Before I start with the summary for trip #15, I have to mention our participation in the 4th Annual Aneurysm & AVM Awareness Walk on May 3rd in San Francisco. It is hosted by The Aneurysm & AVM Foundation (TAAF) and we were very excited to be involved this year, as well as look forward to making this event a regular thing for our future! I have written up a summary and added a slide show of pics! Be sure to check out this out. It was a great weekend and we met such wonderful people!
So trip #15 was quick and relatively uneventful! The 4 week cycle does seem to come up quickly but I'm ready for them each time. Jan (Josh's mom) was my partner again this trip for the third time. She had come down to attend the walk with us and stayed the next two days before we took off to Denver. Another early morning flight and no drama on the plane. Poor Josh seems to be the only drama magnet!
We landed, got the car, headed over to the condo for a few minutes to relax. Then decided to take a walk down to the shopping center to stop at the bank and to pick up some lunch. Not many choices for lunch and we decided on Del Taco. I'm not sure I've ever eaten there, but it is basically just like Taco Bell. We did see that a new restaurant is coming in though. Some kind of Asian Fusion place which should be a good addition.
After our quick walk we decided it was such a nice day out, that we grabbed a couple of the kitchen chairs and took them out on the patio to relax and read a book. Big mistake for my pasty white skin! Within a half hour I could feel myself burning, could see the beginning of the pink...and knew that within the next few hours I was going to look like a lobster. At least I had sunscreen on my face so that was spared!
Off to see Dr. Reed and again was met with Doug my birthday Twin. Got the regular questions of "how is everything since your last treatment? Any problems? Any bleeding?" and instead of my usual "nothing, I'm good" answer I had a bit of fun and a bit of drama to share. First and most importantly, I got to talk about the AVM Walk in SF and show off the Tshirt that we all got from TAAF. Then I got to tell about my reenactment of the shower scene from Psycho! Yes, Monday morning I had a totally random bleed while I was tired and yawning with my eyes closed. Opened them up to blood squirting all over the glass doors! Seriously took me a moment to figure it all out since I hadn't had any bleeding for months and didn't even really think there was anywhere for it to bleed from which would shoot OUT of my mouth. But it was. So that was a little drama for the morning. Took the day off of work (well sorta. I did work from home) so that I could calm down and relax. No matter how many times I go through this...you just never get used to the bleeding. It's just not normal!
So we had a little time to spare and stopped off at the mall for a bit of shopping. Once again I was a good girl and didn't spend any money! Jan on the other hand...well let's just say she became good friends with our dear Victoria!!! We then stopped at Thai Basil for dinner and got to sit in one of the fun "wooden rooms" with the curtains. Had a nice dinner and then back to the condo to get ready for the next day.
Check in time was at 6:00 which is the earliest you can check in and not something I usually am lucky enough to be scheduled for. Sadie (office staff) told me there were only three patients in for the day, so considering these two things I knew I would be one of the first in and first out! Only had to wait for a few moments in the waiting room before they called me back. I had my original glamour gown with me, but had finally finished the matching cap to go along with it. So I put on my fancy duds and settled into my room. No friends scheduled with me this trip, so I just got in without a big production or any "show off" stuff. Jennifer was my nurse again for the second trip in a row. She got my IV in with no problems (super IVer) and everything else was set up within a few minutes.
Rhonda came over to get the regular consent signatures and asked me if there was anything she should know (referencing again getting in trouble last trip when she had read about my throat closing experience that I didn't report.) However this time I got to turn it around and said "No...but is there something "I" should know about?" And she confirmed that this was her last month working for Dr. Yakes. I'm definitely going to miss her although I am very excited for her to move on to other endeavors. One of the possible new jobs would be as an instructor and I think she would be great at that job! It always makes me so glad to hear when people who I feel are great at their jobs and great at connecting with people use that to teach others. The opportunity that those nurses will get from learning from Rhonda will be invaluable and I hope that works out. Of course we can still keep in touch through my blog and this website. But it won't be the same as seeing her each trip. Thanks Rhonda for everything!
Dr. Yakes did stop by to say hello and tell me I was looking good and he was still happy to see my lip healed so well. I gave him the quick run down of the Psycho reenactment but told him it really wasn't that much blood. Just looks worse and freaks me out. He had another doctor visiting with him from the UK. I believe this is the same doctor that Yakes traveled to last month to perform some embo's at the hospital there. I had made contact with two women and it just happened that they were having embo's by a doctor from the US, turns out it had been Yakes! Small world...really.
One of the regular nurses came by to say hi. She has a big baby belly and is almost ready! Super cute and I don't think I will be seeing her for a while. I believe she only had two weeks left of her pregnancy. But she was going to be with me during the treatment that day and assisting anesthesiology.
I did see another young girl, I believe her name was Carolyn come in after me and was still getting prepped when Dr. Jenn (my most frequent anesthesiologist) came by to check on me. She said I was going in first and was headed to the beach room. We chatted for just a few minutes and then the transport guy came to take me back. And I know I've mentioned it before, but everyone there is so great. I've had James transport me many times now, and he even knows my name!
So in the cold room, a quick hello and chatting with everyone there, move over to the other bed and I could feel the sleepiness settling in right away. No time for fun and jokes today, just in and ready for work!
Woke up post op and had a great nurse looking after me. I think her name was Joline...but I have such a hard time remembering post op! I know we chatted a lot as I didn't sleep quite as much this time. I do remember her giving me ice chips and some apple juice. I also believe that I was in the PACU for a while as there weren't any beds available back in the pre-op area. When I did make it back, Jennifer was there again to take care of me, and Jan came in soon after that. Only had about an hour left of laying flat. Suffered through that, made a trip to the ladies room as soon as I was cleared, had some chocolate pudding and just waited to get the go ahead to head out. Eric wasn't working that day, so he didn't get the benefit of knowing that I remembered to bring some of my Vicodin stash with me instead of getting yet another prescription of them!!!
Spent the rest of the day reading and sleeping. Just being a bit lazy after treatment. Went to bed early and was up by 7:00. We had a quick breakfast and made coffee (seriously need to remember to invest in some creamer, as we used vanilla ice cream as a substitute! Not bad, really.) Cleaned up the condo and headed off to the airport for our 1:30 flight. We couldn't get on the direct flight this trip home, so we had a stop over in Phoenix. But luckily didn't have to change planes. So it made for a long flight, but we landed and Josh was waiting to pick us up. We got home and Josh went out to pick up my favorite comfort food, Indian!
I was definitely swollen and a drool queen this trip. Yakes used 14 cc's of alcohol and treated pretty deeply. So no bruising yet and I may get away without seeing any black & blue at all. I feel good though. A little pain under my chin, but totally manageable. The swelling is lingering but should be gone in the next few days. I'm home, safe, relatively healthy, and looking forward to the summer weather. I can't complain!!!
Pics have been updated on my Timeline Slideshow, and of course don't forget to check out the AVM Walk!
Next trip is June 3rd with Josh and hopefully a picnic with Arie, Jody, Denny, Dixie, and Gramps Larry!
Go to Trip #16