Wednesday, July 25, 2012

A Busy Month Coming Up

Dear friends and family of Joy:  Joy has had a good month after overcoming a urinary tract infection.  She's eating well, walking more and seemingly more aware of her environment.  She still has problems with her vision and coordination on her right side, but is improving, although slowly.  Nurses Sue Thomas, Natalie Kinsley, Misty Kent and Wendy Ward are taking good care of her day and night.  She frequently goes into town with Sue and Natalie to shop, get her hair done, or for lunch and a manicure. Before her ordeal, Joy was what might euphemistically be called an "enthusiastic shopper" but more realistically described as a "cutthroat deal-hunter."  She has lost none of her zeal in that regard for being in the stores and viewing the merchandise.  She always loved to shop for apparel, fabrics, knick knacks, gourmet food and shoes.  Sue and Joy's sister Susan frequently take her to Kohls, Ross, Trader Joe's, Walmart and the shoe stores.  They are at Costco as I write this. 

Brother-in-law Paul has helped me obtain an email address for Joy.  It is

joy@eatonbuilding.com 

If you'd like to send Joy an email, we would welcome it and will read them to her.  We are not sure how much she absorbs from our reading such things to her, but the view around here is that she is more cognizant than she may appear.  The other day, with my mother Dorothy on the phone, I put the phone in Joy's ear,  and Mom spoke directly to Joy for about a minute.  A big smile spread across Joy's face.  

I also have a new email address to use on our Ipad when I travel.  It is 

dpeatebc@me.com

I will be back in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware visiting my family and friends from August 15th through August 23rd.  Joy will be in good hands in my absence thanks to Sister Susan, Sue Thomas and the other nurses. 

When I return, Joy will have pre-op exams and tests on August 28th.  On August 31st, she will undergo re-constructive surgery to repair the voids in her skull resulting from uneven healing of the bone after her craniotomy in December of 2010.  She will spend at least two nights in Scripps Green Hospital at La Jolla and then hopefully be well enough to come home.  We hope that the surgery doesn't cause too long a pause in her recovery.  Based on previous experience, we have reason to believe that it won't.  That said, this will be a long and somewhat complicated procedure with Dr. Sanchez patching three areas of her skull and a cosmetic surgeon in attendance to make sure the her skin is repaired in such a way as to produce the best possible outcome.  At least it's not brain surgery . . .  

We will also be having a birthday party for Joy on August 12th, the day before she turns 60 years old on August 13th.  Several of our friends and neighbors have been invited.  The food will be great, since there are so many great cooks in our development. I'm looking forward to it.  

Yesterday, our brother-in-law Paul came by to take some pictures of Joy and me so that I might have some to post here.  At first he shot pictures of the both of us and then he shot a couple of me alone because I also wanted a photo to paste into to my seldom-used Facebook page.  After a few photos of me were shot, Paul and I looked around to find that Joy had disappeared, which caused momentary panic.  Turns out she had simply walked up the steps and back into the house by herself, which is the first time she has ever ascended steps without assistance.  We were obviously relieved that she had succeeded without falling, but her balance and vision are such that we can't let it happen again for the  foreseeable future.  There are only three steps in the back but the treads are 30 inches wide and require you to adjust your stride as you ascend.  But she made it!  Nurse Sue was surprised to see her walk into the house by herself.

And then today she again asserted her independence.  Sue took her to her house, which is just down the street, and left Joy in the car to drop off some things.  When she came back, Joy had gotten out of the car on her own, had walked over to the chain link gate that keeps the dogs in, and was trying to figure out how to open it.  It was only a matter of time before she struck out on her own.  I view it as a significant step forward in her recovery, but it does present some dangers and we will now have to be more vigilant. 

Here are some of the pictures that Paul took.  In the first, Joy was being playful and put her sunglasses on me: 


In this one, we are talking with our fingers.  Joy tends to communicate by pointing or waving her finger sometimes.  In this picture I think she was saying, "you better be careful," and I replied "no, you better be careful" (or something like that):


And here's another next to the pool with the breeze blowing Joy's hair:



And here's one of my favorite photos from the past called "shooting the rainbow," taken in March of 2009 down on St Croix by my good friend Charlie Simpson.  Joy loved the photo when she first saw it-- or she did until she noticed she had a cigarette in her hand.  I still love it:



Love and good health to you all,

Doug and Joy