Dr. Tong showing Joyce hers briefly on her iPhone screen, Joyce hasn't been able to see what's going on.
Neither have you, I realize.
You may not care to look at the wound, of course, so I've hidden both the dressed wound and the open wound images with just a black image. Click on the buttons to see the wound.
Here's what you're looking at.
Tyler called it sort of a dirt hole that fills in from the sides. So if you look around the edges of the skin, you'll see some foam-like tissue forming. That's all new since the surgery.
He thought it looked great and was growing very fast. But it's still a process that will take months to fill in the large hole.
At the center and bottom of the hole is her leg muscle. Dr. Tong had to cut that deep, as did the original surgeon Dr. Fang, who removed the malignant tumor.
Once again Joyce tolerated the procedure without complaint. Removing the sponge is the delicate part. Peeling it from the new skin is like taking off a bandage before the skin closes.
That's why she has a little drug cocktail first.
I confirmed with Tyler that Joyce can continue to take walks. She has no physical restrictions.
Yesterday she made it around the block despite the heat and she was noticeably stronger than the day before when we walked up the hill to the mailbox.
We'll try that again today and if she's game, maybe a bit more.
Have to build up her appetite!
