August Embolization

Hi everyone! I'm going to backpeddle here a bit and include some photos that should have been in my June blog, but didn't make it @ the time! During that visit, I had an appt. w/an ENT to check my airpassages before having an emboloization. Not fun having a hose up the nose! Not painful, but uncomfortable. All clear! Then we arrived @ Swedish and hadn't been there very long when I started having a bleed! You can see Kelly (one of Dr. Yakes P.A.'s has her hair in a ponytail) and her face covered by her hands. She hadn't seen me have a bleed and had asked how I could tell where it was coming from - good question! The nurses rushed in and brought me gauze to pack my mouth! The nurse in the blue scrubs is Jill (hair back) and my Twilight buddy! I kept asking for her this trip and finally got to see her right before we left Swedish!

Ok, so now lets get to the present embolization trip! Mark went with me and I really enjoyed spending quality time together! I had my Nook as usual, and had taken the paperback The Hobbit that Mark ended up reading again as we prepare for the movie to come out! Had a good flight, but by the time we arrived and got our car rental, I missed my scheduled ENT appt.! Next time we'll leave Corpus Christi earlier! Got admitted through Dr. Yakes office, and then since we hadn't had lunch, we got permission to go out and by the time we were due back, my room would be ready! I left it up to Mark to pick a place and he decided on The Cheesecake Factory @ Park Meadows Mall! I was busy looking over the menu for something soft to eat, when Mark heard a guy asking someone sitting in the booth behind us for an autograph. So Mark tells me it's Olympic gold medalist Missy Franklin and I asked, "are you sure"? I'd hate for him to bother someone and it not be her! I handed him my phone and it was Missy and it might have been her little brother that took this photo! She had another girl w/her too. She is tall - 6'1"! We didn't realize until later that Mark was wearing a t-shirt that said TEAM USA and had the Olympic rings on it!

Headed back to Swedish - lots of familiar nurses @ the station ... Dave, Becky, and saw the new tech Alex again! Mark stayed with me in the hospital - big room w/a twin size couch-bed thing for him to sleep on. Got taken to OR the next morning and Mark of course followed my transport over there. Wouldn't you know I started hacking and had a bleed right before moving from the bed I was on to the operating table? UGH! I wasn't familiar w/the anesthesiologist or nurse on schedule - I usually have Quinn or Wendy for anesthesia, but luckily one of the male nurses that is usually there did come over and say hello! Everyone is awesome there, so I know I'm in good hands. As I lay back w/my mouth packed in gauze I asked them to not let me choke on the bleeding please!

I had a few minutes to talk to Dr. Yakes before going under and told him I couldn't take much more of this and could he give me a ball park figure of how much longer?! Told him people seem to doubt this will ever be over with and he said, "It only matters what you and I think and know is happening", or something to that effect. He says maybe another couple years of procedures. Not too bad - I just want the bleeding controlled! That's probably why he hit me with 49 cc's of alcohol! YIKES! The most he had ever used before was like 28 or so; I am surprised I'm not more swollen or having severe pain! Whew!

Next thing I knew, I was back in my hospital room and Mark was bringing me some juice! Had nurse Laura and then Judy - both are great! Respiratory techs came by to check on my trache and supplies, so we had some traffic going. Actually, the evening I was admitted I had an internal medicine specialist and an Infectious Disease doctor come by. Wanted to check on the pseudomonous infection and decided to keep me on antibiotics for another 6 weeks! That's getting old, especially for nurse Mark that gets up an hour early to take one of the IV meds out of the fridge so it can be room temperature when he plugs me in before we get dressed for work!

Our neighbor Shauna took care of our babies while we were gone! On our flight home, a lady with her furry child sat next to me on the plane! She was a good traveler, very well behaved! Saw another passenger w/his Westie - had to go over and say hello! We miss Hanz and Bella so much while we are gone - but they enjoyed playing w/our next door neighbors dogs, Kaleb and Kolby in their fenced in back yard! Here's a photo of Mark and Hanz relaxing on the couch!

