Got A New Neck? Part 2 of Trache Trip

Greetings again to everyone! Are you ready for the holidays? I need to really kick it in gear - right now the only people that have a gift are mom, Hula (Mark Fossums dog,) and Penny - my sister Celia's weenie dog!

So the reason I've titled this "Got A New Neck" is when Davis was a little boy (maybe 4 or 5?) - the receptionist @ his dad's office was wearing one of those foam neck support braces, as she had a disc or two removed (?). Davis went up to her and asked, "Got a new neck"? Since the first time I met Dr. Reed, he told me that I may need a trache and I had really hoped to avoid that from happening! I have really been blessed so far, that it wasn't until very recently that I ended up having to have a trache. I know one of Dr. Yakes patients needed a trache from the beginning of her procedure and had to deal w/it until the very end of all her procedures! That was Joanna from Portugal, as her artero malformation was on both sides of her face!

When we went to CO for this procedure, Dr. Hepworth (ENT) was going to try and intubate me w/the smallest tube he had. We knew there was the possibility of my needing a trache, but had really hoped to avoid it if possible!

Well, I report to Swedish @ my appt. time, and get all prepped for surgery. Got a chance to see Dr. Yakes before my embolization - see photo, and I believe I visited with both Kelly and Eric, Dr. Yakes P.A.'s! Normally, after an embolization, I wake up in Recovery - a very well lit room with a lot of activity going on and usually right away a nurse will check in on me and start trying to wake me up from the anesthesia.

This time when I woke up, I was in a dark room (I didn't know I was in ICU) I had a mouth full of tubes - it was only 2 (a feeding tube and breathing tube), but when you can't open your mouth very wide, it feels like a lot of tubes! My arms were tied down - I know it's for the patients own good - they don't want you to pull those tubes out! I remember trying to cough, but I couldn't hear or feel anything coming out of my mouth! The only thing I can relate it to is hearing my brother-in-law Greg's brother - Astronaut Mike Fossum - talk about being in outer space! Like being out in the pitch blackness with nothing to "grasp" on to. I kept thinking, "why hasn't Mark come to see me"? "What time is it, what day is it"? Where is a nurse to tell me what is going on? It would have been so easy to panic and start pulling at the restraints... but I decided to start praying instead. Oh I knew that I was not alone and kept my sanity by praying lots of Hail Mary's and Our Fathers! I am going into alot of detail, so that all of you can know what I'm going through and how much all your prayer help me get through an extremely bad situation! Of course to add to all the fun I was already having - I had a catheter (sp?)! I was in and out of consciousness and I had no concept of time. Without my glasses, I couldn't see the clock on the wall - I would hear the nurses say what time it was once in a while, but never heard whether it was a.m. or p.m.! I heard I was in CCU and then after that, finally put in a regular room!

Dr. Yakes had started working under my chin - on the mass of avm. Well, the swelling went inward, therefore the doctors ended up having to do a trache. See photos of what I looked like when I got out of ICU! Celia was upset to see them, but you know, it's part of the process and what my life is about these days! Dr. Hepworth got rid of some of the big vein I had going down the front of my neck! He said he would get more of that next time! One photo is of me after just having the embolization. The next one is after having the trache!

When I was finally able to speak and figure out what was going on around me - my first thought was - Hanz! My baby was being taken care of by my brother-in-law Jim and his wife Shelley, but I didn't want Hanz to think his mommy and daddy abandoned him! Mark had asked me if I wanted him to call Mom or Celia to fly in to Colorado and I said yes! That way, he could go home, get back to work and pick up Hanz! Mark was with me in CO for a week, so he really needed to get back to our house! Celia was @ a dental conference in Las Vegas with her husband Greg and their office staff and other dentists that are personal friends. Celia had Mom flown in to CO and Mark picked her up @ the airport. Celia flew in a day or so later and Mark was finally able to go home!

Meanwhile, as I'm recovering, I've realized that I haven't heard the nurses mention decadron (sp?)! I know from past procedures (at least 33) that the nurses inject the steroid into my IV to help w/the swelling! So I asked the nurse about it and she said there were no orders for that medication on my chart! At this point, I can't really talk, so I'm having to write down what I want to say, and being under so many meds, is't helping my handwriting to be understood! I was not on one of the regular floors that I'm usually on and the nurse was just not familiar w/the routine! I tell her I have to have the decadron and she says she will try and reach Dr. Yakes, as now it is after hours. The nurse comes in later saying she reached a doctor that sometimes takes Dr. Yakes calls and after telling him the situation - are you ready for this? - he said something to the effect of - it's just another 12 hours - I guess he meant before Dr. Yakes would be back in the office. I'm thinking, "THOSE ARE MY 12 HOURS"! Each second counts for me, you know? I was not accepting that as an answer, so I told the nurse to try and reach Eric or Kelly. She comes back with the answer that neither is available because it's after office hours! I'm getting pretty angry now, you know? I write her a note to tell her to call my husband Mark and I guaranteed he would reach one of the P.A.'s! Mark was able to reach Kelly and this is what had happened. Apparently my embolization was done first and there were orders for the meds I needed for that. Then a day later when I had the trache - there were new orders written for what I needed done for that! So, out went the orders for decadron that reduce the swelling after my embolization! Finally all that was straightened out - but it was ridiculous that I'm the one that noticed I was not being given the meds I needed! I don't even remember when Dr. Yakes and Kelly came by to see me! Don't I look like I'm telling Dr. Yakes in the one photo, "Why did you do this to me"?!

Ok, this is enough blogging for tonight! I'm sleepy, so I guess this will actually be a 4 part series! I've got lots of photos to share and lots of details from our big adventure! I'll blog again real soon!

Cyndi