Dec. 1, 2010 - 34th embolization

Hi everyone! It's been so long since I've blogged, I hope I remember how to do everything! Our trip started on Tues., Nov. 30th - soon as we arrived in Houston, we made a beeline for Starbucks! Felice and Jon kindly had given us a Starbucks gift card, so we put that to good use! Thanks Felice! Arrived in CO mid-morning Tuesday, and headed to the car rental. Mark had suggested we go to Teds Montana Grill for lunch and see our friend, waitress Michelle! I wasn't in the mood for a burger, so we decided to go to the Cheescake Factory and have lunch before my 2pm appt. w/Dr. Hepworth! Wasn't sure what to order since we've had a lot of turkey and chicken lately, so @ the last minute I saw some fried macaronni as an appetizer and went for that w/some passion tea! Mark had some avocado egg roll looking like things and passion tea as well. After we were done eating, we had a little time to run up to the pet store on the second floor of the Park Meadows Mall! See photos of puppies!
Headed over to Dr. Hepworths Office, where he checked my air passages and trache to make sure everything is in working order. Dr. Hepworth has a very good bedside manner and is very happy with my progress! He is hoping that in March, if Dr. Yakes said it's ok, then we'll do another debulking then! Mark asked Dr. Hepworth about whether I would eventually have my hearing back in my left ear, and Dr. Hepworth was pretty confident I would! Right now the avm is pushing against something that is making me deaf on my left side - very frustrating! All I can hear is a constant pulse! Dr. Hepworth went on to say that it may not look like a lot of changes are taking place on the outside right now, but is definitely noticeably better on the "inside"!
Went back to Park Meadows Mall to look around some more and had to go into St. Nick's, the Christmas Store! Here I am in front of the Snow Babies display. One of my best friends, Dorinda, has a sizeable collection of these in her home displayed in a curio! We always enjoy stopping in @ Borders Bookstore, so we did that, before heading to the hotel to check in! Actually, we went to Whole Foods to pick up something for dinner. We got some pulled pork sandwiches that are really good, along with some sides, like spiral pasta salad. Again, I gave Mark a gift card that Felice, Jon and Emily sent us to Whole Foods and Mark was so busy talking to the cashier, he paid for our dinner in cash! Hijole! So now we head to the hotel to check in and start having our dinner. Meanwhile, I had been feeling a little nauseous so I barely touched my dinner! I kept thinking back to what I had eaten earlier in the day and all I can think of that might have done me wrong is the fried macaronni appetizer? Mark kept telling me to lay down, but I was afraid I wouldn't get up in time to run to the bathroom if I felt that coming back! Yuck! So, I had a miserable night before my procedure!
Showed up right @ 9:00 a.m. for pre-registration and got started with all my activities! I think the name of the nurse doing my IV was Angela and she got it done the first time! Usually I'm making sure I have a book to read while I wait, or trying to get comfortable, but I still wasn't completely over the nausea, so I didn't do much of anything but lay there. Dr. Yakes P.A., Kelly came by - lovely in her pregnancy! She is due in early Feb. I believe! We had asked Kelly to find out what # embolization this was for me - and it's actually #34! We'e made 41 trips to Denver - but there were times I was there for another reason, like removing coils and not necessrily getting an embolization. Anyway, next thing I knew, Quinn the anesthesiologist came by to ask a few questions and then it was time to go! Mark always walks along next to my bed as we head to the surgical room. Of course I had to hop off the bed to go to the bathroom one more time, so got that taken care of! The surgical nurses are super nice and like to get in on photos and asked whether we had seen Dr. Yakes yet - since we hadn't, Dr. Yakes came over for hugs and to hear if we had any concerns or questions. He's looking awesome and skinny! I was telling him how happy I was that Shalon is looking so good, and he said that would be me pretty soon! Dr. Yakes felt that we made it a turning point during my last embolization and is very pleased with my progress! He made it sound like it's all downhill from now on! Yay! I sure hope so!
Didn't seem like I spent much time in recovery, even though Dr. Yakes told Mark he injected 27 cc's of alcohol this time! I was put in a holding room until my room was ready, and Dr. Yakes other P.A., Mandi, stopped by to "discharge" me as a patient. They'll do this the night before, so we won't have to wait for them in the morning to do their rounds and can leave as early as we want to catch our flight!
My sister Celia made me a cute, colorful hospital gown, along with matching pillowcase - I changed in to that after taking a much needed shower! I had some blood in my hair, although Kelley said I hardly lost any blood when Dr. Yakes was injecting alcohol - Dr. Yakes was very pleased about that!
Mark stayed with me until 10pm and he headed back to the room. Next morning as always, he brings me a white choc. mocha from Starbucks! Plus, a sticky bun to go with it - yum! One of the times Mark went down the hall, he ran into Don, one of my favorite nurses from my very first embolization @ Swedish that we nicknamed "The Dream Team"! I hadn't seen Don in a long time, so was very happy to see him! My current nurse of the day was Evan, and Evan told me later that Don is the one who orientated him - so I told him Don always did an awesome job! Love nurses that anticipate what you need before you even call them - Don is one of those!
Got dressed shortly after Don left and we started heading out to drop off prescriptions and get our things repacked @ our hotel! Oh! almost forgot! Dropped in on Dr. Yakes patient coordinator Sadie to set up my follow up appt.!
So that's pretty much our trip this time 'round! I may tweek this here and there, but I think this covers it! Thanks to everyone for their prayer and support! We arrived in CC about 8pm and headed out to Rockport to pick up our Hanzie from Uncle Jim and Aunt Shelleys house! They take such wonderful care of Hanz! Shelley said Hanz seemed a bit bummed after Mark dropped him off Monday afternoon. Luckily from what I hear, Hanz's buddy Bessie cheered him up right away when they started playing together outside! Shelley even bathes Hanz before she returns him to us, all clean and blow dryed! Leaving Hanz is one of the hardest things about my trips - the only way they are bearable for me is knowing what good hands Hanz is in! Jim and Shelley take great care of their 4 dogs and I know they both like Hanz a lot and he adores them! Many thanks!

Cyndi Schuman