Josh and I left early in the morning again for my 16th embo in Denver. At the airport I left Josh in line at Burger King to pick up some breakfast croissants (I know, but there is nothing else open that early in the morning.) As I was walking towards our gate, I looked over and thought I saw Celine, my boss. Yep, she was in line for coffee and also flying out that morning, but on business. So she sat with us and chatted while we waited for the flights. And Mike, our new President, was traveling with her so right before boarding we introduced Mike & Josh and laughed at the "small world." Flight was uneventful, picked up our rental car, and settled in for a quick nap at the condo.
Off to see Dr. Reed. As always I think we were the last appointment for the day. I introduced Dr. Reed and Doug to my warthog (the new nickname for the weirdness on the side of my face) and mentioned how I had experienced a little bit of bleeding from the wound, which made me a little nervous. Dr. Reed didn't really know why it would be breaking down/unstable/weird... He mentioned that sometimes when skin stretches and is damaged, that it will sorta "reorganize" itself and this may be what is happening. But he did encourage me to really chat with Dr. Yakes about it try to pinpoint what was happening, and what the underlying AVM reason would be for the problem. We also talked about how far along I may be and how I absolutely will need to have the bulk removed at some point. I had been thinking I would just leave everything how it is. That I didn't need the bulk removed and plastic surgery if we could just ge the AVM under control. However, Dr Reed is certain that will not be an option and that it really needs to be removed. So ya, that was originally the plan anyways.
One of our local restaurants her is Sacramento is a sushi place called Mikuni's. It is very popular and there are locations all through our area. Well the first non-Sac location is in Denver, and we decided to check it out and see if it lived up to the expectation. Of course all of the sushi rolls had the wrong names (local Denver names/ideas/etc replaced the Sac ones) but Josh was able to describe what he wanted and the manager was familiar with the "real" names! I just got the usual veggie box and was (for once) the less high maintenance of the two of us! So a good dinner, and then back to the condo.
Check in was at 8:00 the next morning and Darlene checked me in again. Up to the 3rd floor and it was a ghost town!!! Seriously there was hardly anyone there. We've never seen it so slow. I changed into my newest glamour gown, and got ready to take a poll for "Mrs. Roper or Super Cute Shalon!" My Alaska sockies totally matched my outfit, but like a dummy I left them at the condo. And the ones waiting for me on the bed were the ugly beige ones. I asked Paulette if she could switch me out for the other standard light blue ones. She came back with bright yellow which were a better match for my outfit. Nevermind they also indicate a "fall risk!" So that was a fun joke for the rest of the day.
Karen was my nurse, and a new care taker for me. I've met her before and seen her busy around the pre-op area, but hadn't had her assigned to me. She confirmed that it was slow, and they had even sent some nurses home! There was something going on with lots of doctors off, but I've forgotten what that was. Got the IV in just one poke with just a little manuvering to get it to work. Blood work in, questions asked, it was a quick routine to get me settled in. Of course I had to show off my gown and at one point even did a quick spin and struck some poses for Derek and another nurse. She was so impressed she came back to chat with me about my outfit. And of course suggested that I actually sell these things. I'm on it, just gotta work out the details!
Rhonda had left the week before, and Eric was flying solo. He came by to chat and to show us pictures of his new daughter who was born the day before my treatment in May. I beleive he said they named her Lindsay, and she is very sweet. And the older brothers like her and are glad to have her as part of the family. So that was fun news to share. I mentioned the warthog issue and that I really wanted to have the opportunity to chat with Dr. Yakes about it and find out what was happening and how I should handle it. Eric said he would do his best to get Yakes to stop by after treatment to discuss.