Right before I left on this trip, the Fossums were getting home from a week away to spend time with Greg's side of the family! Celia said their hotel was right across the street from the Mall of America and she brought back this perfect gift for us! It says, "all dogs are pets - Brussels Griffons are family"! Thought I would include a current photo of the beautiful Shalon Whitgob, former avm-er! She is waiting for the all clear 6 month period before reconstructive surgery follows after having an avm!

I'm still trying to get my bearings after this trip. Can't help but be wary of having a bleed - so many meals have been interupted as I start eating and then realize blood is dripping down my chin. I feel pretty good right now, trying not to take too many steroids, don't like the side effects. I plan to get back to work on Monday and keep on this journey until we beat it!

Take care y'all - as always, we thank you for your love, prayer and support!

Cyndi

July 2012 Denver

Hi Everyone! I've missed you! I have not been feeling my best and have been wanting to write for a while now! Sorry it's taken me this long to get to it! For the first time since I've started blogging, I actually wrote out what I wanted to say on a legal pad in pencil - 6 pages worth! I just did not have the will and strength to get up off the couch and get to the computer! See photo of Hanz and I doing our favorite thing - vegging on the couch watching TV! Did ya'll know that there is a lady in New Zealand that reads my blog?! Yikes! Wonder if she's seen any Hobbits in her neck of the woods! (Heard the movie THE HOBBIT will be in three parts - cool!) She has a beautiful blog, full of photos of her quilting, gardening and equestrian hobbies!! Check out Poppies and Daisies!

I thought we had the bleeding under control after having been back two weeks from my last embolization, but started bleeding from inside my mouth Thurs. morning @ work. It was just a trickle of blood coming down my chin, so I went to the bathroom to rinse out my mouth . Later that morning I sneezed and started bleeding again. Went home during lunch to brush my teeth and brought that and toothpaste back with me. Soon as Nurses on Wheels came by to give me my mid day IV antibiotic (see photo of cutie RN Robert- see Breaking Dawn wedding poster behind him in my cubicle!) I left work and took Friday off! Unfortunately I bled during Thursday dinner, then @ 4am and then mid morning Friday. Those last 3 bleeds weren't horrible, but not slight either. So tired of all this!

The one good thing is that @ least my wound care visits are down to once a week instead of 3 times a week like before! The last 2 days I've had a fever and decided to go see my Primary Care Physician. He gave me the results of the CT Scan that had been done in CO. The pseudomonous (sp?) infection I have has gone down to the bone. UGH! He hopes the very strong IV antibiotic that I have to have 3 times a day for 6 weeks will kill that infection. The doctor said that antibiotic is what is causing my side effects - weakness, wanting to jump out of my skin, night sweats, irritability, freezing during the day ... are we having fun yet?

Let's get back to CO - Dr. Yakes used 13 cc's of alcohol around my mouth area. I only had to be on steroids 2 weeks for the swelling, so that's pretty good! I can't say enough about the staff @ Swedish! One of the nurses saw that I had the companion book to Breaking Dawn 1 and she is a fellow Twi-Hard! I told her I only have the one sountrack from the first movie, since my budget hasn't allowed for any more than that. She generously made me a copy of her cd for the soundtrack to the second Twilight Saga movie, New Moon! I love it and have played it every day @ work since being back! Then she tells me there is a new tech working there that she feels resembles Taylor Lautner (Jacob) from the Twilight movies - so she went off to get him to come see me! His name is Alex and he was a really good sport! You can't tell from the photo, but his hair is spikey and check out his cute dimple! Celia and I are Team Edward though.

Yes I know Kristen Stewart and Rob Pattinson broke up - darn it all, I wanted them married in real life! That's ok, they'll live forever as Bella and Edward in the Twilight movies! What can I say, I'm a romantic! The Olympics have been a great distraction from that disappointment in my favorite celebrities - as far as I'm concerned, the best part of the Olympics has been David Beckham! He looks so great in a suit and tie! Mark says, "I'm a straight guy and I even think the guy is good looking"! (See photo in case you're not sure who David Beckham is). My sister Celia and I agreed that he should be playing 007! The other great thing about the Olympics has been seeing the Royals! I'm a Royal watcher - in fact, right now one of my friends/co-workers is in London and I asked if she would bring me something Royal or something Olympian. I've since changed my mind and want her to bring me David Beckham! I can dream can't I! Mark and I are both fans of Michael Phelps - heard tickets to see him swim were like $700 and scalpers were selling them for $10,000! Can you imagine? I've always loved the Olympics and can remember when Bruce Jenner won the decathalon and loved the mens gymnastics team that included Peter Vidmar, Bart Conner (now married to gymnast Nadia) Tim Daggett (doing gymnastics commentating) and Mitch Gaylord! Course as kids we saw Olga Korbut and kept up with Mary Lou Retton, Kerri Strugg, etc.

