20 July 2025
When I visited Joyce today, the first thing I asked her was if she had a banana for breakfast. "Yes," she said, "and I ate it too."
She had it with oatmeal, in fact. Two things she likes.
I couldn't tell if she was any less rocky walking around her half of the place to her wheelchair (which I stash about 300 feet away so she gets a walk in). But she was more animated.
Daisy and Neil the RNAs intercepted her on the walk to weigh her with a portable scale they had. She was her usual pound plus after eating. That would be the banana and oatmeal.
By the time she got to the wheelchair it was lunchtime. So I set her up in the hallway where I can sit next to her to point out the delicacies on her tray. And again, she ate.
I'd brought some Trader Joe's blueberry Greek yogurt but asked if she wanted it (given the lunch in front of her). She did. And she ate all of it.
Then she started on lunch, which included the Soup of the Day for the first time. Clam chowder. She ate most of that, too.
There was a salad she nibbled at and ice cream she devoured. The pork on the main plate got reduced by the mandatory three bites, as usual. She drank her prune juice, milk and coffee.
And still I foisted a high protein Boost on her. Which she drank.
The woman in the room next to her, who is rather friendly as she rolls around in her wheelchair, told her she looked good today. "I'm eating," Joyce explained. "Yes," the woman encouraged her, "it's good to eat."
And it certainly was.