September

Hello! How is everyone? I hope you are enjoying this long weekend we are having! I am soooo grateful to have this extra day - to recover from what has not been too great so far, darn! Yeah, I didn't want you to think I'm over here having any fun. Sigh. I feel like I'm a prisoner in my own home. Started having bleeding issues again. Missed this past Thursday @ work due to that. Then started bleeding as I began to eat my dinner Friday night. So that had to be put on hold a couple of hours - I ate it cold later, I didn't care, I was hungry! Being on steroids after an embolization increases my appetite! Was hacking a bit Saturday in the early hours of the morning and that started a bleed. UGH! I had really wanted to try and go to Mass, and be able to visit w/one of my sister's friends that is in town! Last time I saw her was @ our wedding! Whenever I have a bleed, I just feel I can't go anywhere, so I can be near a sink and the supplies I need to pack my mouth and try to stop it!

I spent Sunday sitting on the couch reading or watching TV. Didn't even eat/drink anything until about 3pm for fear of bleeding. Had some clear Ensure then and later, Mark made me some scrambled eggs. Dinner was mashed potatos and broccoli and cheese! So delicious! Then, I'm afraid to brush my teeth and start a bleed, as that has happened before, so I am anxious about that! It is now Monday morning and am soooo happy for the luxury of being able to brush my teeth w/no problems! Wow! It's the little things .... You know, this avm reminds me of a dragon wanting to come out of a cave - it attacks then goes back into the cave to wait until the next time the victim is unsuspecting. Yes, I need to read The Hobbit!! Mom had been wanting to take us to dinner to give Chef Mark a break in the kitchen, and we finally hooked up for breakfast Sat. morning! We took the kiddos to the Vet. for a quick check up and then met her @ Cracker Barrel! I'm telling you this because as I eat, I have to set up a mirror where I can keep an eye on whether I see any blood trickling down my chin. I'm lucky I get a trickle, sometimes the bleeds in the early hours of the morning come quicker as my mouth spontaneously fills up with blood and I run to the bathroom sink to spit out clots! UGH!!!! To give you an idea of how the steroids increase my appetite, I had: 2 scrambled eggs, hash browns, 2 small bowls of grits, a pancake and 2 pieces of cornbread w/apple butter!

The weekend hasn't been all a disaster - yet! I'm hoping I might still get to see Celia's friend Liz today! I had hoped we could take the kiddos to Petsmart as there are sales going on and it's an outing for them and I really need to get to Wal-Greens and pick up more meds and gauze to pack my mouth when it bleeds! I didn't even want to do that yesterday!

On the bright side, I got on my Nook website and downloaded 21 free books! Yay! I love to read! Mom, Celia, Davis and I are all big readers! Greg likes audio books! I had been telling mom how I want to go back and read some of the classics, like "Grapes of Wrath" or "Wuthering Heights". Mom was @ Half Price Books the other day taking a bunch of her old books and picked up "The Grapes of Wrath" and is really enjoying it! I just love how some authors are so descriptive, you feel you are there or you are that character! I am Bella Swan Cullen! Ha, ha, ha! No, I'm not losing my mind (although the avm has me right on the edge @ times - the P.A.'s in Colorado swear they haven't sent anyone to the mental ward that is going through embolizations!), just wanted you to know my sense of humor is still in tact! As always, Nurse Mark is infusing my IV antibiotics 3 times a day over the weekend, as we keep fighting this pseudomonous infection! Oh! Great news - my brother-in-law Jim told Mark about a full size bed someone in his church had, so we're all finally sleeping in one room again! Yay! The kids are so happy! Thanks Jim! I had hoped to be able to visit w/Jim and Shelley over the weekend too - we'll see what this avm has in mind for me!

Bella hesitated to jump from my twin size hospital bed (I need to sleep propped up because of the avm) and Marks full size bed - Hanz mastered it right away! You would think they'd sleep where they had more room - nope! Woke up w/both furry kids with me on my bed! I love my babies - they are great therapy to get us through these rough times! The Olympic dog cartoon is Hanz - our nephew Mark calls him "little seizures" (instead of Little Ceasar's) because whenever we have anyone over, Hanz continuously wags his butt!!!

As always - we thank you for keeping up with us!

Love,

Mark, Cyndi, Hanz and Bella!

P.S. I added a cartoon and a photo of my favorite show The Big Bang Theory! Those guys are hilarious! Course I shouldn't just say guys, "Penny, Bernadette and Amy Farrah Fowler" are pretty funny too! Did you know that the actress that plays Bernadette doesn't actually speak in that pitch? It's weird to hear her in a "normal" voice! Also the guys that play Sheldon and Howard are each accomplished pianists and the actor that plays Raj married like the Miss Universe of his country not too long ago! "That's right, that's how we roll in the Shire" - Leonard dressed as Frodo!

I'd better go see what the kids are getting into! I may watch New Moon, as I just watched Twilight last weekend! Oh, and I am currently reading Pets in a Pickle on my nook!