Joyce's KP Adventure mikepasini.com headlines
The MRI Episode
20 September 2020
Saturday began with an illuminating piece on NPR that explained why our new washer and dryer has not arrived yet.
Throughout the summer, factories have been operating at 25 to 50 percent capacity when coronavirus cases spiked through major hubs for shipping and manufacturing of parts and appliances in China, the U.S. and Mexico.
Not that we ever heard from Clay at Lowe's again. Customer service is apparently a lost art. We're left hoping Lowe's honors its Tuesday delivery date. Otherwise it's laundry at Mom's on Wednesday again.
I'd like to tell you we ended the day on a more upbeat note with Joyce's MRI. But you probably won't be surprised to learn there was little upbeat about it.
Her ER doctor ordered the MRI to see what was going on with her right foot and if a nerve was being pinched in her back. The earliest Kaiser could schedule it was 5:30 p.m. yesterday.
So I drove her over at 4:45 and walked her in. I couldn't go in myself under the Covid-19 precautions, so I drove home to wait for her to call after what I expected to be a two-hour session. At least.
And she called shortly after I got home to tell me the test had been delayed so she was going to be there longer. We half expected that because when an emergency MRI is required, it takes precedence, of course.
But she was happy to find out her copay under Medicare was around $200, less than half what it had been for an MRI when she was covered at work.
Around 7 p.m. or a bit later, she called again.
The technician refused to do the MRI because she had a Wound VAC. So she was ready to come home.
This morning I investigated that issue, finding a clinical guideline for VAC therapy that covered the MRI issue.
There is indeed an issue with the pump itself. As the Kaiser technician said, it can't be in the same room as the MRI machine.
But there is no issue with the foam dressing. All the technician had to do was disconnect the line where the canister connects to the dressing's lily pad line and do the MRI.
I had actually gone over that option with Joyce before she went in. And if I had been in there, I would have suggested that to the technician. But no Nobel Prize in Medicine for me.
The happy ending is that she's walking around better (and ready to resume her walks around the block as well as physical therapy). So she probably doesn't need to know whatever the MRI would have revealed (arthritis in her spine, probably).
Oh, and Kaiser refunded her co-pay immediately. Which we'll probably spend on laundry soap.