The Official Joyce Update Blog

  These entries will be a bit odd as I (Jess) will be transcribing text messages from Dusty of the events as they happened and he had time to reach out to myself and the family. I will have him come back and edit/add more when he can.  9:46 a.m.  Dusty: Ambulance  summoned following Joyce abruptly announcing she thinks she was dying, reported trouble breathing, and had severe chest pain, they are taking Joyce to ER.  9:48 a.m. Connie: Are they going to Moscow or Pullman? 9:54 a.m.  Dusty:   Moscow to start with. I am heading to ER now. 10:10 a.m.  Dusty:   On-site at Gritman, they are still getting Joyce admitted and checked. I'm in the ER waiting room and will get access to her when they come get me.  10:37 a.m.  Dusty:   In ER with Joyce, waiting for doc to update on Joyce. BP 150/68    Pulse 93. 10:43 a.m.  Dusty:   Nurse Kim reported doc is now reviewing PRH records that just arrived are "working backwar...

 7:23 a.m. Craig arrived to find Joyce in her glider chair in the living room. She said she needs to get ready to go to work. She let Craig know she had been to the bathroom about 30 minutes before. He convinced her that she was retired and got her into her recliner and her oxygen on.  8:39 a.m. Dusty arrived. BP 139/72     Pulse 81         Blood glucose @199      Oxygen @ 89% - Breathing exercises done. Type 4/5 bowel movement left in the toilet from earlier bathroom trip pre-Craig arrival.  8:47 a.m. Oxygen @ 91% - Breathing exercises done. Breakfast (Donut, dices peaches, cheese wheel) 9:15 a.m. Oxygen @ 90% Around the time of this entry while eating her breakfast Joyce dropped her fork grabbed her chest and looked at Dusty saying "I think I'm dying" Dusty asked if her chest hurt, it did. He asked about her breathing, she couldn't catch her breath. Dusty ran outside to ask Craig if Joyce had been experiencing chest pains thi...

   These entries will be a bit odd as I (Jess) will be transcribing text messages from Dusty of the events as they happened and he had time to reach out to myself and the family. I will have him come back and edit/add more when he can.  9:16 a.m.  Dusty:  Dusty on site at Pullman Regional Hospital (PRH). Checked in with day shift doc Helen Carlson and day shift nurse Janine. 9:17 a.m.  Dusty:  Joyce potentially will be discharged today, they are wanting to do some additional tests with equipment ( sonogram/ echocardiogram?) Before pursuing release planning. To see how much damage/ if any was done to Joyce's heart.  9:18 a.m.  Dusty:  Current info from labs pulled every 4 hours since Joyce's admission show heart enzymes within acceptable levels so current belief is that heart attack didn't so any damage. 9:19 a.m.  Dusty:  Joyce currently being administered blood thinners previously listed last night (last blog post) and aspiri...

 8:20 a.m. Jess arrived. Joyce asleep folded over in chair head over knees. Oxygen line in place. She was a bit fuzzy. She did not think she had any nightmares. Her left arm is still sore but not as bad as yesterday. She thinks her chest doesn't as much as yesterday. Jess asked if Joyce's chest was hurting yesterday and she responded that it had been.  8:29 a.m. Bathroom. Urine incontinence. New pad and diaper. Small bowel movement type 5. Did pretty good and needed minimal coaching. Barrier cream applied. Back in chair 8:55 a.m. Legs really hurting.  8:59 a.m. Small cup of Dutch Brothers coffee (1/2 of it with 2 Tbsps. water added) Joyce super excited. Joyce requested hot cereal again this morning.  9:00 a.m. BP 155/99     Pulse 89      Blood Glucose @ 151 9:25 a.m. Morning medication with Equate nutritional shake after finishing coffee.  9:30 a.m. Breakfast (Two packets of Cream of Wheat with 6 packets Equal and banana) Jess observed...

