25 February 2022
Kit the Case Manager called this morning to see when I would be available today to come to the hospital. They want to show me how to deal with the PICC line and change the antibiotic bag.
And after that, they'll discharge Joyce with the portable Wound VAC.
I'm hoping the Wound VAC is a recent model with a fresh, long-lasting battery and quiet operation. Or else I'll call Apria and complain about it. They sometimes supply some marginal units. But Salwa had said she has hardly any patients with Wound VACs at the moment, so our odds for a decent machine are good.
We set up an appointment for 1:30 p.m.
℘
SHORTLY AFTER, Cat the Physician's Assistant called to give me an update on Joyce's situation.
I missed the call but she left a voice message saying to call the clinic. So I did, but Mark the Receptionist couldn't find her.
She called back later to tell me she changed Joyce's dressing this morning and Joyce didn't even flinch. The absence of pain is a good sign, she thought.
In-home nursing will be coming three times a week to do the dressing changes. There is a layer of petroleum-impregnated gauze that sits on the wound and black foam on top of that with a bridge of foam going around to the front or side of her leg so she can sit on the dressing without collapsing the suction tube that leads to the Wound VAC.
She'll also be taking an antibiotic intravenously for six weeks (which is what the PICC line is for) and one by tablet twice a day for two weeks.
Around March 7, she'll go to the clinic where Alysse the Physician's Assistant will evaluate the wound. We'll return home to have the Wound VAC dressing applied by in-home nursing.
And on March 25, Dr. Tong will take a look at the wound.
No word yet on the hyperbaric oxygen therapy. And if it's approved, she won't be able to wear the Wound VAC during the two-hour treatment. So we'll have to have in-home nursing dress the wound afterwards. But that would be every day.
So there's still a few balls hovering in the air. But the good news is that she's coming home today.