Poopie!

Hey Family and Friends!

How are you? We're fine. Seems lately I'm just fighting the pain of this darned avm! Don't like to take so many meds, but I don't want to feel the pain either! I don't want it to sound like I'm whining all the time - but one of the main purposes of this blog, is for everyone to know what life with an avm is like!

I had gone to wound care yesterday and that had gone well! Noel had cleaned the wound and redressed it. Well, that evening, I had a red spot toward the top of the dressing about the size of a dime. We kept an eye on it, and after dinner, Mark changed the dressing. Well, the following day (which was today) by mid morning, I had a red dot about the size of a pea toward the top of the dressing. That kind of bummed me out! After lunch time, my co-worker Kathy pointed out the fact that now I had some red toward the bottom of my dressing! Oh great! I thanked her and knew I had to keep an eye on it! So, right about 20 minutes of 5:00 p.m., Kathy told me I was bleeding! Ugh! I look in the mirror and sure enough - my dressing was filling up with blood! Poopie! I grabbed a couple of napkins from my desk drawer, grabbed my wound care bag and asked Kathy to tell my friend Diana to please come to the restroom where I was headed! I carefully peeled the clear plastic tape off and the pink dressing and saw the arterial squirt of blood shooting out! I quickly got a wet paper towel and put pressure on the area! By then, Diana made it to the restroom and she had some plastic gloves on and started helping me out! We checked a couple of times, but I was still bleeding. We stood around as I held pressure on my wound area, and finally the bleeding stopped! I had called Mark to tell him what was going on just in case I needed him to come over, but I thought we could handle it on our own! Diana got some non-adherant dressing and we put that over the wound and put the clear plastic tape over it - just enough to get me home where Mark could clean and redress it properly!

Made it home ok - took the quickie dressing off and while Mark was cleaning it, he tried removing some surgicel I had toward the top of the dressing, and the area started to bleed! He quickly put pressure on the area, and the bleeding stopped soon enough! We let the area dry up a bit before redressing it, then I took a shower while Mark fixed dinner!

Here is a photo of Hanz and I - since we both bathed today, ha, ha! He's such a cutie! Mark had taken him out for an evening walk a little earlier and now we're all off to bed! Note my puffy eye. Really tired of that! Can't wear ANY make-up and I really wish I could! I love mascara too and that is totally out of the question!

Like I said before, I'm anxious to get to Colorado - I think next time I'll only wait 6 weeks instead of the 8 weeks I did this time between embolizations! Course a lot of it depends on how much "damage" Dr. Yakes does to me! He's so funny - I was telling someone earlier, how Dr. Yakes comes over to give me a big hug and kiss before I get taken to the surgical room! He's really great and I have to trust that all of this will be worth it in the long run! Like I have a choice! Gotta keep moving forward! Thanks again all of you for your well wishes and prayers!

Love,

Cyndi

My buddy, Shalon!

Hi Everyone!

Did everyone have a nice Easter? We had a great one! Nephew Davis was in town from A&M Galveston, and Mark came to Mass as well - so we spent time w/both boys! Mom and Vicente joined us for Mass @ Cathedral - unfortunately, the only one missing from our family was Greg. He's been in Houston though - while his mom has been ill. Celia of course was in the choir loft!

I've decided I just had to share this photo with you of my bud Shalon! She is just looking too cute in her glamorous hospital gown and very cool cap that she made! I had a defendant ask me today how I stay so upbeat and deal w/all my avm stuff ... and I told her I surround myself w/great people that help me stay positive and get through these rough times! Told her about how Shalon brings so many avmers together - and look at her! She is making the best of her situation by making a bright, pretty gown and getting away from those dreary hospital gowns! She set me up on my blog and she is just a great role model for anyone going through a lot - like our embolizations and everything these avms deal out to us!

I just wrote a note to my favorite post-op nurse, Rick Smith! I'm sure hoping he is working when I have my next embolization on the 30th of this month! Rick makes waking up from that procedure as easy as possible! See reminder photo of who Rick is! I can't emphasize enough what an awesome job Rick does! He is anticipating anything I need before I even ask for it! He makes a bad experience as comfortable as possible for the patient - thanks Rick!

Ok! This was just a quick note! I go to wound care in the morning and I'm counting the days until I see Dr. Yakes again! Take care all!

Love,

Cyndi

Happy Easter!

Good Morning Everyone!

Hope all of you are doing well and getting ready for Easter tomorrow! Mark finally got up and he will be making pancakes for breakfast! I thought I would fill you in on a couple of things and add some photos to go with it! Remember I mentioned that Mark checks on me during the night to see how my dressing is looking? The other day Mark had seen some red spots on the dressing, but said I was sleeping so well, he didn't want to bother me! Here is a photo of what he saw. Gross, huh? Here is what the seaweed dressing looks like, and then what the wound looks like when Mark removes the dressing! So now you know what's going on under that dressing! The wound care staff @ Spohn is doing an excellent job, as is my Mark! Dr. Larkin is always telling me what a great job Mark does w/wound care for me!

