Dr. Zane

Hi Everyone!

I've been wanting to blog - Mark is in the garage and I'm trying to watch some of the ELLEN shows I have on the dvr and putting away some of Saba's clothes that are all over the place when I change her in a rush - all the while making sure Hanz doesn't get in to trouble! What kind of trouble? Oh, his favorite - going into our bedroom and walking off w/some of my socks and Crocs! He's already had his bath today, as he will be going w/us to Rockport on Sunday to see Uncle Jim and Aunt Shelley! Hanz will be staying to visit w/his cousins Ripley, Emee, Betsy and Katy while we are in CO! We won't leave him out there until Tuesday night, but we want to make sure and get him acquainted first! It's breaking my heart to think of leaving my baby for several days, but he'll probably have a blast out there! Jim and Shelley live on a big piece of property out in the country and their friends Linda and Buddy also have pets! They have a yorkie named Hockey and all of them are dog lovers, so Hanz will be very well taken care of! Sniff, sniff, waaaah!

Ok! Back to the reason I'm blogging! Went to see Dr. Zane on Thursday, and Mark came with me - I've been wanting him to see how awesome Dr. Zane really is and what excellent work he does! I'm posting lots of photos of our office visit, so get ready for that! Dr. Zane is so personable! He saw I was reading the book "The Kite Runner" and said he had read and enjoyed it as well! Also browsed through the photos I had with me of our little angel Hanz, since Dr. Zane's family has several Brussels of their own! Isn't that awesome? The Brussels he and his wife have looks like such a little princess!

So! The tech told Mark she was happy to meet him, as I talk about him all the time! Dr. Zane took a look inside my ear and was happy w/the healing process since the last time I had seen him! Still had to get some of the scabbing and old, dead tissue out of there - the look on my face in one photo tells you how painful that was! Mark took photos of the screen we were seeing everything Dr. Zane was doing on!
Dr. Zane has these tools to scrape the scab and tissue and to snip it if he doesn't want to pull any further! At one point of course, there had to be bleeding! Right away, Dr. Zane gets a Q-tip and puts pressure on the bleeding area! He also puts a cotton ball in my ear, so that the blood won't go inside my ear. He checks to see if it's still bleeding, and of course it is, so he gets another Q-tip and puts some more pressure on there. Can you say, "PAIN"?! Ugh! This is no fun at all! At one point when he was pulling on a scab I had to yell out, "OUCH"! Seems like I was holding my breath the entire time Dr. Zane was debriding my inner ear! Dr. Zane cauterized the area where I was bleeding from - yikes! That burned, whew! I just have to say how impressed I have been with Dr. Zane! He is in complete control of the situation and my having an avm and a bleed have not been a problem @ all for him! His confidence puts my mind @ ease, knowing that he is doing as much as he can to make sure I heal in the best possible way! I wanted Mark to go with me, as it's kind of hard to explain what all I go through during one of my office visits with Dr. Zane! I wanted to especially share this with all of you - this is why your prayers help me so much! This is not easy @ all! There is so much discomfort going on with my ear - it drains, it's scabbed on the inside and out, and of course painful! My appt. was @ 1:00 pm and I was not pain free until about 4:30pm! Got back to work by 2:00 pm and had a rough afternoon! My co-worker Kathy left for the day as soon as I returned, and I had ten defendants show up that I had to tend to! I was just so anxious to call it a day come 5pm, so I could relax and know that it was finally the weekend! I rushed home so I could go on the walk with Mark and Hanz since my knee had felt well all day! It wasn't until I was talking to my mom @ about 6:45pm that I realized I had forgotten my pain management appt. I had @ 5:30 pm! Mom had asked how my appts. went and I gasped when I realized I had completely zoned out that doctors appt. I had @ 5:30pm! I've since rescheduled it to Tuesday afternoon - the day before we leave for Denver! I have just enough pain meds to get through until that appt.! I also have a wound care appt. the same day I go back to work after my upcoming embolization!

I called Shalon a few minutes ago, as I boo booed and put one photo twice on this blog and I don't know how to remove it! Shalon is my blog creator/maintainer! I want to thank so many of you that tell me how much you enjoy reading my blog! I'm hoping to hear from Wendy soon after her embolization last week! She makes the trip from Canada to see Dr. Yakes! Her avm affects her upper lip and pallet!

I am soooo ready for this avm business to be overwith! It has been very overwhelming and I do have these little break downs @ times! Our original plan had been for Celia to go with me on this next trip to Denver. Unfortunately, since her mother-in-law Pat has been in ICU in Houston the last week or so, Celia is much needed there for her husband Greg and their family. I'm very happy that Mark is going with me - especially since I am still having bleeds - I think I mentioned before that Mark handles these situations very well and that eases my stress! At least I won't be missing Mark AND Hanz - this way, I'll only be missing my furry kid while in Denver! My co-worker Kathy said to me the other day, "It's just a dog"! Excuse me? I know what she is trying to say .. but first of all, a Brussels is never "just a dog"! Secondly, he is the newest member of our family - and I mean entire family! Hanz goes with us to Grandmas - there is no way I'm leaving him home alone while we're on a family visit or occasion! Lastly, Mark and I are completely in love with Hanz and are having a blast taking him for walks and just enjoying everything about him! Ok, ok ... I know, enough gushing about the little prince!

I don't think I'll blog until after our return from this upcoming embolization! Both Shalon and I will be @ Swedish @ the same time, so wish us luck! We hope to get some great photos of the two of us! Please do keep up w/Shalons website and blog - she always has interesting things to say and great photos! You can get to her site from mine! It's always great seeing her - not sure who her travel partner is this time!

Thank you so much for keeping up with us and all your love and prayers!

Mark & Cyndi

P.S. Remember I told you about the MRI I had done last Friday afternoon? Well, turns out I have a torn meniscus! Geez, when will the fun ever end?! I suppose I'll have to squeeze that in between embolizations! Plus we can't forget the physical therapy I'll have to juggle between work and wound care therapy! I'll keep you updated!