There were a few other Yakes patients in for the day, although I didn't really meet any of them. I quickly chatted with a woman as she was on her way to the treatment room to let her know that the anesthesia group is great and that she probably wouldn't get sick. It seemed to be one of her bigger concerns for the day. Dr Jen Qin was again my partner in blissful sleep. She came in just after 9:00 to check on me and let me know we were ready to go. My quickest wait so far I think. So soon after I was on my way to the beach room. As I was being wheeled in, the room across the hall had all the radiology nursing staff in it, and I got to give them the "Mrs. Roper vs. Super Cute Shalon" poll...and the most common answer from everyone was BOTH! Lots of thumbs up from that crew and chatting with the ones who were taking care of me for the day. Happy juice in, and it burned a little! Sorry Jen, didn't mean to question you or come across rude. I was just surprised cause I don't think I've felt the burn before. Had something to do with the location of the IV on the top of my hand/wrist. And then the lights went out.
Don't remember recovery much. Had two guys taking care of me, and they did a great job. I think one may have been in training. Then back out to pre-op to wait out the rest of the four hours. I had Josh record a bunch of names so I could type them up as part of my report...but seriously I don't recognize those name at ALL, and am not entirely sure I didn't make them up. I am always so amazed at how I just can't keep any memories after treatment. I always feel like I'm going to remember, but I don't. I asked Josh just now who my nurse was back in pre-op and he said I told him "don't worry about writing her name down, I know her." Ok, well I'm sure that is true but I have no memory whatsoever of who was there. I do remember a nurse but it's all just a blur at this point.
Anyways, Eric came by and signed all the release forms. Only 6.5 cc's of alcohol this time, which was evidenced by a much lower level of swelling this time. Dr. Yakes came and we chatted about the warthog. And I remember the conversation in general but maybe only because I repeated it a bunch of times right after. Bottom line, he isn't sure why my skin is breaking down in that area as well. There are no coils underneath and no real AVM involvement to be blocking off the blood supply to the area. He did treat around there, to try and help or maybe just as an added measure to ensure proper blood flow. I don't remember. But he did say we would watch it over the next month and if the area was still not getting better by next time we would need to look into taking further actions. I asked if I should see my dermatologist and he said it may be good and she could take a biopsy. Ya, my dermatologist is afraid of me. the last thing I imagine she wants to do is take a biospy of an area and chance bleeding! So I think I'll just wait.
Back at the condo, I rested and checked on plans for meeting up with Arie, Jodi, and Denny the next day. Off to bed and had a good nights sleep with all those drugs still flowing. The next day we were lazy in the morning and made plans to meet up at Celestial Tea for a quick tour of the factory and then lunch. Quick side note for anyone traveling to Denver- those toll roads...ya, they make you pay to get on and off as well and you have to have coins, not bills. What a pain. We still owe them a dollar in coins. Anyways, It was a great day and Aire had grown like 10 inches (ok maybe like 3 or 4) since we saw them back in November! She is practically as tall as me, and I think she has surpassed Jodi! The tour itself was very cool and learning about Tea, the cultivation, production, distribution, etc...was also very cool. We all got to wear cool hair nets (very reminiscent of the blue hospital ones) and Josh was also required to wear a "beard" net over his gotee! Ha! After the tour we headed over to Pearl street for a quick stroll and lunch at the Cheescake Factory where Denny insisted on treating Josh and I for lunch. Thanks guys, we really appreciated it and had a great time hanging out with you. Arie was off to swim practice and we were on our way back so I could sleep! However, we were greated on the way back by some thunder and lightning which Josh was thrilled about and spent some time just hanging out on the back porch watching the sky light up! He loves that kind of stuff!
By Saturday the swelling had set in as much as it would, and the pain was showing up but still not too bad. Our flight was later in the afternoon, giving me time to just rest up and relax. The flight home was uneventful and we were glad to be home and have one more trip behind us. July's trip will be with Josh again (two in a row) and will be combined with a mini vacation up to Washington state to visit my sister Michele. We are absolutely looking forward to that trip! Well at least the first part!
Next treatment is 7/9/09...will update soon!
Shalon