Joyce's KP Adventure mikepasini.com headlines
Joyce & Dr. Tong
11 September 2024
Because of my concussion last month, Joyce missed her debridement with Dr. Tong. It was rescheduled for today but I won't be able to drive for some time so we took the 43 Masonic bus at the corner to Geary, hopped a 38 Gear to Divisadero and walked two blocks to the medical building.
It was the first time Joyce has taken a bus in years. And things have changed a bit. Transfers are now printed cards which show the time they expire.
It does take longer than driving over there but it's only a two and a half block walk total. So we arrived with 10 minutes to spare.
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This time Dr. Tong invited me in to the room while she was working on Joyce.
She was concerned about pain Joyce was feeling in tissue to the inside of the muscle. Not the muscle itself but next to it.
Yes, I confirmed, I had pointed out a discoloration in the tissue to both the LVN who visits three times a week and the RN at the Wound Care Clinic. Neither knew what to make of it but they weren't alarmed.
Just this week, though, I noticed the area pained Joyce when I tried to clean it out.
Dr. Tong wanted to take a biopsy but she couldn't dig deep enough in the clinic. She said she needs anesthesia and suction to clean up the blood for that. So she wanted to admit Joyce to the hospital for a deeper debridement and biopsy.
"This worries me," she kept repeating.
She cleaned up the top left of the wound without incident and then returned to the problem. She injected Lidocain to numb the area and then cut away some tissue with scissors. But it wasn't the tissue she wants to biopsy. It was jut slough.
It could be a nerve below that tissue that Joyce feels, she thought, but there is no nerve in the slough itself.
Before we left, she had set up an admission for Sept. 17 in which Joyce will stay overnight in case there are any complications since I couldn't drive her back.
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YESTERDAY I HAD ANOTHER CT scan to check on my brain bleed. As I was waiting for the bus to go home, my primary doctor called.
The good news is that the brain bleed at the top left rear of my head is clearing up. The bad news is that there's a new on at the top right front, which seems to have formed 10 days ago.
Nothing hit my head 10 days ago.
"And they let you go home?" Dr. Tong said with surprise when I brought her up to date.
I've had no more symptoms, although I still have the double vision (which the ophthalmologist said could last months. So for the moment, they are not too worried about it and will probably schedule another CT scan in a while to see if it too clears up and nothing else happens.
I'm still wearing the heart monitor but while I was there for the CT scan I had my blood pressure and heart rate checked and they were normal.
Still I'm not in a position to help Joyce if something were to happen after her hospitalization. So she'll stay overnight.