Last night Mark was playing Spider Solitaire on the computer and I was making a card for a county employee/friend that had surprised me w/a lovely gift recently - when I felt something on my neck. Yup - I was having a bleed! Darn! I had just showered and was wearing a nice nightgown that Mark had chosen for me in Colorado on that trip that both he and Celia went w/me on last year! Luckily, it was a slow bleed, so I don't think I got too much blood on the nightgown! I quickly took that off and changed into something else once the bleeding stopped!

On a brighter note ... nephew Davis is in town from college - A&M Galveston! Celia invited us to join her and Davis for dinner @ La Playa last night! See photo! Davis is making excellent grades, and is in a band that is playing music he has written!

Last, but certainly not least - here is a picture of mommies angel a/k/a Hanz! I had told my mom I wanted to get Hanz an Easter toy, so when she and I had gone to HEB, mom and I both liked this yellow duck stuffed toy! You should have seen Hanz when I handed that over to him! He took to it right away and took off w/it in his mouth! Plus, Vicente had won a puppy blanket the other day, so Hanz ended up with that! Is my kid spoiled or what? He brings us so much joy, that we enjoy spoiling him!

Shalon just got back from having an embolization done w/Dr. Yakes! Let's all keep her in our prayers and check in on her blog to see how her trip went!

Happy Easter Everyone! We love you all and thank you so much for all your prayers and support! Thank you!

Mark & Cyndi

P.S. Celia invited us over to their place for dinner Thursday night! We had not seen Greg in forever, so it was great spending time with him! He looks very good, considering he is exhausted from traveling to Houston every weekend to see his mother that has been ill and in the hospital. Markie prepared the dinner - Sushi! It was awesome and we really enjoyed it! Thanks Markie Poo Hoo!

We're also very happy that Mom and Vicente are back from their vacation safe and sound!

You're kidding .... right?

Good Morning Everyone!

Hope you started your morning off better than I did! You guessed it! Another bleed! Yikes! It was inevitable - I had to hack and get that darned phlegm out and just with the force of that, the blood started. UGH! I was trying to cough that out, couldn't breathe because of the blob in my throat and all the while I'm looking in the mirror as the spot of blood on my dressing is getting larger! I pulled my nightgown off, grabbed a towel and hollered for Mark! I was able to get the tegaderm off and got pressure put on the area and it stopped pretty quick! My fear now, is being in Mass and feeling like I need to hack and heaven forbid - have a bleed!!! I'm going to have faith that this doesn't happen! There should be a full house since it's Palm Sunday! I best go get ready - just wanted to give you an update on how I started my morning!

Love,

Cyndi

Another typical day ....

Hi Everyone!

Hoping most of you are doing well and appreciate the beautiful days we've been having! Thought I would tell you about my latest "adventure"! It started @ about 6:20 a.m. on Friday - about 5 minutes before the alarm went off... I felt my neck with my hand and felt moisture. Turned the light on and of course found that I was bleeding! Called out to Mark so he could get up and help, and he couldn't believe it! Mark said he had just checked me about 15 minutes w/the little flashlight he keeps under my pillow and I was fine! I didn't know he was still checking on me during the night and early morning! It was hard to tell where exactly the blood was coming from, but I knew it was somewhere from the wound on my face! I tried to peel off the Tegaderm (clear plastic) and meanwhile, blood is getting all over the front of my nightgown, the floor, my crocs! Got a paper towel and wet it and held pressure to my face where I thought it was coming from and finally got it stopped! Mark redressed the wound after cleaning it up and got my nightgown soaking in the wash. Got ready for work as usual - and after arriving, I parked and walked toward the courthouse, I was feeling good, considering what I had just gone through. I thought it was nice that Jim had called Mark the night before and during their conversation he asked about how I was doing. I guess Jim also looks @ Shalon's web site, because I heard Mark say something like, "Yeah, these two girls have sure been through a lot with these avms, and it will be a while before they get to the place they want to be when Dr. Yakes is finally done". So all this is going through my head, I'm feeling special that we handled that bleed well and I'm moving on ahead! I got in the elevator with an elderly lady and she and I exchanged pleasantries. We ended our conversation by saying we were blessed to be alive and well - although I did point out my avm to her and told her a little about it. "At least I have hope, and I have a wonderful support system surrounding me", I told her as I waved goodbye! Started going down the hall to get to the office I work in, when another courthouse employee waved hello to me - her name is Cindy as well! She said she had something for me and gave me a big hug and a pretty blue gift bag! Cindy said it was "just because she was thinking of me"! "Wow"! I told her she couldn't have given me that gift bag on a better day after the way I started my morning! I couldn't wait to look in it - but I was pulling my cart that had my wound care bag, my purse, plus I had my coffee mug in my hand! Soon as I got in my office, I set the coffee down and dug into the gift bag to find the cutest white stuffed bear! It has a sheer white bow on it's neck that has a pink design on it, and it's very soft! Also in the bag, was a tiny book titled "The Best Things In Life Begin with ...C"! It is a little book of quotations and I love it! How did Cindy know that I love things like this?! That really caught me by surprise and I so appreciate it! Last week, I got a cute card in the mail from my life-long friend Patty - it was a cheery card that made me laugh! I can always count on her to make me feel better! She and I have been laughing together for about 35 years! Yowza!

