I've had some time to reflect this weekend after talking to Bill Ketchum on Friday (friend of Joyce from Dodge Center - childhood and lifelong friend). Bill and I shared some stories and tears. It's been a very difficult three and a half year journey for Joyce, my family, and everyone who loves Joyce. Thank you for your continued support during this chapter in our lives.

How it started:

On October 31st 2019, Joyce was with a church group in Tucson, AZ. They were headed to Nogales, Mexico the next day to visit with the sheriff there and to support children who were hoping to immigrate to the USA. This was an annual trip for Joyce. 

In the middle of the night, Joyce woke up and thought she had food poisoning - all of the symptoms were there - and her travel friends agreed that she had gotten into something at dinner on 10/30.  As the day progressed, her travel group decided that Joyce was not in good enough shape to stay at the hotel and they called 911. Joyce was at the ER in Tucson for many hours before a nurse suspected a cerebellar stroke. This was verified with an MRI around 4pm on the 31st. 

I flew to Phoenix and then drove to Tucson early on 11/1.

Initial reports from neurology were not good.  But, within 4 days, one of the neurologists looked at me and said "She's going to be okay".  Miraculously, 2 weeks later, TJ and I brought her home to Minnesota and she  was in rehabilitation at 3 Links in Northfield, MN until she went home to Mankato.  She was in great spirits and quoting "I Sing the Body Electric" by Walt Whitman throughout the ordeal.

Life was not back to normal, but Joyce was making great strides in her recovery when the pandemic hit in March of 2020. From March 2020 to August of 2020, Joyce was ambulanced to the hospital in Mankato multiple times for chest pain and new stroke symptoms. She had and angiogram on July 4th, 2020 to see if there were blockages - all was clear.  On August 10th, Joyce called 911 from her home in Mankato and was ambulanced again to Mayo in Mankato. This time, Joyce suffered a frontal lobe stroke. Very small in comparison to the cerebellar stroke, but more devastating. This stroke largely took her executive functioning and some of her capacity to retain short term memories.  It was at this time that I had to make the choice to move her to 24/7 care per her neurologist at Mayo.

Moving into congregate care sucks any way you slice it. But, doing it in the peak of a pandemic was extra challenging. 

Joyce and I made her new home at Highview Hills in Lakeville, MN.

Two days before Thanksgiving 2021, Joyce had a 3rd stroke. This one was your classic ischemic stroke. At the ER in Edina I thought for sure this was it. We even started our goodbyes. A young doctor came in and started a pep talk about getting through the stoke and getting going again. Joyce and I both looked at him like he was crazy. Joyce could not move her right side at all. 

Joyce went to transitional care at Aurora in Edina. It was horrible is all I'll say. We were able to move her home to Highview with-in a week and at that time Joyce was in a wheelchair and needed help eating, showering and so on.

SINCE then, she is walking without a walker and eating in the dining room with her friends. She does need assist with showering and dressing.

Joyce is experiencing cognitive decline as she has been diagnosed with Vascular Dementia. She also has atrial fibrillation which is why she has had so many mini-strokes and major strokes. 

Joyce is a fighter - I tell her I'm proud of her every single time I talk to her. :)

More to come as the days unfold. Thank you for visiting Joyce's Caring Bridge.

I'll close this post with an update from, friend, Rosal Molski, who visited Joyce on Friday:

My visit with Joyce went well. Each time we get together, I notice a little more decline in memory, yet we are able to reminisce and laugh about fun times before her strokes. She is very aware that her memory is fading and said so again on Friday. Still she always asks about my family and brings me up to date as best she can on her family. She struggles with her phone but on days when I can reach her and ask how she's doing, she invariably says (with a chuckle) "Well, I'm not getting any smarter." I love that she hasn't lost her sense of humor and greatly admire her ability to persevere and carry on as best she can.