15 April 2022
Good Friday started out well and then took a nose dive around here. By the end of the day all I could think to do was to rant here. Excuse me.
HBO
Our session at the hyperbaric oxygen therapy clinic was moved up to 11 a.m. so we could get to Joyce's 1:30 p.m. appointment at the Plastic Surgery Clinic with Cat.
I told Joyce two dozen times at least what we had to do on Friday and throughout the day she was puzzled about what we were doing. Sometimes to the point of tears. It's a very strange experience, frankly, to tell someone something and immediately deal with them as if you never said a word. There's no fix for that.
The HBO session went well. Jessica and Kathy are very good at what they do and Joyce trust them without reservation. She's not so hot on my movie choices. Today I brought along Mary Queen of Scots from the library. I've never seen it but two of the actors were nominated for Academy Awards.
She didn't like it. Kathy told me I stuck out today. "Why should today be different?" I quoted Kafka. Because, you know, he's becoming my patron saint.
Jessice the RN noticed some pooling of fluid within the Wound VAC dressing. I made a note to discuss it with Cat.
CLINIC
We got to the clinic barely on time. I insisted on talking to Cat before she took off the dressing. She had me come in.
I told her about the fluid pooling so she could investigate the cause before ripping off the dressing.
I had brought along foam for the dressing change but she said we were booked only for a half hour so she wouldn't have time to do it. So I texted Kristina our in-home nursing LVN to come after 3 p.m. and she promised to come around 3:30.
Then I asked Cat for a favor. Confirm Joyce's disability so we can get a handicapped parking placard. My father, who lost his leg, could move around more easily than Joyce. She had no problem with that.
I went back to the waiting room until Cat came out to tell me Dr. Tong was there and wanted to take a look at the wound so it would be a few more minutes. No problem.
She also said the pooling was due to the shape of the foam and not to worry about it. And she gave me back the handicapped application filled out.
Dr. Tong had confirmed the advisability of surgery on April 21 and Joyce came out with a girl who was scheduling her Covid test.
But not the three-minute drive-through at French. No, we'd have to drive to South San Francisco and walk in or to the Mission Bay campus and walk in to get the test. French was booked.
Somehow that broke this camel's back.
Three hour and half dressing changes a week, five four hour hyperbaric treatments, physical therapy weekly and you want us to make an hour and half trip for a 15 minute test?
I took the South City appointment on the condition the girl pester French for an appointment when someone cancels. She promised to call every day.
THE DRESSING
Of all the people who have done Joyce's Wound VAC dressing change, Kristina is one of the best. Meticulous. But, like all the others, she doesn't have a lot of experience. And every wound is different.
When I told her what Cat had said about the pooling, she understood (not without reason) that she should cut the sponge larger. So she did.
But two hours later, the pump was struggling to maintain 125 lbs. of pressure.
We let her go because one does have to ingest some sort of nutrient during the day and it was dinner time, my only meal.
But the pump was jackhammering all through the meal. And I had had enough. There was no way we were going to be able to sleep with a jackhammer.
But that's not all I'd had enough of.
I got up from the dinner table before I had finished my wine and wrote to Dr. Tong. If they can't arrange for Joyce to have the Covid test at French, perhaps we should reschedule the surgery, I wrote. I apologized for being uncooperative but this was a "a bridge too far."
I was nice about it but I'll be damned if I'm going to drag her around some medical facility looking for a Covid test because a drive-through facility couldn't fit a three-minute inconvenience into its schedule. If there is anyone on this earth who deserves an accommodation, it's Joyce.
And really what would it matter to them? Nothing. Nothing at all. Less, one imagines, than a disruption to their scheduled surgeries.
WET TO DRY
With that out of the way, I removed Joyce's Wound VAC dressing (not without a scream or two) and replaced it with a nice wet-to-dry that will last 12 hours. Silently so we can sleep.
In the morning, I may try to do a Wound VAC dressing myself, with a smaller sponge so the VAC can actually achieve suction. Or just continue the wet-to-dry dressing through the weekend since she's scheduled for surgery anyway.
Ramadan, Passover, Easter. Uh huh. We're in no position to celebrate. We're our own martyrs this weekend. And bloody tired of it.