I want to go back a bit and say something about some of the people that help me with my medical needs. The nurses @ Swedish really love their patients. During this last trip I had been a little upset and the nurse hugged me and said, "you're in my heart"! Some have come by just to say hello because they saw my name on the schedule.

The Nurses on Wheels are terrific - super nice and very professional! I have dealt with Robert, Alma(sitting @ desk), Carlie and Melissa! Alma is the best @ changing the needle on my mediport. Robert is a doll and I love talking to him! Carlie is now a neighbor and a real sweethart and I haven't seen too much of Melissa, but she is very good as well!

My wound care group is awesome - there are mornings I am litterally dragging myself for my appt. w/them before going to work and they always make me feel better! One tech knew about my babies Hanz and Bella and lent me a book she had about a dog. Oh! I just finished reading a book called The Dog That Talked to God by Jim Kraus - I enjoyed it alot! Speaking of dogs, mine have already been by a couple of times to tell me it's time to get off the computer! Mark is in Rockport helping his brother Jim w/something, so he's not here to entertain them so I can write! I'm going to take a break and hope I make it back soon!

Ok, Mark is back and making dinner and the kids are happy that their daddy is home, so I have a few minutes to write some more! The next book I had started reading is Jeanne Coopers "Not Young, But Still Restless". She has played the part of Katherine Chancellor on my favorite Soap, The Young and the Restless! I started watching that when I was 12!

Remember I had just introduced you to Chris Jenky in Respirtory @ Swedish on my last blog entry? Found out he and his wife moved out of state where she was from. Darn, I really enjoyed his easy going manner and seemed to really know his stuff. Oh well. During this past visit, I heard about another of Dr. Yakes patients - a girl that has a large avm on her arm. Apparently so large, that she has to hold her arm over her head - I guess the blood flow would be too great if she held her arm down in a relaxed position. Can't imagine how difficult this would be for a child to go through, as it is hard enough for me as an adult! Dr. Yakes always tells me, "We're winning", and I want to say, "Ok, but WHEN"?

The day I was to be released from Swedish, I woke up to the news about the massacre in Aurora. That is the first community you see when you leave the CO Airport and Englewood is very close by where I was. I was glad to be leaving the area, but saddened to hear so much about the shooting on television once we were home.

Couldn't get through this horrible time of my life without my amazing husband Mark. Not only does he take care of my medical needs - he administers my IV Antibiotics twice a day - cooks all our meals and puts up with my weird cravings depending on my meds! If I'm on steroids, I am ravenous. There are times I'm on a particular antibiotic and I have no appetite at all - I can go all day w/only eating a baked potato or a bowl of broccoli and cheese. One of my favorite new things to eat all the time is sweet potato fries! This entire experience is extremely stressful for us as a married couple, and we tell newlyweds - when we said in sickness an in health, we had no idea what we were up against. Well, we had some idea, Mark had already nursed me through the doctors breaking my jaw bone to see if the avm was going that deep, resulting in having my mouth wired shut for 6 weeks. At that time though, I had not been able to find a doctor that really knew how to help me and we certainly didn't know how extensive the treatments would be! Some spouses leave the marriage - we have a running joke where Mark tells me, "You know I'm leaving you when this is all over". My response is, "Ok, let me tell Steve Perry from JOURNEY to wait for me"! :) Whenever Mark has come to the office to rescue me after a bleed, my female co-workers are always telling me, "Wow, he's so nice and so tall"! Mark just changed my trache out this morning - I could not survive this "curse" as my local doctor called it, without Mark - he is a saint to put up with me! Mark feeds, bathes and grooms Hanz and Bella - so all I have to do is love them! They are such great therapy for me - helps keep my mind off what I'm going through!