 These entries will be a bit odd as I (Jess) will be transcribing text messages from Dusty of the events as they happened and he had time to reach out to myself and the family. I will have him come back and edit/add more when he can.  5:18 p.m. Dusty: At Quick Care to get Mom's (Joyce's) her chest pains checked out.  5:46 p.m.   Dusty:  Got moved to ER for triage. Dusty later explained that Joyce was pushed to the front of the line.  5:47 p.m. Jess : Did they increase today? 6:02 p.m.  Dusty:  Persistent. That plus trouble breathing and Quick Care sent us to ER. They just did an EKG. Waiting for Dr. Modad to come check on her at 6:09 p.m. 6:19 p.m.  Dusty:  Dr. Modad believes Joyce is having a heart attack. Dusty spoke with Craig a few moments ago. Choice for treatments is the conservative option (treat at Gritman) VS. the more aggressive option, which was to fly her Sacred Heart or Kootenai Medical for heart dye and possible stint ins...

 8:24 a.m. Jess arrived. Joyce asleep in her chair with oxygen in.  8:35 a.m. Joyce is not as perky as she was yesterday. She had nightmares last night that were "Bad." Joyce is craving coffee but then switched topics in the middle of the conversation. Joyce is scooted down in her chair and is as close to laying down as she can with out laying the chair back.  8:44 a.m. BP 167/92     Pulse 79 8:48 a.m. Joyce rocking back and forth in chair after sitting up. When asked about her chest pain she thought it was better but did not want to take a deep breath because it might hurt. Joyce could not be encouraged to take a deep breath. Requested hot cereal for breakfast.  8:58 a.m. Bathroom. Urine incontinence. New diaper and pad. Remaining urine passed. Back in chair 9:10a.m.  9:15 a.m. Morning medication and Equate nutrition shake. 9:20 a.m. Breakfast (2 packets of Cream of Wheat, 4 equal packets and banana) Finished 10:12 a.m. Joyce's left shoulder hurting d...

 7:53 a.m. Craig arrived. Joyce seems better to him. Making her way to the bathroom.  8:17 a.m. Jess arrived. Joyce in bathroom. Joyce trying to clean herself up after bowel movement. Jess helped clean her up. Bowel movement half diarrhea half very soft in texture. applied barrier cream. Back in recliner 8:25 a.m.  Joyce in a lot of pain. Says her neck hurt on the back and sides. Jess worked with her to figure out exactly how it was hurting and trying to describe the pain. From this it sounded like muscle strain. According to Dusty Joyce was sleeping very oddly yesterday. Jess noticed she was handing her head and almost resting her chin on the right side of her chest. Jess coached her to lean back in her chair and lean her head back. rest her neck. Craig told Jess that Joyce told him that her chest pain was not as bad. When Jess asked Joyce she wanted to rest for a while before answering questions.  8:31 a.m. BP 147/78      Pulse 88 8:53 a.m. Morning M...

 7:47 a.m. Craig arrived Joyce was in the bathroom.  (No data on urine/bowel movement or incontinence issues) 7:56 a.m. Joyce returned to her recliner.  8:15 a.m. Jess arrived giving brief up date on Joyce. Joyce had chest pains on Sunday. Craig also inquired about the bottle of tramadol since it was not with the other medications. Jess updated him about Dusty ordering the refill but since it is a controlled substance it needs to be approved by Dr. Collins before it is refilled. He said that he thinks "they" gave Joyce more Tylenol yesterday. Jess sat and spoke with Joyce about the chest pains and if she was still having them. Craig said she had reported they (chest pains) were "a lot" better. When speaking with Jess she said it (chest pain) was not as bad as yesterday. With prompting she narrowed it down to the center of her upper chest with no specific side. Both arm were not hurting. Joyce reports a minor headache. She also had some pain in her stomach but couldn...

 7:55 a.m. Craig at farmhouse. Joyce made first bathroom trip.  (No data on urine/bowel movement or incontinence issues) 8:08 a.m. Morning medication and breakfast ( banana and Babybell) BP 156/79      Pulse 79 11:18 a.m. Afternoon medication with 1/4 of a nutritional shake. 12:00 p.m. Bathroom- diarrhea- cleaned up 12:30 p.m.- 1:45 p.m. Slept 2:00 p.m. Tums for chest pain  3:00 p.m. Biscuit and sausage gravy  3:38 p.m. Only ate half. Joyce kept falling asleep. Slept on and off most of the early evening. 6:41 p.m. Bathroom - bowel movement 7:16 p.m. Soft peanut butter 1 slice and night medication. 8:30 p.m. Ready for bed