Joyce's KP Adventure mikepasini.com headlines
The Plot Thickens
7 October 2020
So I went upstairs to start dinner, as I confided in yesterday's post, in an attempt to hurry the Wound VAC delivery. And just as I had suspected, as soon as I opened the refrigerator door to pull out something to cook, Joyce announced, "It's here!"
Funny how that works.
The new ActiVAC worked right away. It's not nearly as old as the one that failed, I noticed. And, in case you were wondering, it was assembled in Ireland.
Dinner was a chopped blue cheese salad and spaghetti alle vongole. Something simple (again). I'll have to owe you those recipes because I have to get back to the story.
Tyler just left after changing Joyce's dressing. But not before he left an urgent message for Dr. Tong.
He didn't like the way the wound smelled. He also noticed the swelling in the leg that Salwa had seen. And on top of that Joyce has been complaining about more pain the last few days.
On the other side of the ledger, she doesn't have a fever or any other signs of infection.
Tyler called the Kaiser advice nurse (Donna, if you're scoring at home) who sent a message to Joyce's PCP (that's primary care provider in Acronymish, the language of the medical establishment when Latin won't do) and Tyler called the surgery center to leave a message for Dr. Tong. I also emailed Dr. Tong the essentials with Tyler's phone number.
"You're on the right track," Tyler told Joyce has he left. "We'll take care of this."
So we're waiting to hear what Dr. Tong thinks about all this.
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THE DAY BEGAN rather ominously, come to think about it.
My email had a statement for the credit card I used for the washer and dryer purchase from Lowe's. It seemed high. What had I been buying?
After a little reflection, I realized the amount was for the washer and dryer purchase. You know, the one that has not yet shipped.
So, hoping this was a sign of some good news, I went to the Lowe's site to check my order status. Was it stock with a new shipping date?
"Delivery Information Currently Unavailable," it said for each item. The "i" button suggests calling Customer Service but, as it happens, we're waiting to hear from Dr. Tong.
A company can charge prior to shipping but the theory is shipping is imminent. That's not the sense I get from Lowe's.
On the other hand, the charge was for the original Labor Day sale price. Current prices for the items are substantially higher that they were around Labor Day.
And fortunately I used an offer from the credit card company for zero interest on the purchase. So it's not like I'll be running up interest charges.
But I thought it was a really bad move on Lowe's part to charge the card without at least confirming a shipping date.
So bad that even I, who cannot smell well enough to have noticed the change in Joyce's wound, thinks it stinks.
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HERE'S THE LATEST. Dr. Tong's office called this afternoon to make an appointment for Joyce on Oct. 15. From which I gather she isn't concerned about the smell or swelling.
But it is, as the nurses kept saying, time for Dr. Tong to take another first-hand look.
And that's just what the appointment appears to be. It's at the office not in surgery. I assume she'll remove the dressing and dress the wound after her examination.
If an infection does develop in the meantime (and we have three dressing changes before then), I imagine she'll prescribe a course of antibiotics to combat it. But the wound itself apparently needs no debridement since there's no dead tissue to remove, according to the nurses. Things look good -- and Dr. Tong would have seen today's photo of the wound.
I'm making a lot of assumptions here but there's only a call from the office to go on.
Oh wait! Joyce just got off the phone with Dr. Tong's office. The very latest is that Dr. Tong wanted to do a video visit Oct. 15 but Joyce said she thought the wound had to be looked at, so they rescheduled the morning appointment for the afternoon. In surgery (to change the dressing).
And that appears to be the way it is at the moment, to paraphrase Walter Cronkite.