Our families continue to offer so much support! Especially my sister Celia and her husband Greg. My brother-in-law Jim and his wife Shelley that live in Rockport. We could not function with what we are going through without their help! Mom jumps in when she can to take me on a doctor appt. if I'm not feeling well, or taking us out for dinner to give Mark a break from the kitchen! When I stayed home Friday, Celia drove me to the doctor, to the pharmacy, to go get my phone battery that I forgot @ work, to Nurses on Wheels to get my needle changed and my IV dose - then Mom took over to keep me company in case I had a bleed until Mark got home from work. To all my BFF's - Dorinda, Felice, Patty, Sylvia and Jackie - thanks for understanding I can't always get things out in the mail on time (or at all) or go out for lunch & have fun. I know my in-laws have me on the prayer list at their church - I appreciate and really need all the prayers I know come my way from all of you! Thanks again for keeping in touch with me. I appreciate it more than you know!

Hugs!

Cyndi

I'm including some fun photos. The cute dog with the updo I saw on Facebook - I think it's someones Brussels. Someone had written a comment saying, "has she seen herself in the mirror"? The vampire cartoon is so cute - it is on the bulletin board in my brother-in-laws office - he's a dentist! Oh, I almost forgot, Celia likes to frequent a restaurant conventiently located across the street from Swedish called The Copper Pot, and this was the first time I got to go with her! The food is awesome - like home made!

June Colorado Trip

Greetings to all, how are you? Well, Celia accompanied me on this past trip for my embolization and everything went very well! Course there was a little mishap or two, but luckily nothing major! Left Corpus Christi early Tues. morning of the 19th, and the weather was nice and sunny when we arrived in CO. Picked up the car rental and headed to lunch @ Whole Foods! Every 3rd visit to CO, I see an ENT so he can check that my air passages are clear before having the embolization, so I had an appt. w/Dr. Lipkin @ 2:30 p.m.

Headed to Swedish hospital right after that to get checked in! Dr. Yakes P.A. Kelly took my vitals and got all my paperwork ready. Andie, another of Dr. Yakes P.A.'s peeked in to say hello! Then Dr. Yakes did too! Gave me a hug and said we were winning! Another of Dr. Yakes P.A.'s Mandi, walked us over to be admitted through the emergency room, so once we finished off that paperwork, Celia and I headed t0 finish the admitting process! I was still in my shorts and polo when Celia noticed my mouth was bleeding! I rushed over to the bathroom sink and sure enough! The nurse quickly got some gauze and I started trying to pack my mouth and get the bleeding stopped! Dr. Yakes Phy. Asst., Kelly was still in the room and she said something like how can you tell where to pack it if you can't see where it's bleeding from! Yeah, that's what I've been saying all along! Anyway, got that stopped w/out too much trouble - defintely the place to have a bleed if you're going to have one though!

Got settled in and each of us ordred a salad for dinner that I never got to touch due to the bleed, darn! Oh well. Had some breathing treatments done to help the bronchitis I had - so Celia headed to the hotel and we had no idea what time I would be having the procedure in the morning.

Had a nurse take me down to have another chest x-ray in the morning, to see how the bronchitis was doing. Turns out, a patient that should have shown up @ 6:00 a.m. for her embolization showed up 2 hours late, so there was an immediate opening for a procedure. Yikes! I didn't know what to do - even thought about waiting another day to give my bronchitis a chance to get better. Anyway, last minute - went for it and poor Celia shows up @ my room later and didn't know where I was! I hear Dr. Yakes used 10 cc's of alcohol inside the troublesome spot inside my mouth, so that looks like a war zone right now.

I get to see a lot of the same nurses of course and had nurse Laura again - she is sooo funny! Just the right amount of sting in a zing she'll throw @ you and make you laugh! She's an excellent nurse though and I always feel very safe with her on duty! Here is a photo of me with nurse Monica - she was a doll! Everyone @ Swedish is so professional and just super @ their job! You just always feel they really care about all their patients! Here is a photo of Resp. tech, Chris Jenky! He is cool - knows his stuff, always in a good mood and has a good sense of humor! I was familiar with him already, so I feel right @ home when I'm @ Swedish!

