8 February 2025
It's Saturday afternoon. Sunny. I had lunch, gave the car batteries a little jolt of electricity and drove the Honda around the block just to shave off the rust on the front disc brakes that had formed after the recent storm. Good as new.
So I sat dow to recap the last couple of days. See what you think.
THURSDAY
In the morning Anne the Wound Care RN called from Golden Heights. "Hello, Anne," I say. She's amazed I knew it was her and can't stop laughing.
She tells me Joyce has lost too much weight in the last month so they are going to try changing her diet. The speech therapist will evaluate her tomorrow for solid foods. I mention she won't even eat things she likes but Anne says we'll start with this.
Christina calls, too, to offer me a ride in her new Mazda SUV. I accept. But I don't finish all my morning work until 15 minutes after she arrives. Which doesn't happen much but I had a lot of new products to cover.
When we get to the SNF, Christina cuts Joyce's nails, which had grown very long, and cleaned them as well. The work of a saint, I think, as she goes from one side of the bed to the other doing each hand. Or am I thinking of washing feet?
Then Joyce calls Wells Fargo's customer service to tell them the reason she didn't pay her credit card bill yesterday when it was due is because they never sent a statement. Somehow her account had been switched to Paperless Only.
They promise not to ding her interest since we didn't get the statement. And they reset her preferences from Paperless to both. It should never have been only Paperless, I tell the guy, trying to sound like I'm armed.
Joyce writes a check I take to the bank after our visit. The teller acknowledges the problem. It's happening to everybody. I know. I went through it repeatedly with my mother who couldn't read the tricky popup windows when she was checking her accounts online.
It's really a form of elder abuse.
But at the SNF, though, I try to get Joyce out of bed, putting her shoes on as she complains she can't get up. But she really can't stand up from the bed. I have to get the RNAs to help when the CNA doesn't show up.
They get her up with difficulty. And into the wheelchair. And roll her into the hallway so she can have her lunch sitting up. Two unrecognizable scoops. One is fettuccine and the other is garlic bread.
I end up feeding her because she won't eat. She doesn't resist my efforts this time. And so she eats more than usual. Half a dozen forkfuls instead of two.
We take a wheelchair ride after that where I am the battery power. Christina comes along. We run into Frank from across the hall by the Pacific Room. He stands and walks with the RNAs.
I weigh Joyce. 159 lbs. in the 37 lb. wheelchair. Same as yesterday. That's 122 lbs., well below her fighting weight of 169.
Then I park her back in the room in front of the TV. The CNA usually makes the bed when I get her up but it hasn't been made so she has to wait but it's better for her to sit up anyway.
Christina says goodbye and we go to Wells Fargo to pay Joyce's card balance.
FRIDAY
When I get to the SNF, Joyce is in bed in the dark, refusing to get up. I put her shoes on and move her legs to the edge of the bed and she screens. Which annoys her roommate Sylvia. Sylvia has been getting vocal about her annoyance lately.
Joyce can't stand up, though. So again I get the RNAs to lift her onto the chair. But they have a hard time. And Joyce keeps screaming that she can't do it and she's falling. She isn't falling and she can do it. But this transfer issue is disturbing. It's getting worse.
We take a ride around the facility and I ask Binita and Julian and whoever else says hello about the speech therapist who is supposed to visit Joyce today but nobody knows if she's coming. Joyce already had lunch before I arrived.
The idea of getting solid foods is that if the stuff on the plate is recognizable it may be appetizing. As colorless scoops, they are not. That may not be the reason she isn't eating but why not try?
She has eaten pizza, scones and rolls that I and Christina have brought her but rarely finished them. So it may be more complicated than merely appearing appetizing. But it shouldn't take months to experiment.
I do get Joyce to the gym for the first time since the Wound VAC was removed. The Wound VAC roughed up the wound tissue and when she exercised (or even slid off the bed) the tubes would show new blood coming from the wound. The wet-to-dry dressing should stop the bleeding so she can exercise without pain.
And she does. She does four sets of 25 arm cycles on the Spirit Cycle. Then she works her legs and arms on the SciFit for 10 minutes. Have to get those legs moving so she can stand up.
We go back to the room and try to find something she likes on TV without success.
She suggest riding around the hallways for a while, so I take her for a spin around the place and we weigh her. Still 159 in the wheelchair, so 122.
By then I have to leave to catch the Seton shuttle, so I park her in the room, let the RNAs know she would like to get back to bed, they suggest Emma the CNA, who I've never seen, so I put the call light on for Joyce and leave.
The more she sits up, the better, I tell her.