General Update #85

Dusty and Jess called Joyce in the evening on July 4 to wish her a happy Independence Day. 

Joyce reported that her pain levels were fairly low, even after doing upper body physical therapy work earlier in the day. She was a little disappointed with her meals served. She had been hoping that they would serve hot dogs and potato salad for lunch or dinner but none were to be had. Joyce could not recall what she ate for any of her three meals she was served. At the time of the phone call Joyce had not seen any fireworks out her north facing window but she could hear several concussive blasts of fireworks being set off near Dusty and Jess' apartment. 

Joyce said that she did not see or hear the Let Freedom Ring Tour (a B-25 Mitchell, a F-7F Tigercat, a P-47 Thunderbolt, a P40N Warhawk, and a P51D Mustang), which was sponsored by Hangar180, fly overhead around 5:45 p.m. but she might've missed it most likely owing to having been napping at the time.

She stated that she was excited she would get to go home on July 15 several times at the start of the conversation and then later asked if Dusty and Jess knew what date she would be allowed to go home from the Aspen Park facility.

One of the orderlies brought her a nail trimmer from the nurse's station at some point, so the length of her fingernails are no longer a bother to her. She said that this was probably the longest her nails have ever been in her life. She does not care for having long fingernails on her hands.   

Phone call was ended as Joyce could not keep the phone to her head. She wished everyone a happy and safe 4th. 

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Dusty attempted to call Joyce at 10:05 on July 5 but received no answer.

Assuming bathroom break or PT was in progress.

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Dusty called Joyce at 11:12 a.m. Joyce reported that today's breakfast was French toast with maple syrup, a sausage patty, and scrambled eggs. Joyce reported that she slept well through the night. She was sad to report that she did not see any fireworks through her north-facing window even though her room blinds were left up. She thinks that the Juniper bushes in front of her room window kept her from seeing much.

Joyce reminisced about the years of fireworks where she and Dusty had to work at keeping the dogs calm during Independence Day celebrations. She remembered the one summer where Bumble parked herself under the bench Joyce was sitting on and didn't move for hours.

Joyce has been watching more television than reading lately as when she tries to read she gets sleepy. She recalled that all of her kids would sleep to "time travel," especially on road trips. She figures that it ought to work for her. She occasionally watches local television and news but is mainly watching shows she has not seen in a while since having her DIRECTV disconnected. She then clarified that she often dozes through a lot of her TV watching, so maybe she isn't really watching as much as she stated she was doing. She laughed at that.  

Joyce repeatedly commented that the bushes (or grass, as she would sometimes refer to them) were growing taller every day. 

She thinks that she will have today off from physical therapy as no one has come to work with her during the morning yet. 

Joyce reports that she has difficulty in cleaning herself up following bowel accidents, owing to the fact she has difficulty standing up, cleaning herself, and maintaining balance simultaneously. Her nurses do report that she is making progress in being able to self-clean following such accidents. 

She is anxious to return to the farm and see the house. She is looking forward to just being at home. She expressed that she is no longer having nightmares about the farmhouse burning down while she is gone.