27 June 2025
Today, after Joyce got dressed and walked down to the fish tank to sit in her wheelchair, she had a surprise waiting. Tom Cunningham had come to visit.
She recognized him immediately and gave him a hug after she sat down.
We all went down to the Pacific room to visit seated around a big table. We were the only three people in there so we were able to have a nice visit, chatting for an hour before lunch. We had a lot to catch up on.
Tom told us about his new career doing cardiology via telemedicine for a hospital in Merced and Joyce told him what a good cook I am. To cite just two examples.
After a while, I brought her lunch tray to her there and she had a few strawberries, three bites of salmon, her prune juice, coffee and a Boost. Not much at all. But Tom thought a regular diet of tiramisù€ would help. I told Joyce to get on her phone and get the Teledoctor to order a supply.
So we had a good time.
After lunch we went to the gym where Joyce worked out briefly on the Spirit Cycle and the SciFit before I brought her back to the room to brush her teeth. We had been stuck in the hall while the staff weighed a patient on a Hoyer lift in the hallway for some reason. I looked around for John Cleese, who might have been directing the operation, but didn't see him.
As Tom and I walked back to the car, he told me he said he was impressed by how well Joyce was doing. I told him that was good to hear because it's hard to evaluate her situation when you see her every day.
She recognized him, he pointed out, and they had a long conversation and he observed how well she did her gym workout. And with the tiramisù€ she should clearly continue to make progress.
When he dropped me off at the house I made us sauteed shrimp risotto with roasted red peppers. It was risky. He might have insisted on driving me back to the nursing home to get my head examined. But he cleaned his plate instead.
After all, Joyce had recommended my cooking.