18 June 2025
A month ago Jennifer the Wound RN st Kaiser had admonished me about the state of Joyce's wheelchair cushion. "It needs more air," she said.
So today before we went to see her again for this months debridement I tried to pump a little more air into the cushion. But I couldn't get the valve open.
Binita the Golden Heights wound nurse took pity on me and tried to figure it out. But she couldn't solve the riddle either. "Sorry," she said.
Eventually I figured out that only the very tip of the valve turns to release it. I pumped it up a bit, told Binita the secret and wheeled Joyce to the car.
It's worth pointing out that only a little while ago Joyce was being transported in her wheelchair to Kaiser for debridements by St. Mark. To save the $250 transport charge we wrestled with having friends transport her but that never quite worked out.
So I started driving her there myself, parking in the garage and wheeling her to the exam room in her wheelchair. But after she walked 500 feet around the hallways the other day I thought we might try walking from the garage.
It's about 500 feet from the parking place to the elevator to the lobby across the lobby to the other elevator to the second floor and back across the biilding to the surgery department.
She did fine. We sat in the waiting room for while where she was more worried about getting from there to the exam room (about 20 feet).
Catching up on things in the exam room, we told Jennifer she was physically able to do a lot but the dementia was a problem. It seems to affect her balance as well as her confidence.
"Are you looking into a memory care residence?" Jennifer asked.
"No," we said. "She's improving. So we haven't given up hope."
Joyce smiled.
She walked back to the car too. As we waited to pay for parking a guard noticed she was disabled and asked if we had a disabled placard. Yep. "Then it's free," he told us. "Just give the attendant your ticket and the placard. "
So not only did she manage to walk to her appointment but she got to park for free. That's the long and short of it.