Here I am!

Hi Everyone! How have y'all been? Well, I had gotten away from blogging because I wasn't making any trips to CO and I didn't want to write about just some piddly stuff - but if you insist! Here goes! No, I'm very happy to know that I am so blessed in having a lot of friends that worried and asked for me because I had not written! I did go through a little bit of a slump after I had been in the hospital w/that ear infection and had gotten a transfusion. That set me back on working w/my Therabite system (so I can get my mouth open wider and the anesthesiologist in Denver can intubate me)! For a while it seemed like I just had one set back after the other! My ear had a lot of drainage, so I had been wearing a cotton ball in my ear to absorbe that. One day after work, came home, removed the cotton ball and stuck a q-tip in there to get any remaining drainage. I soon noticed I was bleeding from inside my ear! Ugh! I kept teling Mark to hurry and help and he kept handing me q-tips to catch the blood with and tried to hold the flashlight close so I could see in my ear - frustrating! Then one day @ work right after lunch, I was trying to scrape some dried drainage from my ear canal and accidentally hit a scab that really got the blood flowing! I was in the breakroom @ work, but managed to grab my wound care bag and head to the bathroom, all the while trying to stuff a paper towel in my ear to catch all the blood! (Some of the above was sounding familiar - but it is different than the incident July 15!) Luckily one of the female officers came in the bathroom as I was trying desperately to make sure I didn't get blood on my phone because I was trying to call Mark! Grace really helped and got Mark on the phone and he came to help redress the wound once we got the bleeding stopped. Sigh ... so tired of it all. Then, one of my co-workers/friend Carolina, had invited us to go to a healing Mass @ ST. Phillips! Carolina had really been supportive and I was very impressed @ how much she went out of her way to talk to me about God and prayer, so I felt I wanted to go to that healing Mass! Since that Mass - I have not had any bleeds! If I have had any, I don't remember and if I did, it was because I picked an area trying to get some scab off! Meanwhile, I had pretty much just given in and decided to get that darned trache! I felt that if Dr. Yakes in Denver wanted me to have that done - then my fate was in Gods hands and I would not be fearful anymore!

So I started trying to get things ready to set up getting the trache surgery. Didn't know where to start, so I called Dr. Yakes office. Was told to call Dr. Reed - since he is the Head of Voice and Swallow in CO! I bugged them a couple of times and it took him a week to get back to me. Dr. Reed really discouraged me to have the trache saying it was definitely risky! First, I would have to have it in TX, as my insurance wouldn't pay for a trache in CO. Then of course, it would take a team of doctors in a specialized hospital to do this. My worry was always that big vein in front of my neck. At one time I had asked Dr. Yakes nurse, Julie LaBadie whether that area was avm - and she had replied with, "I don't think it is". I remember thinking, "WHAT? How could it NOT be"? So I mentioned this to Dr. Reed and he said something to the effect of sometimes "secretions" from the avm affect vessels nearby and enlarging them - so I'm guessing that once that area is embolized, those vessels affected should diminish in size, right? Dr. Reeds worry for me was not only getting the trache in, but mostly maintaining it w/out having problems! He felt that I would possibly have problems and then of course no one nearby that really knew what to do to help! So! His suggestion was to discourage me from the trache - to keep working with the Therabite! Said he was going to be @ a workshop w/a doctor in a week that worked w/the Therabite extensively, and would talk to him about giving me some tips and pointers! Dr. Reed went on to say that we would touch base in a month and see how I felt @ that point about flying in to CO and having a procedure, according to how well the Therabite was working out! Meanwhile of course, we worry about not letting the avm getting ahead of us, we want to keep ahead of it! My last embolization was in early May!

That's where I'm @ folks! Mark has been doing an awesome job on my wound care! That area has been healing finally! We kinda needed to get a break from embos to give my face a chance to heal! Speaking of Mark - he's riding the celebrity wave right now! He works for the City of Corpus Christi and has been in charge of giving tours of the coliseum for businessmen interested, or the insurance adjustor(s). Mark was on TV and in the newspaper - then we recently got some much needed rain and the News crews were out interviewing people whose job was affected by the rain. Guess who they interviewed? So, Mark was on TV again!

I've been keeping busy planning my baby Hanz's birthday party! He should be a year old soon, so we want to make it a big, fun event! Stay tuned to my blog for details and photos! I must close now, as I am drifting off to sleep! Thank you all so much for caring enough to check up on me and for your continued prayer! As always, you are on this journey with me and I couldn't do this on my own!

Oh! I'm including a couple of photos of myself with my little angel Hanz!

Take Care!

Cyndi