Sometimes I think it's ridiculous trying to blog and explain this avm to everyone, when I have it and don't even completely understand it myself! I had someone tell me a couple days ago that my face looked better. Well, it's just not a matter of looking better after each embolization - there is still fluids, tissue and stuff that will be debulked and until then, I don't think there will be much improvement! Right now my goal is to not bleed profusely spontaneouslly! I've felt so badly that I've been so out of commission I've missed out on some important family events! Our two nephews in Ohio recently married and I feel I completely missed out on all the goings on because of this darned avm! When the bleeds are happening, there is just nothing else to do but focus completey on that! Now that I've been doing better - I can step back and go - really? How did all that happen and life just goes on. Poor Mark - I've felt like I'm not here for him - I was so weak before, it was enough that I got up and made it to work and home - much less participated in life! I just hope things continue to improve and that I've made a significant turn around where I won't keep having so many set backs with my health!

As always, my friends and family amaze me with their love, prayer and devotion to helping us through in our time of need! Love to all!

Cyndi

I hope to put some more photos up when Celia sends them to me! I have her to especially thank for being so giving with her time, attention and compassion. I used to be bothered by those signs @ the gift stores that said, "my sister, my friend" and I used to laugh about it because until recently, Celia and I had not been especially close. Unfortunately it took having to deal with this avm to bring us closer and I have say I really enjoy the time now that we have to talk and share common interests! We both love to read and Celia generously replaced the cover of my Nook that my Bella had gently been noshing on. I had bled all over the original cover that I had gotten for my Nook, and actually found the same green cover again!

Yay! Poopie Poopie!

Hi Everyone! How are you? I am fantastic! Before we go any further, let me explain the title of this post - apparently, when our nephew Mark was a little boy and would get excited about something, he would say, "Yay! Poopie Poopie"! I'm really excited about the fact that I have not had a bleed - just thinking about going through that makes me cringe and wonder how I got past that! Let's hope we don't go there again anytime soon! Up until almost 2 weeks ago, I had felt very weak and was barely able to get myself to work and home. It's only been since I've been back and recovered some from this past procedure in Colorado, that I have felt well enough to - well, feel half way human! For a while since I was having so many bleeds, that was really making me very, very weak and unable to do much for myself @ all! As I've said though, my family and friends have really stepped up and done so much for me - things I couldn't do on my own! From basic things like taking me to a doctors appt., or just listening to me talking about how I was feeling or always volunteering to help in any way! My sister Celia always reminds me that I'm not alone and never will be. Even my co-workers that I don't know all that well, have taken the time to come tell me that they are there for me if I need them. To please let them know if they can help in any way! Wow! Again, like Celia tells me, I'm surrounded by angels that God has sent to help!

Had a culture done @ woundcare last week, since I'd been having some issues w/drainage and such on my left ear. Got the results on Sat. morning - I have a staph infection as well as a pseudemonous infection. I should have known - I was also trying to get by with not using my last few Oxycontin painkillers, but had to break down and use them because of the pain the infections were causing! Darn it! I also hated to bother my primary care physician, but my husband Mark kept after me to call him and let him know about the infections that wound care had informed me I had. They would be notifying Dr. Boynton on Monday, but I finally gave in to calling the doctor Sat. evening - and luckily I happened to have the 2 oral antibiotics that Dr. Boynton wanted me to get started on! This way @ least I'll get a head start on some meds, before he calls Quorum in San Antonio if he decides I need to go w/an IV Antibiotic. This will also mean having Nurses on Wheels come and put a needle in my mediport, that way when the IV meds do come in, Mark can get me started on them having access w/what the Nurses on Wheels have started. Believe me though, I am ok in dealing w/an infection - that is certainly something that can be taken care of pretty easily! I'll take that any day over having a bleed of any sort!

