Hi Family and Friends! How is everyone? I finally made time or felt well enough to sit down and blog about our last trip to Denver! I've been discouraged lately about this whole process and mentioned it to Dr. Yakes Physician Asst. Kelly Peters while I was just up there. Her reply, she says is one that Dr. Yakes gives his patients; "I have yet to lose a battle"! Well, I suppose that should give me some comfort! It's just taking sooo looong, not to mention that the embolization I had done in late June was so invasive! If you'll remember, I had been having some bleeding toward the back of my throat/base of my tongue, so Dr. Yakes got me w/24 cc's of alcohol in order to work on that big vein causing the problems, but all the swelling meant I couldn't swallow for 3 or 4 days! Plus I was on a "soft food" diet and it's still find that easiest on the inside of my mouth!
Let me back track a bit and let you in on all the fun we've been having lately! Our little Bella (10 month old Brussels Griffon) had been having problems with what is called "Luxating Patella" - a/k/a kneecap that pops out of place. She had surgery a few weeks ago to correct the problem - see photo! She is doing very well and in another month, she'll have the other hind leg done. Poor baby girl! She's already running all over the place with her big brother Hanz - she wore a "cast" for a week.
Couple days before the trip, I had a dr's appt. and had gotten a prescription for my main pain killer that is a narcotic, so the pharmacy is very strict about filling it. I had dropped it off @ Wal-Greens w/the understanding I would pick it up the following day. When I went to get it, they tell me it was not filled because the dr. did not date the script. By now, it's after 5pm and I have to wait until the NEXT day to fix this and that is the day we leave for CO! So, Mark was going to do that the next morning, but guess what? The power went off in the house! Why? Because we are so overwhelmed with bills, we sometimes forget what we have paid or not! (Yes, we try doing it on line as well, but really folks, it's enough I make it through the work day and collapse in bed when I get home). Mark works all day, then comes home and collapses as well! He has been having problems w/a torn meniscus (sp?) and has to take care of me and fix dinner on top of all that! Anyway, luckily the power was only out a couple hours and Mark had gone to get the script fixed, then back to Wal-Greens and now they say, they don't carry the medication I need. So off he goes to HEB Pharmacy. We finally get packed and drive to San Antonio where our flight leaves @ 6:30 p.m. - the only South West flight Celia could get us on. We find we cannot land in Denver due to bad weather and fly over the airport a while until we are running low on fuel and have to land in Colorado Springs! Refuel and finally arrive in Denver a couple hours late and guess what? Yup! The car rental won't accept our credit card because we were late paying the bill! So we were told maybe the car rental next door will take the debit/master card, but no, they are all out of cars @ this late hour! Back to Budget Rental to catch the shuttle back to the airport and a cab from the airport to the hotel! By this time, I'm hoping that @ least my trache equipment will be waiting for me @ the hotel! I call in advance to rent a humidifier that I wear on my trache @ night from Aprea Health Care! Thank goodness that one thing DID go right! By the time we settle in for the night, it's 1:00 a.m. and we have a 4:30 a.m. wake up call since I have to be @ the hospital by 6:00 a.m.!
See photos of me with Kelly and then Wendy, the anesthesiologist that took care of me during this embolization! Wendy is very nice and concerned for her patients! Here are a couple of photos of me w/Dr. Yakes as I talk to him about my concerns! Told him to go easy on me - he worked on an area where I felt the avm had grown on the left temple and Mark pointed out the big vein in my face, so Dr. Yakes injected alcohol in those areas! The OR nurses are fantastic! All for making the patient comfy! Next thing you know I'm waking up and didn't feel as bad as I did last time I had a procedure! Took a shower the following morning and got a chance to say hello to Victoria - she's in Housekeeping @ Swedish and a real dear to always keep me in her prayers! Victoria asked for Celia and Mom as she has met both before and she was happy to see how much better I looked this time around! After last embo, I was really a zombie and she just felt so bad for me! Here are photos of me right after procedure and on the way home! Appreciate everyone's support, love and prayers! Gotta get back to my furry kids! They don't like me on the computer too long! Ciao!
My mom and her husband Vicente helped us with our kids during this trip! When Mark goes w/me on my trips, we have to find someone to watch our kids while we are gone, and lately it has been my dear friend Sylvia Wilson and her husband Randy! We had to leave Corpus Christi in the early afternoon, before Sylvia got off of work, so Grandma Mary kept the kids @ her place until Sylvia was ready to take them in @ her house! The nice thing too is that Mom and Sylvia live about 5 minutes apart! We took Hanz and Bella's play pen and set it up in Grandma's living room and hoped for the best! We were very happy to hear that our kiddos were angels while they were @ Grandmas house! She had no problems with them @ all - said she let them go out in the back yard to do their business and then back to the playpen, and Grandma Mary put the living room TV on and Hanz and Bella settled in for their nap! Mom said there was one little mishap though ... apparently right before she was able to put the kids in the playpen, Hanz snuck off to their bedroom and jumped on their bed where Vicente had started to take his nap! Mom said it was pretty funny how quickly he jumped on to the bench in front of the bed and then on to the bed itself! Hey, my kids know they can jump on our bed @ anytime, so they were making themselves @ home!
Back to Sylvia, isn't she pretty?! I have known Sylvia since I was 13 and we met in middle school in Kingsville, TX! We have kept in touch through the years and Sylvia is a lifesaver in taking care of our kiddos while we are in CO! We used to leave Hanz @ my brother-in-law Jim and Shelley's country home in Rockport and Hanz loved it out there! Once we got Bella though they were more of a handfull and we really wanted to keep them together, but Jim and Shelley really have thier own houseful of furry kids, so it really worked out best when Sylvia volunteered to take our two kids! It's closer for us too, since Sylvia lives in town! Hanz and Bella love Sylvia and Randy as they are pet people too! Sylvia has had her Bischon named O'Bear for 16 years (see photo) and our kids love going in and out of the doggie door he has! They love Sylvia's house environment and playing with O'Bear, so we feel really good about how well they are taken care of! I believe the Wilsons also have an outdoor siamese cat. It's a load off my mind to have one less thing to worry about during these trips, thanks Sylvia! Take care all!
Cyndi
P.S. Almost forgot something else! While in CO, Kelly was noticing that the open wound on the left side of my face was looking infected so she took a culture. Called a few days later and sure enough - came back positive for THREE different infections! Since I'm on all those steroids to get my swelling down after a procedure, my immune system is low and I sometimes pick up bad infections! Last time I had something similar, I had to be hospitalized several days w/IV antibiotics! Luckily, this time my doc called in two different oral antibiotics, so hopefully that will take care of this! Unfortunately, the wound drains, so I'm constantly having to check it during the day to make sure the fluid doesn't travel down my face, because it dries right away and starts to form a scab! Are we having fun yet? Ugh! I have an appt. Monday with my primary care physician, so we'll see how I'm doing!
I have to mention a couple of new favorite things I have been watching - the new show Happily Divorced is pretty good! I'm a big Fran Drescher fan, so it makes me happy to see her have a hit show! Plus, did any of you see the movie, The Proposal with Sandra Bullock? Too cute! Everyone in the movie was great!
Cyndi
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