Joyce's KP Adventure mikepasini.com headlines
A Team Changes the Dressing
22 October 2021
Today's dressing change at 11:30 was quite a spectacle. Joyce was there, of course, but laying on her stomach, she couldn't see anything.
Dressing Change. Left to right: Sterile water and gauze to clean the wound, orange Coloplast, red topped Lidocaine and Q-tips, Curad petroleum dressing, medium sponge and lily pad below spare parts. Oh, and a couple of scissors.
It was an unusual situation because 1) we'd been to the clinic yesterday afternoon at 2 p.m. and had some new orders for the dressing, 2) Kevin the RN had to recertify care for Joyce and 3) Quoia the Friday LVN was able to join us.
Yesterday Alysse the Physician's Assistant (not Elise, as I'd guessed) had applied Colorplast (a zinc oxide cream a lot like sunscreen) to the edge of the wound to protect the skin that had begun blistering. She had also used an Ace bandage over the dressing to help minimize swelling in the leg, which has been a problem. And may have contributed to the blisters, along with irritation from the wound dressing adhesive.
I had texted a photo of the Coloplast application to Kevin and the two LVNs, Salwa (Monday and Wednesday) and Quoia (Friday), but only the text got through. So I showed Kevin the photo and he got right to it as Quoia arrived.
Kevin and Quoia (short for Sequoia) worked very well together. He cleaned the wound and applied Lidocaine then she told him how she had applied the petroleum dressing and he did it that way. He asked her how she had cut the medium sponge (he had used a large one) and she showed him. She saved the trim to make a bridge because Apria didn't have bridge kits to send him.
They finished the dressing and attached the Wound VAC and Joyce cried. She thought she was just getting a wet-to-dry dressing. Quoia was very sympathetic, holding her hand and comforting her.
They got 125 lbs. of pressure right away and added just one more piece of reinforcement. Joyce rolled over and he put the Ace bandage on.
It's been seven hours and the pump has been as quiet as a heartbeat.
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I SPENT THE AFTERNOON at my mother's. She had spilled some tea on her Ethan Allen dresser a while ago and I thought I could restore it with a little sanding and lacquer.
But I had to wait 30 minutes between applications of the lacquer during which I cleaned the kitchen, bathroom and vacuumed the den. Oh, and cleared a paper jam.
I had arrived just after her friend Annette, which was a surprise to all of us. So I got to visit with Annette too for a few minutes on my "break." We had a lot of catching up to do.
The restoration turned out very well. I couldn't remove the dark circle from the cup of course, but I did bring the color back and smoothed everything out and shined it up. And protected the maple. You'd never know if I hadn't told you about it.
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Monday Joyce has a 10:30 appointment at the clinic with Jennifer the Physician's Assistant, who will remove the Wound VAC dressing, take a look at the wound and debride it if necessary. Both Kevin and I thought it needs debridement. The yellow slough has returned.
Which is very discouraging. It's as if the month in the hospital has been undone. But we'll see what they can do Monday to fight back.
Salwa will meet us at the house around 11:30 or so (I'll text her when we leave the clinic) to take Jennifer's wet-to-dry dressing off and replace it with a Wound VAC foam dressing.
We don't return to the clinic until Nov. 2, though. Which, I have a feeling may change when they see the wound even though it didn't alarm Alysse yesterday, who was really just dealing with the blisters.
After the late night laundry, we both slept very peacefully. And again last night, without the Wound VAC, we slept through the night. We're both hoping our luck holds out over the weekend.
We really need some sleep.