Directly from Irene's Facebook page: Dear loved ones, To those who don’t yet know: Joan had a major medical event on Monday, 2/10/2025 at 3 pm. Gripping her chest is terrible pain she screamed out from her office where she was trying to do taxes. I could tell she was hurting and called 911- they transported- ER DID CT scan: Joan was experiencing a dissection of the descending aorta! The bulge in aorta resulted in a tearing of the aortic wall. She already is living with the full ballooning aortic arch (called aortic aneurysm). The bulge put pressure on spine and nerves. Her pain was like a knife to het heart in front chest and horrid pain in upper back where dissection was radiating from. CT scan showed bleeding from dissection too. When stabilized, at local hospital in Harker Heights called Seton, they then tried to get an air lift to Temple or Austin but fog and rain created low ceiling and bad visibility, so they rushed her to Temple Scott and White with pefal to the medal: lights flashing and siren on freeway. Scott and White has a large cardio thoracic team and a “sticu” - a specialized icu for patients like Joan. The good news, she had no negative effects to cognitive function. But the “new normal” will be much more restricted in that she absolutely cannot have her BP go up. This is life and death for her. There is not a way forward to “fix” her heart or the ballooning Aorta or the dissection. Life going forward will be as good as it can be with this very serious condition she will live with from now on. And we will adjust accordingly. Stress is to be managed and avoided, whenever possible. She did not sleep well the first night, but is now resting. Three teams have been here today. Vascular surgeons Hospital ICU team Ot/pt who had her up walking. We have no idea when joan will be out of ICU. More to share later. Key: When Joan sleeps I need to sleep, too. Thx for all the LOVE and prayer and positive energy! Gratefully yours, and staying strong, Irene Big hugs!!! ❤️♥️💜♥️❤️💜