Joyce's KP Adventure mikepasini.com headlines
Pump Her Up
30 June 2025
Today Joyce's bed was exchanged for a unit whose mattress can be pumped up with air. The rental pump was, fortunately, not from Apria but from Med One. And it was still pumping when I left, an hour after it was moved in.
A nurse explained it's for her bed sore. She has a sore at the bottom of her back from lying in bed. She's had it for months. Binita the Wound Nurse puts a small padded bandage on it for her when she changes the wound dressing.
But since she lies in bed on her back and doesn't roll to her sides, pressure remains on the sore and it doesn't heal.
So the inflatable mattress might help. You set it by the occupant's weight. One light bar for her weight. It would be three light bars if she was her normal weight. If she loses any more weight, they'll probably have to pump helium into it.
It doesn't appear to be set for her.
It's a Power-Pro Elite featuring "floating air floatation therapy with low air loss mattress." The photo shows it set on Bariatic with four light bars of firmness cycling every five minutes (but no cycling mode is set).
I told her to complain if she doesn't like it. Then maybe someone will set it up for her.
I did see that when they removed the old bed, they disconnect her phone charger and left it on the night stand. So I plugged it into the wall and routed it to the side of the bed where she expects to find it.
Even more amusing, they switched call buttons with the adjacent bed. So if Joyce called for help, her roommate would be visited and vice versa. But I got Sheik the CNA to swap them back (since I didn't want to intrude on her roommate).
I also pointed out to Sheik that the bathroom light fixture had one of its two bulbs out. It's been like that for weeks now. I guess you have to point things like dead bulbs out.
On the bright side, though, Joyce walked halfway around the place with me and then all around the place with the RNAs. She did some Spirit Cycling (and her hands didn't shake) and a little SciFitting before lunch, which she didn't eat.
They have run out of high protein Boost until Friday so she's been drinking the next highest one (which is a lot less). I tried to convince her to eat more meat at lunch to keep up but she only took one more bite (three total).
I did arrange for a pass to take her home for lunch again this Wednesday. Minestrone and salad are on the menu.