Trick or Treat!

Hi Everyone! Happy Halloween! Be safe, whatever you decide to do tomorrow! A couple days ago I didn't think I would have anything to blog about, but of course now, I've got plenty! My Uncle Jesse is here, visiting from Oregon and my Uncle Luis and Aunt Betty are here visiting from Nebraska! Since my sister Celia and I lost our dad when we were very young, we always loved and respected our uncles so much! You know what makes me feel great? Both my uncles have taken the time to tell Mark how much they appreciate him taking such wonderful care of their niece! Here is a fun fact - Uncle Luis and Aunt Betty got married the same day/year that Mark was born! So, come December 31, Mark will turn 49 and they will have been married 49 years! We have laughed so much and had a great time visiting with everyone! (see photos!)

Went to Moms on Monday night because Vicente turned 77! Vicente is the best! He is so supportive of me and our entire family! He always welcomes us over and we always have so much fun! He makes sure to remind mom to call Cinderella (me)! We wish him many, many more birthdays!! Saba wore her "little black dress", and Mark made Vicente a delicious German chocolate cake! Mark included some Heath chips in there, along w/drizzling some chocolate and white chocolate over the top! We had picked up pizza @ Pizza State and the Fossums joined us as well! Minus Davis of course - boo hoo! Everyone loooved the cake - outstanding job Mark!

So Tuesday after work, I was sooo sleepy, I decided to take a nap! Mark woke me up later telling me dinner was ready (my friend Olgas favorite - Brauts w/Sauerkraut and German Potato Salad). He had just walked away when I sat up and felt that my neck was wet. You guessed it! Dang your good! A BLEED! What? I had been doing so well! I should have known it was coming - see photo of puffy eye! That's usually what that means - I get a puffy eye around the time I'm due to go back to Colorado, but this is early! After a few days of sporting the puffy eye, I could tell it wasn't going to get better, so I called Rhonda in Colorado. I described the eye and she felt some steroids were in order to get rid of that! Meanwhile, she also suggested I have a bone density test, as I've been on steroids periodically now for 4 years. Are we having fun yet? Yeah, poor Mark - I was just covered in blood, so Mark had to take the allergen cover off all my pillows (since I sleep almost sitting up) and my nightgown all had to be soaked and washed.

I'm having fun w/my little Saba! I take her everywhere, and the few times I don't, they ask for her! I took Rulon to work one day and Saba was missed - the clerks @ HEB ask for her too!

Wednesday, our dear friend Terry Schneider had a Mass for our intention, so we went to ST. Pauls that evening. Thank goodness Celia called Mark on his cellphone - we had both fallen asleep and ended up being late for Mass! I was happy that Celia made it out there too - Terry includes the Fossum family in the Mass intentions as well! Rev. James Stembler always has time to talk to us for a few minutes after the Mass and offers more blessings!

So, that has been our last week or so of adventures! As always, I couldn't get through w/out my darling husband Mark! He makes me so happy and takes such great care of me! If I'm not feeling my best, he picks up my slack around here, so not only does he make dinner, but sometimes cleans up afterwards too! Woke up from a nap today (the Neuontrin makes me ridiculously drowsy) and found Mark had gone to the store, picked up my prescription and made dinner!

I thank all of you for all your prayers and well wishes - I sure need them!! Thank you Terry Schneider for all the Masses you have for our healing intentions! This is a hard journey and sometimes I don't handle this well. Last week seems everyone I saw was staring @ me or asking what happened to my face! For some reason, EVERY time there is something on the Health channel w/someone w/a huge tumor or something on their face, people feel they must tell me about it! I really don't want to hear about it - I just want to forget about mine unless I'm in pain or bleeding! I thank all of you that treat me normally and so many of the people I work with are so nice and helpful! This means you ladies in the Tax Assessors Office, Martha Sanchez in Risk Management and Connie Morgan in IT! I've mentioned them before, but they are just the best! There is another lady in the Auditors office that us super sweet, her name is Ida and she always has a kind word for me and asks how I'm doing!
If I could ask for a teeny favor of you - It would mean so much to me if you included my e-mail friend from Holland in your prayers! Marijn is going through so much - he just had his avm surgically removed and lost lots of blood! He is having embolizations now and also the hyperbaric oxygen treatment! Shalon had told me about the latter treatment and I had told Marijn. This has been very helpful to him, so thanks very much Shalon! Shalon just got back from her 9th procedure in Denver - please do keep up w/her blog and website! It's interesting how both she and I have avms on our face, yet there are different ways to medically treat us @ different stages of our avm! This past time, Shalon just got all coils (yikes!) and no alcohol! She has inspired me so much and helped me set up this blog so I can keep in touch w/all of you! Please pray for her as well - that all avm-ers will heal! Thank you for visiting with me and being part of my journey!

Love to all!

Cyndi Schuman

P.S. Don't forget Daylight Savings Time on Sunday (or Sat. night)!!