My nurse comes every two weeks and asks me which supplies I am running out of. Typically I am only low on two or three things, but by the end of last week I was pretty much out of everything so we were able to do one big order of stuff. Generally, if I am only low on one item we try to make do with what we have for a while longer; we are only allowed to order supplies every two weeks so it doesn't make much sense to waste that order on one item if we know I will need several more items a week later. It also doesn't make much sense to send in an order for individual items because that requires time and a bunch of paperwork. We don't want to cause more work then necessary. So if I am am running low on something like small sterile sponges, we try to make due with the large ones. This is what we had been doing for the last two weeks.
But by the end of last week it was pretty evident that I really needed more supplies - I was completely out of sterile woven sponges, small sterile non-woven sponges, and non-sterile gauze. On top of that, I was down to one suture kit (for the scissors) and a few more days' worth of large sterile non-woven sponges. The only things I had were lots of were cotton tipped applicators, sterile water, and medical tape. That does not get me far when I need to do a dressing change. After all, you can't do a dressing change without the dressing!
When you are refereed for home care and meet your nurse (or one of your nurses) for the first time, you get to choose how you would like your supplies to be delivered. You can either get them delivered to your door, which I had done in 2012 and again when living in Hamilton last year, or to a pick-up location located within a pharmacy. Given that there is a pick-up location right down the street from where I live, mum and I opted to have the supplies dropped of there.
Now that I think about it, I wonder if you only get supplies dropped off at home if you are receiving IV medication. This was the case for me in 2012 and over the course of the summer. In 2012 I was in IV tazobactam and last summer I was n IV vancomycin. I don't think I actually got a choice when I started getting home care after the ex fix surgery.
It always feels a little bit like Christmas when I get a big box like this! This might seem strange, but when you rely on this stuff to keep you healthy and infection free it does become somewhat of a big deal. And who doesn't like delving into a box of free, albeit medical, stuff?
On a final note, I was surprised to find cotton tipped applicators in the box. I haven't asked to have these ordered since the start of December. The nurse I had then, who we actually really liked, only ordered fourteen packs every two weeks. I need at least two packs a day, so fourteen per fortnight wasn't going to cut it. Instead of arguing about it, mum went online and bought a good thousand of them (which amounts to two-thousand applicators, two per pack). We didn't mind paying for this out of pocket since so much has been paid through OHIP. Around fifty-five bucks is worth what feels like an endless supply of applicators and the peace of mind that comes from knowing you can use as many as you want or need to. I have almost used three-hundred packs so far (six hundred applicators) so my stash of them is still pretty huge, and I hadn't mentioned them at all to the home nurse, but there they are, in the box!
Now that my hoard of medical supplies has been replenished, I am happy as can be XD
#ThingsOnlySickPeopleUnderstand
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