18 February 2021
Among the more bizarre voice mails we've gotten was one this week from Cat(herine), the physician's assistance to Dr. Tong. I'd emailed Dr. Tong a few questions (like can we return the Wound VAC now and when does in-home nursing resume) and Cat was going to answer them.
But I missed her call in the morning and another in the afternoon, when she left the bizarre message that she was trying to reach Joyce's daughter who had some questions about her care and this was the only phone number she had.
I've been called a lot of things in my life, but never a daughter.
Cat did eventually answer my questions. She even called with a real phone number so I now have an actual contact (and not the generic switchboard all the Kaiser calls broadcast with Caller ID).
I've been called a lot of things in my life, but never a daughter.
And yesterday Apria picked up the Wound VAC. Joyce hates the thing. It isn't just the noise. It's having this heavy thing to haul around all the time. She would forget now and then and drop it or yank on the tubing.
At the same time, we started running out of supplies for the wet-to-dry dressings. The outer layer pads have been the first to go, replaced by the drape from the Wound VAC. Gloves will be the next.
Cat said they'd send both to us but that was now two days ago.
Yesterday just as Apria arrived to retrieve the Wound VAC, Joyce was having her dressing changed by Ben the RN, who has resumed in-home care. He replaced Tyler the RN, who has left the company.
It was interesting to see how Ben dressed the wound. I told him what Sarah the RN had done and explained what I had done and he did pretty much the same thing. I had the three lines of instructions Dr. Tong had given Sarah. Not much help.
Just put two patches of Adaptic down and then gauze soaked in Vashe and then two dry pads and finally the adhesive pads to hold everything on.
Friday Salwa will do it. She texted me in the afternoon to confirm the time.
In the evening, as the Warriors were climbing back into the game against the Heat, I changed the dressing using drape as that last layer for the first time. It didn't seem to cause a problem this morning when I changed the dressing even if it is one less layer of absorbent material.
Freed of the Wound VAC, Joyce has been walking a bit more. We walked up to Mollie Stone's market yesterday to buy some sushi (because after doing some chores at my mother's and shopping at Costco and Trader Joe's for food I was too gassed to cook dinner). A nice break.
The Warriors are off today but the Brighton Bruins are playing. Joyce has taken a liking to a center/forward named Luke. So we'll be rooting for the Bruins this afternoon.
Just us girls.