Oh! Don't know if I had mentioned this - but last Friday, I was helping a co-worker do some assessments called ASRs (Alcohol Screening Reviews). There is a gentleman (Mario) that comes from the Texas Driving School to help out as well with all the paperwork and copies that need to be done. It just happened that one of the men needing to take the assessments didn't read, so I was asked to read out loud to him, so he could complete what was necessary. Anyway, @ one point, Mario pulled me aside by my arm and asked if he could speak with me. In my mind I'm thinking, what on earth would he say? Mario went on to say he had to tell me how much he admired me, for always being in such a great mood and being so helpful to everyone! He said I'm always upbeat and full of energy! Wow, that's so nice for him to go out of his way to tell me that! It's these little things that help me get through my days! I have little guardian angels all around supporting me with this darned avm that sometimes brings me down!

Anyway, I woke up this morning feeling so congested! I could just feel the phlegm in my chest. I knew I was going to have to get a good hack to get that out and we all know what that means, right? Yup - a possible, probable bleed. I finally decided to get up and give it a go! Sure enough, I got that goop out - GROSS! - but that also caused a bleed! I quickly put a towel on my left shoulder and got ready to get the tegaderm off again! At least this time it was a slow bleed. The one yesterday was really quick and there was so much blood everywhere! So, again ... Mark cleaned up the wound, got it redressed and I've been in bed most of the day!

I should be doing housework, but whose up for that? Not me! I made some popcorn, got a soda, my candy corn and popped Twilight in the dvd player! Hanz hung out w/me for a while and right now I have the movie on pause! I think I'll get back to it, but just wanted to fill you in on my latest avm adventure! I was hoping to put some new photos on here, just to liven up the blog a bit - but the camera is lost in the abyss of our home! So, this is a current photo of Hanz w/his Aunt Celia! I carry a photo album of "Mommies Angel" and Celia noticed I didn't have a photo of her in there - so, here you go! If I get home before Mark does, I let Hanz out of the kitchen where he stays during the day, and clap my hands and sing him "Mommies Angel, mommies angel"! He gets all excited to see me - but the minute he hears Marks van - that's when the excitement really starts happening! Hanz gets on his hind legs trying to look out the screen door, so I pick him up and we wait until "Daddy" gets out of the van so we can all have fun! Hanz has been such a blessing as well - he makes me happy and keeps my mind off all the avm stuff - we're having a blast with him!

Well, I should get back to the movie - My best to you all! We appreciate all your prayers, special Masses (Terry Schneider), love and support you show us on a daily basis! Our love to all of you!

Cyndi

Finally feeling better!

Hi!

How is everyone doing? I recently had a friend tell me that she finds it so hard knowing I am going through so much pain and everything involved with my avm. Told her I was sorry to hear her say that, but told her, "you know what would make me feel better"? "It's knowing that you value your health every day and don't take advantage of waking up and feeling good"! Please stop and smell the roses and thank God for your good health if you have it!

This morning I had what I call a case of "the weepies" and just felt overwhelmed over all my avm stuff! One of my co-workers noticed that I wasn't myself and looked sad and asked if there was anything she could do to help. I couldn't even talk about it without my voice giving me away that I was about to cry. Between trying to manage my pain, the recent bleeds, the puffiness under my left eye, thinking I had an infection, knowing I had a wound care appt. (and fear of bleeding during that) and having an appt. w/Dr. Zane to get my ear debried (which would involve more pain)... I was feeling the stress! I tried to get a grip and remind myself that @ least I wasn't having those awful nosebleeds that I used to have where I couldn't "put pressure" on anything to stop the bleed. Oh! I did get a little bit of good news from Rhonda Sharp (PA for Dr. Yakes)! I had told her that I had called Dr. Tschickhart for some extra meds for break thru pain ... and she of course said it was important to get my pain under control. She mentioned that Dr. Yakes had a patient that was on even heavier meds that I was to control her pain, and that finally Dr. Yakes was able to get that patient to a better place where she was finally only needing Tylenol for her pain! So Rhonda said this was a very encouraging success story! That definitely made me feel better!

