Promising News

Hi Everyone!

Well, our adventure for our recent procedure started when we boarded the plane in Corpus Christi - before reaching our destination (Dallas) I had a bleed! Yikes! As always before one of these trips, we are going on 3 hours sleep, so I had just bumped the coffee on my tray and spilled it on us and right after that the bleed happened. Mark was able to get it all taken care of right where we sat - I told him to call the Stewardess to help! Once she saw what was happening, she took the coffee cup away from Mark and came back w/extra paper towels and wet naps!

We arrived in Denver mid-morning, picked up the car rental and headed to the hotel to change out of our clothing that had blood on it. We then took my two Build a Bears to one of their workshops for a tune-up! One of Sabas arms needed more stuffing in it, and we were changing the "recording" Celia had put in when she bought her bear originally. We decided he'll be a boy bear, but we haven't named him yet! Since he also got more stuffing (at my request), he's a big guy! So I thought of calling him Bruiser (sp?) or Rulon, after the US Wrestler that upset the Olympic Russian that had won three gold medals prior to this Olympics in Australia in 2000!
(see photo of Saba and Rulon getting some stitches open to put more stuffing in)! They both looked so great and you can't tell that they were ever opened up! Of course this service is free!

After leaving Build a Bear, we headed to Dr. Reeds Office where he makes sure my air passages are clear for that breathing tube that I need to have during the embolization! Don't forget - be looking for Dr. Reed on HGTV starting Oct. 13th @ 9pm, as they renovate Dr. Reeds Denver cottage! Dr. Reed was pleased w/how the inside of my throat passages look - so no troubles there! See photo of Shannon doing the endoscopy. Mark took a photo of us on Dr. Reeds office balcony when we first arrived.!

We picked up something for dinner @ Whole Foods and then went back to the hotel to rest! We needed to be @ Swedish Medial Center by 8am where we eventually end up in Ambulatory care to start processing me before having the embolization! Here I am w/one of the nurses in Ambul. Care - Boston, a/k/a Mary! She is always in a good mood and is always eager to help! Sue is our absolute favorite - she is hilarious and in the photo her arms are a blur! I had to get a photo in of Rick - he is the BEST Recovery Room nurse in all my hospital years! Even this time when I was put in recovery, Rick wasn't in charge of taking care of me, but came over to say hello and made sure I didn't need anything - but I needed something for pain and he got on it immediately. He is so great @ what he does and is funny too! He started telling me something that Shalon told him she would be doing on the day of my embolization. They apparently communicate on Face Book (I don't know what that is), but I asked Rick what he was talking about. I had no idea what on earth his response would be, but he said, "Oh Shalon said she is drinking a Starbucks in your honor"! Cool! Mark always brings me a Starbucks White Choc. Mocha the morning after a procedure!

Oh, to boot - there was no room @ the Inn, so I was given a choice. I could go back to the hotel, or I could stay, but would have to spend the night in Ambulatory Care! There were some poor people stuck in ICU and had to sleep there because there were no more rooms available! I was opting for going back to the hotel, but Mark was concerned that I may not be getting enough oxygen on my own and sure enough, after watching me a bit longer - Rhonda, Dr. Yakes P.A. felt I should stay overnight where they could provide the oxygen I needed. It wasn't really as bad as I thought, the only drawback being not being able to shower and get the blood out of my hair! UGH! I know I looked terrible too - my left eye was swollen shut and the left side of my upper lip was huge!

Well, I hear that Dr. Yakes used 12 cc's of alcohol during the embo - and I didn't bleed during the procedure like I did the last time. Dr. Yakes told Mark that he felt we were finally out of the Pacific Ocean and into the Great Lakes as far as my procedures go!

So Dr. Yakes came by to see me in the morning before Mark arrived, and gave me a big hug and told me he was very happy w/what he is seeing! I had an angiogram done (groin stick - eeek!), so that really shows him what 's going on w/the avm! After he left, I went over to Dr. Yakes nurse, Julie and asked if Dr. Yakes really meant what he said about seeing the light @ the end of the tunnel! She said absolutely - he was very pleased with what he saw and it wouldn't be too much longer before Dr. Yakes could do some debulking of the avm! WOW! That is great news! I don't want to get my hopes up, but it would be fantastic to get some of the mass taken out! After the debulking, is when I would have the reconstructive surgery to help me look as normal as possible! We asked about Joanna from Portugal and were told that she has already had a couple of her reconstructive surgery and is looking very well! Can't wait until I can say that about myself as well!

On this trip, Mark has been sick w/lots of coughing, so it really took it's toll on Mark! After leaving the hospital, we headed back to the hotel, I got cleaned up and then Mark wanted to change the dressing on my wound. Well, when he did that, I had a bleed! We had to wait a while to get that stopped, but so far so good @ this point! We were just happy to get home w/out any more incidents!

Oh! I had to include a photo of this nurse in Ambulatory Care named Jill - she reminds us of Rhonda Ganz, a former choir member and neighbor to Celia out on the island! The final photo will be of Saba on the plane on our way home! She got her own seat in fact, so we were all comfortable!

We thank all of you for all your love, support and prayers! I have loved writing on my blog to keep all of you updated on all our adventures in Denver on our journey to getting rid of this AVM!

XXXOOO's

Mark & Cyndi