SUCH A ROUGH DAY FOR AUNT JOYCE

Poor Aunt Joyce has been having so much trouble the past two weeks. She has been having trouble sleeping and when she eats or drinks she gets nauseous and her tummy is in pain. I took her to the ER last Thursday and we spent 5 hours there. She was in a back room (and I didn't realize I could have been there with her) so I sat out front, reading and texting etc. Finally I went up to the desk and asked how much longer she would be there. The desk clerk said 

"You can go back and ask her" ....Well, I should have asked earlier!!  That was a blonde moment!  Anyway, she was in a bed and she said they had done a CT and said she had a blockage and she was waiting for them to give her some medicine to break it loose. I told her I needed to get home because I was assigned to make a meal for Mindy, who had just had a hernia operation the previous day.  I told her to call me when she was ready to come home. I left, went home, made the meal and she called while it was cooking. Tony went to pick her up. We got her home and then the two of us went to deliver the meal and we stopped and got a sandwich ourselves.  Came home, relaxed, went to bed and she came over at 11:30 that night. She was miserable and hurting and wanted a blessing. Tony gave her a beautiful Priesthood blessing and she went back home. The next day, it was the same and finally she called me at noon or so to tell me she had some relief.  She did come over Sunday and had dinner with us and watched General Conference. She went home and Monday I took her to her dentist for a check up. Tuesday she was having problems again. I took her to her physician on Wednesday and again was prescribed medicine to help her go. Tony and I checked on her Wednesday night and she was still not doing good. She had thrown up all the medicine and what little food she had tried to eat. Tony gave her another blessing and again we checked on her Thursday morning. She was vomiting and getting weaker by the minute. She was trying to get a hold of her physician again and I told her, we are just going to take you back to the ER. She had an appointment at Costco at 10 that Tony was going to take her to for her hearing aids to be cleaned and have her ears checked. He did that while I went to the ER with her. As soon as I pulled up, a lady came out with a  wheel chair and I was glad because I was going to go in and get one. Tony showed up about that time so he went in with her while I parked her car. This time, they took her right back.

She is just so thin and she was dehydrated and they had such a hard time finding a vein to get some fluids started. I felt so bad for her but she took it like a champ! The nurses were wonderful and they kept telling us that Joyce was such a sweetheart. 

They came and took her to do another CT scan and we waited for the results. They did an AKG on her because she said her heart was bothering her after the CT but they think its a little acid reflux because of all the nasty stuff she's throwing up. Finally, the doctor came in and he told her he had the results from the CT. He said she has a blockage lower in her intestine and it is twisted. Consequently, nothing is goin out and there is a small flap that is letting it spill into her stomach. Hence all the vomiting and gas which is causing her a lot of pain. He said he could do surgery and take it out but IF she lives thru the surgery, she will have to wear a colostomy bag the rest of her life. AND, he is concerned it could be cancerous and he said she wouldn't be able to endure the treatment at her age. He said it would be torture. 2nd option was to put a hose down into her stomach to drain and remove gas and then tomorrow (which is now today) put a tube in her side which will do the draining and relieve the gas. HOWEVER, she will have 1 to 2 weeks to live. Joyce chose that option. She said "I have lived a good long life and I have a husband and a lot of family waiting for me on the other side."  I was in contact with Cindy and she and Ty left Ashton Idaho as soon as I told her. It was going to take them 5 or 6 hours to get here.

Cindy's daughter, Tara came from Mountain Home. She works for St Lukes there. She has a son on a mission in Denver and she got him on the phone to talk to his gramma.

Her daughter Heidi, came with her daughter Serena around 7:30 in the evening. Poor Heidi has cancer and has been fighting for her life.

She has called me earlier when we went to get Lynn and she said she thought she would go before her mom. Poor girl is really suffering as well.  I gave her my chair and then tony gave me his.

At 8PM last night, we left Joyce with Tara, Serena and Heidi. Cindy and Ty were almost there and we felt Joyce needed to be with her immediate family. I thanked the nurse who was so sweet to her and told her how much we appreciated her and her tender care of Joyce. She was so appreciative of that and said it was a pleasure to help people like Joyce and that makes her job a pleasure.

LONG DAY!~