So I went to wound care today. My mom picked me up @ work to take me and I was very appreciative of her being there with me for support! My favorite RN, Noel was the one cleaning my wound and redressing it. Dr. Larkin was thinking the puffy eye was a result of a topical infection caused by exposed cartilage in my ear. She prescribed Cipro plus for me to continue the Bactrim that Eric had prescribed a few days earlier. My appt. @ wound care went very well, no bleeds or any drama!

This afternoon I had my appt. w/Dr. Zane and mom went w/me to that appt. as well! Dr. Larkin had already told me she thought there wasn't much for Dr. Zane to get debried in my ear and she was right! It wasn't as painful as I thought the visit would be! Plus, Dr. Zane didn't think the puffy eye was not due to an infection - it was more that my avm is blocking fluids to drain "normally" therefore causing the puffy eye! Well, that was kind of good news! So, I'm feeling much better and I look forward to having a better day @ work! I'm very fortunate that my supervisor, Mr. Rios has been very supportive of what I'm going through and doesn't give me a hard time about having to leave work for my appts.!

Well, I had been in bed asleep already, saw that we had left the computer on and I was drawn to it to blog a bit! So, it's off to bed again for me, otherwise I'll be wanting to snooze @ work! Thanks for letting me boo-hoo to you a bit! It's onward and upward now! Y'all take care now, you hear?

Much love to all!

Cyndi

P.S. I need to take some new photos to include with my blog entries!

Greetings to all our family and friends!

How is everyone? We're ok! Been enjoying my in-laws visiting from OH - yesterday Mark and I (along w/Hanz of course) went to pick up Doris & George Schuman in Rockport, where they have been staying w/Marks oldest brother Jim. Brought them back to CC, where we would be having dinner @ my moms house! We spent a wonderful evening visiting over a delicious dinner, followed by ice cream floats for dessert and a game of Mexican Train! After all that, we took Mom and Dad Schuman back to Rockport and headed home shortly afterward since we had lots to do to prepare for work the next day! My dressing was really needing to be changed and when I took it off, I had a bleed! Cannot believe that we're going through this again! Actually, I have to back up a little bit by saying that I've had a puffy left eye again. I had e-mailed Dr. Yakes P.A., (Rhonda Sharp) along w/both of the patient coordinators, appealing to them to possibly get us some of the thick surgicel we like from the wound care therapist @ Swedish! I had mentioned the puffy eye @ that time, but later in the afternoon I decided I shouldn't have to be dealing w/that darned puffy eye and called up to CO and left a message for whichever P.A. was on call. I get a call back from Eric, another of Dr. Yakes P.A.'s. He says the puffy eye is probably due to infection (AGAIN!) and called in an antibiotic for me! I asked if this was common to keep getting these infections, and he said w/what all I'm going through that yes, this was bound to be happening! Geez - that's not what I want to hear!

Just wanted to give you an update on how I'm doing! Today actually, I went to see Dr. Breckenridge for my knee - he said I could wait on that a while. That way maybe I can get my wound on my face more time to heal! I go to wound care on Wednesday - gotta get more supplies. I'm sure Dr. Larkin does not want to hear that I've been having bleeds again - she says I age her w/those!

Then I have an appt. w/Dr. Zane on Thursday to get my ear debried again - OUCH!!!! I had asked if it was possible to be put under to have this done, and was basically told, nope! Dang! That means I have to be a big girl and deal with it! Not really what I want to do, but I think that entitles me to a Blizzard or Mark making me a banana split, don't you think? I just can't wait for this whole avm thing to be over with some day! I want my life back!

Oh! I've almost forgotten to mention that my brother-in-law Jim and his wife Shelley have very generously offered to help w/our hotel expenses for our trips to Colorado! Isn't that awesome? Wow - were it not for our family that has helped us so much financially - there is no way we could afford these trips on our own! I have to say that occasionally a friend slips us a little something to help as well! We are so very blessed to not only have the financial help, but the spiritual help as well! Your prayers are helping us deal with everything that has been placed before us! I have people @ work that pull me aside and tell me how well I seem to cope w/what I'm going through - but as you know, I do have my moments when I have "the weepies" and get overwhelmed!

My mom took me to my doctors appt. this morning w/Dr. Breckenridge and my sister Celia will accompany me to see Dr. Zane on Thursday! This is where my family has really helped us - offering their emotional support! Ok! I've gone on long enough! I want to go see what Hanz is doing and go take a shower and watch something good on TV!

Thank you all so much for checking in! We appreciate all of you being with us on this incredible journey! I really hope all of you are with us when it finally comes to and end for me!

Love and prayers to all!

Mark & Cyndi

P.S. Don't forget to check in w/Shalon when you get a chance!!!