Joyce's KP Adventure mikepasini.com headlines
A Milestone
13 April 2025
A few weeks ago I rolled Joyce to the car parked in a handicapped spot and she got in. She got out, too. She had a debridement on Geary coming up so I asked her whether she wanted to go in the car or the wheelchair van.
She picked the wheelchair van. Even though it costs $240 and going by car is significantly cheaper. The driver can't see very well.
But today it was in the 70s so I thought we'd try it again. I parked in the handicapped spot and rolled her over and she got in with no more trouble than last time. So we can transition from the chair to the seat all right.
I told her to buckle up and she did. So we took a little ride down to Westlake Mall along Highway 1. Even though it was 70 degrees, there was thick fog hanging over the ocean waiting to roll right in. So we couldn't see the ocean.
But she enjoyed the ride. "It's nice to drive around," she said.
When we got back to Golden Heights, I had to park in two of the three spaces reserved for doctors. They don't work on Sunday anyway and I need two adjacent spaces to roll the chair up and get Joyce out of the car.
It is amazing how unaccommodating the world is to the disabled.
On April 22 she has a long-delayed dental appointment (and her teeth need constant attention, something they aren't getting at Golden Heights). I've been scouting a drop-off spot and despite a long curb painted red on both sides of the building, there is no white passenger unloading zone. There are handicapped spots in the parking lot but good luck getting one of the few van-accessible ones, which is what we need to get her in and out.
On April 23 she has another debridement at Geary. For that one I can pull in the garage and take me time getting her out.
Getting out is the problem. She screamed today as I lifted her up because it scared her to shift her weight forward. But you can't get up in a seated position. Someone leaving the building rushed over to help but by then I'd put her in the chair.
We have some time to practice getting up from a chair, I suppose.
Anyway, today she escaped for half an hour. And as I left, she said, "Thank you for helping me fight through this."
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SHE WAS APPROVED for Medi-Cal but it's a mixed blessing. It sets her share-of-cost to well over $4K a month, which is less that a private home would cost, while providing a gym, food she won't eat and wound care she can't get at a private home (other than her own).
But it seems to jumble her care. How does she keep her existing medical team together?
I raised the issue with the Kaiser social worker but she didn't seem to have a clue. Kaiser does have a Medi-Cal plan that costs the thirty-odd dollars Medi-Cal doesn't take from your SSA payment (for personal items). But we haven't heard anything about that.
So will we still get the debridement?
I haven't run any of this by Joyce because there's no point giving her more to worry about.
But it looks like I need to talk to someone who can protect her rights instead of people who make assurances for services they can't deliver. We've come too far to screw it up now.