New normal, for a little while

Tuesday was going to be a pretty packed day with labs in the morning in San Antonio, wound care in Uvalde in the afternoon, and then a visit with our primary doctor in the early evening. Amanda fell asleep, to no surprise, while we were watching a movie and missed taking her meds by almost 2 hours. The labs we were going to get were the trough level of her rejection med. This is time-sensitive and when the level is at its lowest before the next dose. So that threw a wrench in the timing for everything. She was able to push the primary doctor visit to Wednesday, which left us with just wound care on Tuesday. 

The wound care visit went well; we both liked the doctor and felt comfortable with him. The dressing change was bad, but I don’t think it was as bad as Amanda expected. The sponge was stuck in one spot, which was a little rough. I was pleased with how it looked and was surprised at how much it had already healed. The nurse took the dressing off and then went through many intake questions while waiting for the doctor to come in. Amanda said it was nice to have it air out with nothing on it for a bit. 

The visit wasn’t terrible, but Amanda did need some emotional support fries afterward! Whataburger didn’t come through with any that were very good. So we tried again, and McDonald’s filled the need with some no-salt and extra crispy fries. My emotional support food is sweets, so I picked up some donuts. With all we’ve had going on, there has been a lot of emotional support food eaten! During my mother’s eulogy, with her being a chef and owning many restaurants, I spoke a lot about food and its comfort. I know my waistline is starting to show my comfort food intake level, though!

Sleep hasn’t been the best with midnight antibiotics, then again at 8 am. It sounds good in principle, but by the time we either stay up or fall asleep, then get back up and try to go back to sleep, it’s not the most practical. Antibiotic administration is a process, too. First, wash up and then get all four of the syringes primed and ready.  Clean the PICC catheter with alcohol, a saline flush first, then a slow push with the antibiotics, another saline flush, and end with heparin to keep the line open. Now, do all that while sleepy!

Wednesday, we took out for San Antonio to get labs; this is a familial run for us. No telling how many miles we put on the Suburban just to get labs, with a 250-mile round trip. After labs, we were on the hunt for better bras for Amanda with the wound vac square in the center of her chest—three Victoria’s Secrets later and still no luck, so she resorted to an online order. We grabbed lunch at Salata, our favorite salad place, and then off to Costco. Time was tight with the primary appointment in Uvalde early that afternoon, but that didn’t stop us from spending a couple hundred bucks!

We were a little ways out of town when the doctor’s office called. He was delivering a baby, and they’d rescheduled to 5 pm. We’d missed a couple of stops, so we just turned around and made those since we now had an extra 3 hours. 

We still had a little time on our hands, so Amanda wanted to stop by Hobby Lobby to get a few things for a spring wreath. It was almost four and time for antibiotics, though. It’s a good thing Amanda was adamant about bringing them. We set up everything on the console, and I gave her the meds in the car. Then, after an extended time of her picking flowers, we made our way to the doctor’s office.  

We love our primary doctor, and the visit with him was easy. Amanda filled him in, and he was like, well, what do you need from me? She went over the pain meds needed, and he took care of it. The only caveat is that we have to see him weekly since it’s acute, not chronic, pain, according to newer FDA rules. Amanda needed a follow-up with him about her knee, but she held off on that for now. That’s a whole other post in itself; let’s just say we’re not done with the knee yet. 

We got home, put up groceries, made a quick dinner, and relaxed. I was leaving for work the next day, so I needed to set Amanda’s PICC up for her to use. She needed an extension to be able to reach the line. I added that then she gave herself the meds to ensure she wouldn’t have any issues. She did the morning dose as well to let me sleep in. It didn’t matter because my phone was going off anyway, followed by an earlier-than-expected call to work. I scrabbled to get ready to leave, then hit the road and eventually the rail.

It was a quick trip, and I’m now riding back home in a van after staying over the night in Alpine. Amanda had someone take her to the hospital for her wound vac change. She’s back now having that done. Hopefully, it isn’t too bad for her. Next week it will be Monday Wednesday and Friday for the changes.