Joyce's KP Adventure mikepasini.com headlines
All Hooked Up
5 November 2025
I arrived at the ICU just as Kim the Physical Therapist was getting Joyce up. She got out of bed using the trekking pole I brought, pivoted and sat in the same bedside chair. Kim doesn't use a physical therapy belt, she said, when I offered the belt I'd brought from home. We both hoped we could take Joyce for a walk but she wasn't quite there yet. Maybe tomorrow.
But she sat up until 2 p.m., hooked up to her monitor (on top) and the IV pumps (left), before Alex the RN helped her back to bed to dress her wound. It had been exposed all day.
Worse, though, was that the unit doesn't have any diapers. So when Joyce had a bowel movement (and she had two today), the wound was exposed to that bacteria. Urine wasn't a problem because she agreed to wear the PureWick, which suctions urine to a plastic bottle by the bed.
When the nutritionist came in, Joyce ordered a turkey sandwich for lunch (with vegetable soup, fruit and juice). But when it came, there was nothing at all between the two pieces of bread.
We called the nurse but before she got there, we figured out that the scoop on the side was turkey salad and that goes between the pieces of bread. It's a DIY lunch, the nurse explained.
I noticed the whiteboard had Joyce's weight as 59.5kg or 131 lbs. so they clearly hadn't calibrated the bed, which weighs her. She's 117, last we checked at Golden Heights.
Who called to ask when she would be back. I have no idea. I explained her blood pressure has to stabilize after the infection so it could be any day. The clerk asked if I would give my permission to release her room. Of course not.
Alex had a busy afternoon. He kept putting off the wound dressing. Finally it occurred to me to have Joyce ring the bell to put her back in bed. That got him into gear but she had her second bowel movement, which delayed things again.
By the time she was cleaned up, the afternoon was slipping away.
But he agreed to use the Vashe I brought and he did have Santyl to put directly on the wound. And he was happy to wrap it all up with the large Mepilex I brought (because they only have small ones). He assured me earlier they have everything but, once again, they didn't.
They didn't, for example, have an Ace bandage, even though they had them when Joyce was admitted. I explained it keeps the Mepilex on when she moves around. And if they don't have diapers, it protects the dressing from contamination too.
He promised to pursue it through the upcoming shift change.
"I'm sorry," Joyce kept saying to me. For what, I wanted to know. "To put you through all this," she said.