Another reason I'm excited (not sure that is the word I want) is that last week Wednesday, ELLEN had a guest on her show that will be on a new reality show called Push Girls. The guest is a 32 year old girl named Mia Schaikewitz, that says @ 15 she was in high school, healthy ... until she had severe abdominal pain and was taken to the hospital thinking it was appendicitis. Mia went on to say something about her legs feeling heavy, and an MRI was done, revealing that she had an avm in her spinal cord that had ruptured, causing her from then on to be wheel chair bound. YIKES! So many thoughts are running through my head, like, can't someone help her now? I've always known that as much as I'm going through - there are people worse off - I blog partially because I feel so bad that I'm "out of commission" because of what I'm going through and can't do all the things I enjoy doing or being due to this avm! Well however much I've been through w/all the bleeds, pain, swelling, etc. - how lucky am I that my avm has always been visible, even though I unsuccessfully sought treatment for it @ least 20 years before my sister Celia found Dr. Yakes through the internet! I wonder if there is any hope for Mia getting out of the wheelchair @ this point - if her avm is treatable. There is still so much I don't know about avm's and I have one!

Meanwhile, I think I might have mentioned in a past blog, that my mom Mary, her husband Vicente and my husband Mark had all gone to breakfast after Mass one Sunday, and had seen a lady that looked as if she had a facial avm. I had asked my family if they had approached this lady and they said no, they had lost track of her. Well, we ran into her again last weekend as we were leaving the same restaurant - and Mom, Mark and I approached the lady. She was with a young boy and actually I think she was waiting on her parents to join them. As I started to introduce myself and ask her about what looked like her having a facial avm, I got the impression she didn't completely understand what I was asking or wanting. Mark felt that what this lady looked worse than I ever have and we're actually not sure just by looking @ her what she may have. Her complexion was very dark - but never mind what she looked like - I worry if she is in any danger physically due to her possibly having an avm! What if it is damaging her heart, like the internal medicine doctor thought might be happening to me?! The lady tried telling us she was getting help or something to that affect. Didn't quite grasp what she said, but I'm hoping Mom and Vicente run into her again and maybe can give her family Dr. Yakes card!

I just wanted to put all this information out there. I need to add more to this blog. Will tweek it here and there when I get a chance. Meanwhile, here are some photos of our children! Took Hanz and Bella to Petsmart on Friday evening and ran into a Great Dane! Went on to Petco and here is Hanz looking @ the hamsters and Guinnie Pigs! Then that one photo of the kiddos on the couch with Mark - and just put in a few more, just because I love my furry children so much and they are so cute!

As always, thank you everyone for all your love and support! I was adding some stuff to this blog, but Hanz has already been over here several times to tell me to get off the computer - gotta go!

Post May Denver Trip

Greetings to all! Is everyone doing ok? I'm doing well enough, although had a couple little bleeding issues yesterday and a few minor ones earlier in the week, but we're not going to get into that!

I want to post some recent photos of Mothers Day @ Celia and Gregs! Celia just sent me these photos last night - we had gotten Mom those birds @ the Christmas Store in Littleton, CO. Later I thought, she really has so many collectables all over her house, that I shouldn't have gone that route - but I know she liked them! Probably would have just been as happy w/a bottle of Bailey's! :)

Look @ what a great photo this is of Mark and Mom - she is in heaven when she is in his company! They have a very special relationship and we all adore him too! We look forward to seeing Davis soon, as he will be in town next week! Both boys are just extraordinary, they've been (and are) so much fun!

Here is a photo of Mark with his girlfriend Karen Down - she has fit right in and made herself @ home with our family and we all really like her! She made the best cookies for Mothers Day and I ate both of the ones she sent, much to my Marks dismay! Oh well, I assured him there's gotta be a recipe out there where we can get more! I want to say they were choc. chip, but they had a green mint frosting and some crushed pepermint on top - delish!

Here are a couple more photos from my birthday sushi party @ Celia's! The flower arrangement next to me is from Mark Fossum! He is such a doll!

I don't know if you can tell, but on that last photo, Mark is picking up one of those pieces of cake w/his chop sticks and I'm pretending to pour some soy sauce on it! Everything was so good! We always have fun when we all get together and share a lot of laughs! My family makes it possible to deal with this terrible ordeal I'm going through and really give me an incredible amount of love and support! They're the best!

