January Update

Hi Family and Friends!

How is everyone? Good, I hope! I've been pretty good, for the most part! Toward the end of this past week, I was feeling great! Had my pain under control, hadn't had any bleeds ... until the early hours of Saturday morning. I had asked Mark on Friday night, to put some ointment on the outer rim of my ear and on that little flap over the earlobe, because it was all getting so dry. I had gotten up about 3:30am and I like to check in the bathroom mirror, to make sure my hair isn't all sticking to the ointment. I remember having a good laugh, because our puppy Hanz had gotten loose from his cage he sleeps in, and had dragged 3 different shoes of mine and some socks into a little pile in the hallway - even one of Saba's little socks! Anyway, I had "dabbed" some of the ointment from my ear w/a q-tip and some of the scab had come off - actually an area of scab that I wished hadn't come off and I feared might bleed later. I went back to bed, hoping for the best ... and a few hours later, I felt like I had just started bleeding. Sure enough, I sat up and yelled to Mark that I was bleeding to get up and help me! I headed toward the kitchen sink and I had grabbed a tissue somewhere and was putting it on my ear and the blood was just flowing! I hollered at Mark to hurry w/the wound care bag and by this time the entire front of my pink nightgown was red with blood! I couldn't find a mirror to see where I needed to put pressure to stop the bleeding. Turns out, I wasn't bleeding from my ear, but from the wound on my face! Once Mark brought me a mirror, I pulled the dressing from my face and could see the blood just gurgling out in a thick flow from the top of the wound on my face! I was finally able to grab a wet paper towel and put pressure on my face to stop the bleeding! By this time, I was almost sliding on the floor in the pool of blood I was standing in! Mark could not believe how much blood was everywhere! He had to help me off w/my nightgown that was soaked completely and get that started soaking in the wash! I really needed to have gotten in the shower to get all the blood off my legs and feet, but @ 6am all I could think about was getting back to bed! I "checked" to see how I was doing by moving the paper towel I had been holding to my wound - and after a couple of times that I could see I was still gushing, it was finally just a fine stream of spray, so I knew the bleeding would be stopping soon! With Marks help, I got cleaned up enough and he got the wound redressed so go back to bed! After getting some more sleep, I got up, took a shower and we headed out to see Celia. She and her housekeeper were cleaning Gregs office (their regular clean up crew was out of commission). Celia had been worried about Hanz - he had been sick but was now 100% better! After visiting w/Celia, we headed to Petsmart to pick up some items for Hanz and then headed to Moms! Hadn't been over in a couple of weeks and she and Vicente needed Marks help w/a couple of things! We stayed for dinner and played a full game of Mexican Train! Hanz was so good the entire visit! He loved running around moms back yard! See photos!

Wish me luck - Monday morning will be my first time ever to have Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatment @ Spohn Hospital! I had never heard of this treatment, but my BFF Shalon told me about it and had it done herself! (For more information on Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatment, check out Shalons web site @: (http://sites.google.com/site/shalonsavm/Home). Hopefully, I will be allowed to take some photos and I'll post those soon! Mark took the day off to help me through this the first time, so I feel as safe as I can! Mark is the only one that can get any situation I have under control immediately, so we'll see how I do! I also have a CT Scan tomorrow afternoon. Apparently a chest x-ray I had done showed a "spot" that the radiologist wanted checked out to make sure we could rule out any problem. Here's hoping it was just "one of those things" and nothing more! Will keep you updated, so please check back!

Love all of you for all your wonderful love, support and prayers! We're all on this journey together!

Hugs & Love,

Mark & Cyndi Schuman