Joyce's KP Adventure mikepasini.com headlines
Back to the ER
8 October 2024
Dr. Tong waved me in to the debridement room today to discuss Joyce's situation. Joyce hadn't been able to lie down on her stomach for the procedure. A first.
I confirmed she has been having trouble moving, falling and slipping at home when she doesn't park herself in her chair all day. I also mentioned the cognitive issues that haven't improved after the course of antibiotics to treat her bladder infection. And that incontinence has become a problem.
Joyce went through 17 pairs of underwear in six days last week, demanding clean ones from me in the early morning when she couldn't find any. I told her to wear an old pair (which she found in a drawer) until I could do the laundry in the morning. But I then bought her some Always pull-ups to help with the situation.
Dr. Tong continued with the debridement, which was painful for Joyce, as I watched her work.
"I think we missed our window," she said. "We should have closed the wound last year."
She meant now that Joyce is exhibiting dementia, further surgery with anesthesia would only make things worse.
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DR. TONG is aware I have double vision from a concussion and suggested it might be better for both Joyce and me is she were placed in a nursing home briefly while I recover. I hadn't told her I've been unable to get a night's sleep for a week trying to manage Joyce's problems through the night. But I did say it was difficult for one person to lift her. And with my own issues, even more so.
"Take her from here to the ER directly," she said.
So she contacted the ER to tell them we were on our way. Dan Mundstock had driven us to the clinic and drove us to the ER waiting until Joyce got in before he left for Ventura to take care of his own sick grandkids.
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IN THE ER she had samples taken of her blood and urine (the hard way) before getting some X-rays of her chest.
The doctor assigned to her thought she may still have a UTI, based on even higher white blood cell counts than the last admission, so he started her on antibiotics. The X-ray was to check for pneumonia from inactivity. He was inclined to admit her.
The X-ray showed no pneumonia but dehydration. The ER doctor thought the higher white blood cell count was possibly because of her dehydration. Her urine was not infected but he still thought she should be admitted. But she has to be evaluated by hospital staff for that next.
When I told him she hadn't eaten all day, he ordered dinner for her. But she said she wasn't hungry. A cheeseburger appeared nonetheless. She took two bites.
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THE ADMITTING DOCTOR arrive shortly after and went through yet another evaluation. She agreed Joyce should be admitted. So she went through the questions about resuscitation.
At first Joyce didn't want any type of intervention. But before the doctor wrote up a Do Not Resuscitate order, she asked more specific question. Joyce's answers contradicted her DNR responses. So she made the change to a partial DNR.
She did ask about anti-depressant medication. I said I was hoping the Memory Clinic would address that.
"Time for me to go," Joyce kept saying. But she didn't mean home.