Joyce's KP Adventure mikepasini.com headlines
St. Mike Transit
24 April 2025
Yesterday I left around noon for Golden Heights to take Joyce out for the second day in a row, this time to her debridement on Geary with Jennifer the RN. I'm taking over for St. Mark Transit.
I happen to get a parking space along the sidewalk so I can roll Joyce up to the car there to get her in. There is no passenger zone at the SNF, imagine.
She's in bed but befuddled. She doesn't want to get up, explaining she's waiting in bed for lunch (her usual tactic). I remind her she has to get up because she has an appointment with Jennifer.
In fact, she called me at 9 a.m. to tell me, apparently after the staff reminded her. We'd discussed it several times previously, of course. So it goes with dementia.
I distract her by showing her Viv's wedding invitation, which she opens and tries to read upside down. I turn on the light and show her both sides, the back with a picture of the happy couple.
I also point out the stamps which include two blown glass stamps and one Ruth Asawa (who used to live in Noe Valley over the hill from us and has just had a retrospective at SFMOMA).
Then I finish getting her dressed and into the hall for lunch. Which takes half an hour to eat nothing. I ask the RN for Tylenol for her and she gives her 600mg.
I get her in the car without any trouble, fold up the wheelchair and toss it in the trunk and we drive up Junipero Serra to Claremont and over to Kaiser in half an hour swearing at Uber drivers who have no idea how to get where they have to go.
℘
THE KAISER GARAGE turns out to be more of a challenge than I thought. I did do a little research a while ago, walking down there to see how I could drop her off. We have to use the garage so I can stay with her. I can't just drop her at the curb (curbs are tricky for wheelchairs to begin with) and go park the car, leaving her unattended.
But I discover you can only access the elevators directly on every other floor. If you park on an odd floor, you have to use a staircase to the elevator. So I drop her off on the B3 landing and park down the ramp.
We get there with 15 minutes to spare and check in with 10 to spare. There should be a Nobel Prize for that.
℘
IN WE GO and I get her on the awkward chair (see photo above). She just can't figure out how stand up on her own. She has to be lifted up and spun around and placed in the chair.
Jennifer comes in with a trainee RN named Amanda. I tell Jennifer Joyce had Tylenol and remind her she used Lidocaine to anesthetize the wound before cutting the slough last time. And she puts it on.
In the 10 minutes we wait for it to take effect, Jennifer and Amanda run off to get supplies and I show Joyce Viv and Celia's online wedding site. She thinks the gallery of photos is very amusing. And loves the story of how they met.
When Jennifer and Amanda return, I stand over Joyce and hold her from rolling back on Jennifer. Amanda can see what Jennifer is doing from that side, too.
Jennifer shows me the wound. It looks pretty good. A lot of pink (which is skin, she says), although the abscess on top is still a problem, generating some odor from pseudomonas.
Jennifer says she hasn't seen Dr. Tong since we did when she was last there. She doesn't expect the wound to be closed despite the improvement, though. Even though the pink is skin, she says, and would not be grafted. Oh.
I do mention Joyce is transitioning to Medi-Cal. Somehow. She's not disturbed by that. But I did warn her.
And we talk about Joyce's eating and Golden Heights and Golden Pavilion's tendency to serve out-of-date Boosts. Expired in January, these. No, Jennifer says, don't use them. Expired is OK for supplies but not for food products.
We set up another debridement for a month from now.
℘
WE TAKE THE TWO ELEVATORS down. One to the lobby and one to the garage, after paying $3 to park.
I roll her over to the car because nobody parked alongside me so I can get her in.
It's a torturous ride home during rush hour, taking an hour and dealing with one jerk after another. Teslas and Porsches running lights and driving 80 in a 50 mph zone and Priuses who don't know which lane to be in. I navigate the sprite CRX through them as we listen to the News Hour on the radio.
I get the van handicapped spot at the SNF so I can get her in the wheel chair and back to the room.
She wondered how she would get to the second floor (there isn't one) and if I would come in with her (of course). We just did this yesterday but it's a new worry for her.
I help her brush her teeth with the Quip when we get to the room. It seems they might have tried brushing her teeth with the usual white plastic brush but not the electric one the dentist's order mentioned. So I do it.
Joyce had extensive dental work done by an oral surgeon some years ago to save her teeth after her regular dentist simply neglected her oral care despite regular visits. After years of reconstructive dental work, she's been able to keep her teeth with regular three-month cleanings but it's been a while since she's seen the dentist.
So I really do want the staff to help her brush and prevent any buildup on her teeth between cleanings. Well, minimize it, I suppose.
Then I drive home along Highway One, avoiding the rush hour traffic on the other routes I can take.