Greetings from the Sick Bay

 Hello Women,

If you were hoping for a post about the continued uprising in the Rose City, I'm sorry to disappoint.  Ok, I will say that things got really tense for a while there but it seems 1% better now that the goons are staying on federal property and not assaulting citizens.  It's still a shitshow, though.

Meanwhile, I am back in Southern California.  My friend is quite, quite ill and I came down to take care of her.  No, it's not Covid, thank the Goddess.  She has been tested, so that's a tiny relief.

As you may recall, Lisa has end stage renal disease.  She gets dialysis 3 times per week.  Over the course of the last few weeks she has had a total of five surgeries or procedures to work on the arm that gets the needle.  It's a lot of surgery for someone who is in poor health.  

Her sister was staying with her while she was so ill but they don't get along well in the first place and things were getting pretty testy, I gather.  Lisa texted me and asked if I could come down and help her.  So, of course, I hopped on a plane and here I am.

So, the plane ride was the first thing to be concerned about.  I wore two masks and nitrile gloves.  I wasn't the only one in gloves, by the way.  The airline kindly kept the numbers low and all middle seats were left empty unless you were traveling as a group.  Nice.  On the downside, they have reduced the number of flights between our cities and none were non-stop.  Had to spend an hour and a half cooling my heels in the Oakland airport.  

Got down here to find Lisa quite sick, quite tired, and quite angry.  Fortunately her sister left immediately.  I'm really glad because I might not have been able to hold back my fury.  She was complaining about how dirty the house was but never picked up a broom, or a mop or dust cloth.  Never cleaned the toilet.  Didn't strip the bed she had been sleeping on when she left.  Worst of all, she left Lisa sleeping on bloody sheets.  I mean.  It raises my blood pressure just thinking about it.  I'm super angry with that narcissistic, callous, arrogant bitch.  But, enough of that.

So, I started in.  Stripped both beds, scrubbed the blood stained sheets.  Swept and mopped and wiped down counters and surfaces, cleaned the stove.  Lisa can't physically do these things right now so of course her house is messy.  For Fucks Sake!

The real issue for me, though, is the bandage changing.  If you remember back to when T had her cancer surgery, I had to change her dressings and empty the drainage bags (or whatever they're called). I have an aversion to blood and bodily fluids (to the point of passing out at times) so this is a real challenge for me.  It's definitely not my strong suit!  But, as before, I have managed.  I haven't passed out or puked once, but it's been touch and go a couple of times.

Once Lisa got somewhat sorted out, she started to get better.  Tiny bit more energy, able to eat a bit more, able to move her bowels.  You know, baby steps.  The problem was that the incision in her arm has not stopped bleeding.  I've been changing dressings several times a day.  I've been changing her sheets every day and washing the blood out of them and out of her clothing.  

Her labs showed a blood infection and she had an IV antibiotic drip in the hospital, and has gotten IV antibiotics at dialysis every other day.  Apparently it hasn't been enough.  She called her surgeon for an urgent consultation this morning and he took one look at it and readmitted her to the hospital.  She's there now.

I feel terrible for her.  She's scared and sick and exhausted and is afraid that this is going to kill her.  I have bolstered her spirits the best that I can but how much good does that do?  I can't sit with her in the hospital, hell, I can't even sit in the lobby.  I hope she will be discharged tomorrow but I'll just have to wait and see.  I feel like I have let her down, failed her in some way.  I thought she was getting better but she's definitely taken a couple of steps back.  It's discouraging.

Of course, I know that I'm not responsible for her health.  But, I thought that with consistent, supportive care she would rebound and get back to her previous level of health.  Well, I still hope that is true.  She'll need the same care that I've been giving her when she gets home.  

I've been here for a week and my plan was to stay for two weeks.  That's how long I could get my cat sitter.  Sara's got another job lined up.  My daughter said that she would go stay at my house for a week and take care of Pierre.  She works from home these days so she can do that at my home too.  That'll give me an additional week.  After that, our other friend KA said that she would come down and render aid and assistance.  We'll see how it all goes.

I guess I just needed to write it out of my system.  Thanks for reading.  I'm tired and heading for bed.