Joy had a fall yesterday. She was in the bathroom being dressed by nurse Susan. Sue had bent down to help put her shoes on when Joy lost her balance and fell between the toilet and the wall. The right side of her face bumped against the toilet. Because of this, she has a bit of swelling and blackeye-ness around the edge of her right eye socket. She had a small abrasion on the top of her head and another on her cheek plus a scratch on her hand. I got there a minute after it happened and she looked bewildered but not noticeably in pain. Sue was very upset, but accidents will happen and we were probably due for one. It's difficult to be alert to such possibilities every second of every minute of every day. Joy has fallen twice before, both times outside the house and both times was rescued before she could hurt herself. We will be more attentive now.
Sister Susan's son (and Joy's nephew) Jonathan Fowler came for a three day visit this week with his wife Jennifer. They were here for the holidays last year when Joy was first in the hospital, but couldn't visit because Jon had the flu. But they had spoken to Joy on the phone in her room before the stroke felled her. Joy and I went over to Susan and Paul's for dinner on Monday night so that Joy could see Jon and Jen. Joy was cognizant of who they were and the love between them flowed. You could tell she knew they were family. Here's a picture of the gathering:
Jon and Jen are both graduates of UC Berkeley. Jen has a doctorate in physics and astronomy and is a professor at the University of Denver. Jon also is an instructor in physics there and teaches physics for the Princeton Review.
Now the really good news: Joy's procedure went so well it has further convinced me that some one up there is indeed looking out for us. All of you who are praying regularly for Joy have my gratitude. A couple of months ago, Dr. Sanchez told us he thought that Joy's aneurysm, the one that had bled and caused her stroke, was growing again and that the growth was "not insignificant." He based that on viewing CT scans, MRI and MRA images. He thought he might have to install a stent of some kind, that Joy might have to take blood thinning drugs for several months and that her recovery might be set back for a while.
This morning when I spoke to him, he was also very concerned about Joy's head injury due to her fall and ordered another CT scan before the angiogram procedure. I was dreading the outcome of the procedure and what the next few months might bring when he called a very short hour after she went into surgery and said that the angiogram had shown that all her arteries and both the clipped and the coiled aneurysms were in very good shape, that there was no sign of internal injury from her fall, and that nothing needed to be done. Wonderful news! He further explained that the scans and images really don't give them a very good view and that you really can't see what's going on until you get inside to get a closer look. He suggested we do another procedure in a year, just to keep an eye on things.
I could not have asked for a better Christmas present. I said last winter in emails that Joy always tried to give presents that were more than the recipient was expecting and she did it again this year with the gift of her stable angioplasty diagnosis and improving health. Now it's back to facilitating her recovery as best we can.
Merry Christmas and a happy and prosperous New Year to all friends and family of Joy.
Love,
Doug and Joy
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