As always, wishing you all great health! Gotta go see what the kiddos are barking at! Take Care!

Cyndi

Turns out they were barking @ some Jehova's Witness - Yikes!

I keep forgetting to post this photo of the beautiful flowers that Mom brought me from her garden for my birthday! I had so many people @ work do a double take and come back to ask me about them!

Several entries

Hi Family and Friends! Hoping everyone is doing well, I am for the moment! This will be a doozie blog, because it will involve my last bleed, my birthday and then our CO trip we just returned from!

I won't go into too much detail on the last bleed. A lot like the prior one - It was last Sunday and my moisture alert alarm that I wear clipped to my nightgown sounded about 6:30 a.m. - so I knew I had to get up quick and go to the bathroom. I'm surprised I can hear that moisture sensor, since I can't hear out of my left ear right now, plus - the aircompressor/moisture device I wear on my trache makes a lot of noise! The moisture sensor vibrates as well, so that helps!

Sure enough, having a bleed. After bleeding a bit and having a hard time stopping it, I asked Mark to get an ambulance because it seemed the bleeding was heavy, but soon after he made the 911 call, I had him cancel it, as the bleeding stopped. Still had him take me to the ER to check on my blood level and make sure I had enough in my system in case it happened again. Celia stopped by the ER on her way home from Mass - you can really see the concern in her expression. It is unfortunate that this avm is what has brought us closer, but I love knowing my big sister is really there for me!

I was admitted like last time, to ICU @ Dr.s Regional Hospital. Spent one night in ICU, then was moved to a regular room the following day. We had all made plans to go to Celia and Greg's that evening to celebrate her birthday, but of course I couldn't make it. Same thing happened on mom's b-day dinner - I was in the hospital @ that time as well! Got released on Tuesday, and it was back to work on Wednesday! We were going to shoot for trying to celebrate my birthday @ Celia and Gregs on Sunday, with Mark Fossum preparing shushi especially for me! Mark used to work @ Utopia restaurnt, so he knows how to make great sushi! Nephew Mark had his girlfriend Karen with him, so we all had a lot of fun enjoying everyone's company! I was surprised I felt well enough to go to the Fossums, because I hadn't felt well enough to go out there since Thanksgiving!

On to work the next day and I was just counting the days until my next procedure - hoping Dr. Yakes would work on the troublesome area in the inside left part of my mouth. I was so happy when the day we headed to CO finally came around! While @ the airport we ran into a couple of people traveling with their pets! Didn't catch the name of the Jack Russell, but the other furry one is named George! Both very well behaved! Before landing in CO, the passenger to my left started talking to me. A very nice lady named Jerri that was on this trip to visit her daughter! Told her all about my blog and procedures, so we had a good chance to talk for a few minutes!

The weather was great when we arrived, and I can't wait to get to Swedish Medical Center to get admitted and feel safe in their hands! Soon as I walk into the lobby I'm greeted by one of my favorite techs - Zufan! See photo from past blog. Got the paperwork done in Dr. Yakes office - here I am pointing to a pushpin that symbolizes I'm an avm-er from South Texas! Mark and I headed upstairs to my room to get settled in! See photo of Mark holding towel on shelf in the room. The rooms are very nice, new - so Mark spent each night in my room on the couch! It was nice to relax and enjoy each others company! The nurses came by to get me started on some IV Potassium and antibiotics. Mark went out and got a few things we wanted from the store and picked up a pizza! We watched TV and read and I was just looking forward to getting more treatment done, maybe this would help stop the bleeds already!

Dr. David Pinsinski, (Internal medicine) dropped in to see me - I was admitted under his care first, so he could make sure all my fluid levels were up to par before the embolization the following day. I met him last time Celia and I were in Denver for my past procedure. Remember I said Celia was taking notes the doctor was talking to me about and she was using a Nasa notebook - turns out Dr. Pinsinski's first choice for a profession was becoming an astronaut, so we showed him a signed T-shirt we had brought Dr. Yakes from our fellow extended family member, Astronaut Mike Fossum that he signed for Dr. Yakes. Their motto is "Failure is not an option"! Anyway, I had to laugh @ Dr. Pinsinski's saying that he wishes he could "wave a magic wand" to make the avm go away (see photo), so I wouldn't have to deal w/all the complications! Told him my ENT here, Dr. Zane uses the same analogy!

