23 December 2020
Well, it's been a while because it's been a while. Sorry. That's the nature of the beast. Sit and wait, then sit and wait some more. Today was eventful, though, so I have something to tell you.
According to the calendar, it's the end of the month. So when Salwa the LVN took a photo of the wound today (which shows more of a gap between the muscle and surrounding tissue), I took advantage of the situation to email Dr. Tong about her plan to do surgery in January.
I asked if we should be scheduling something now or if this was a particularly bad time to be thinking about a three-day hospital stay. Covid-wise, that is.
We'll see what she says.
This afternoon, the Wound VAC decided to go into overdrive again and pump furiously complaining it couldn't get enough pressure. It's suppose to be at 125 (something) but it was flailing at 50 and 25 and even 0.
It makes quite a racket as it flails. You can't sleep. You can't turn it off either for more than a couple of hours (although the Kaiser Wound VAC pro told me you could go eight hours before you do need a dressing change).
So I texted poor Salwa after dinner and explained the situation.
She suggested I call Apria to confirm the machine was working. I did and it was. A simple test (cap the tube and if it reaches 125 and shuts off, it's working).
So I told her I was game to move the lily pad myself or shut the thing off for the night. Her choice. She said go for it, so I did.
I cut the old lily pad out, put drape over the hole to seal the wound dressing, cut a new hole in a different location, affixed a new lily pad, put more drape over it, connected the hoses and fired up the pump. We hit 125 and the pump purred quietly.
I remember when Tyler the RN at the very beginning of this was prohibited from doing exactly this procedure and had to ask permission from the Kaiser doctor on call who told him, hey, it ain't working now so what have you got to lose?
He knew what to do, though, and just need permission. Months later, I was glad to be able to replicate the feat. We both really need to sleep!