Several nurses came in and out of my room to say hello or give me meds, so we basically hung out waiting to be taken for the embolization in the morning. It has really worked out well doing things this way - now I don't have to get up super early @ the hotel to rush over and get registered - this way I go directly to the surgical room. See photo of my giving Dr. Yakes Nasa T-shirt!

Dr. Quinn was the anesthesiologist for this procedure - I really like her! She and Wendy (another anesth.) are my favorites - and apparently it was their boss that came to see me after I was back in a room to ask how everything turned out. Gave Quinn rave reviews! Everyone @ Swedish is fantastic and cares so much for their patients! Used to be I woke up in recovery w/my back hurting and wanting something for pain - but lately, I've done great and don't even remember post op! See photo of me after procedure.

One of the evening nurses (Laura) is really funny - great sense of humor and a very good nurse!

Had to get our car rental back by 1:30 pm and our flight didn't depart until several hours later, so we had a chance to relax. I walked past one of those carts displaying phone cases/covers, so I made my way over to look! Got to talking to the young man running his post - Anthony, and we ended up talking about my blog and what I was doing in CO! Got a bright pink cover for my cell phone that I had already lost the original back of and the rim kept coming off, so it was time!

We left our babies in care w/our next door neighbors, Shauna, Ramon and their 10 year old son Kye! I just don't want to have to leave Hanz and Bella in a kennel and since they know the neighbors, it worked out great having them come over to feed them and stay a bit to visit. Shauna was nice enough to take photos of my babies and send them to my cell phone, so that made me feel better! Just knowing she would take them out and let them run around their back yard with their German Shepherd Kaleb was wonderful too - gave them a chance for fresh air and exercise! Thanks so much Shauna - see photos she took! Aren't my furry children darling? So much fun and loving, they make me so happy!

The weather in Houston was bad with lots of lightning, so our flight was held up some. We were supposed to arrive in CC @ 10:05pm and got in @ 11:45 p.m.! The kiddos were happy to see us when we walked in - seems everything worked out well.

Until today. Would you believe I've already had a bleed? Yikes! Luckily, it wasn't a bad one, but I was hoping not to have any more since Dr. Yakes worked a lot in the area w/19 cc's of alcohol! Started w/a trickle and then when I rinsed out my mouth, it bled more. Packed my mouth with paper towel and removed it about an hour later and it bled again. Really, already? Dang! Repacked my mouth and a couple hours later I took the packing out and it was ok. I hadn't eaten anything, and a I was eating some sweet bread, I saw a trickle of blood again. Stop the insanity! So far no major bleeds, Thank God!

Heard another fellow avm-er that I write to on Facebook and she is a patient of Dr. Yakes, just finished her treatments and was already debulked once! I have't seen a before/after photo, but she says it looks great! I want that to be me already, darn it! Oh well. My biggest concern now is just not having bleeds!

Ok, I may tweek this blog a bit here or there in case I forgot to include something. As always through, I'm very grateful for all the Masses for our intention, the prayers, cards, well wishes and all the love and support I get from my family and friends!! Couldn't do this w/out you! One of my new buds from Nurses on Wheels, Robert ... calls and makes appts. to do more paperwork, take my vitals and he is always very entertaining! All these folks help my self-esteem and make it possible to try and live as normal a life as I can for now! Especially my devoted husband Mark and our two furry kids that keep me going and feeling loved! Take care and I wish everyone good health!

Cyndi

P.S. I think I forgot to mention that Mark Fossum sent me those pink roses I took a picture of on the fire place for Mothers Day! He sent that along w/the quiche he made for dinner @ their place! He is such a doll and always makes me feel so special! My family is awesome and has gone way out of their way to help Mark and I with everything we are going through! I was happy that Marks brother Jim took him out to a concert Sunday night! It gives them a chance to visit and for Mark to get away from the hum drum of taking care of me all the time! We are truly blessed with everyones help, prayers and well wishes! Thank you!