This is just my little place in the world to blog about whatever comes to mind. I plan to review books, movies, music, bands, bars food and restaurants, along with my wife, step sons, marriage past and present, anything is fair game! and AVM's
Hey everyone! I'm back home from our quick trip to Denver this past week. Treatment went well and the trip was pretty uneventful! I'll be updating my Denver Trip page on my website soon with more details.
I did just want to quickly post up here that I was home and feeling good. I'm a little swollen but not as much as the last two times. I have a little achy pain in my face, but nothing big enough to require anything stronger than some simple tylenol. So no biggie!
Here are a couple of pics from the trip! First two are the previews of my new "glamour gown" that I made to wear instead of he hospital issued ones. I did my stroll through the nurses station and made sure the other patients were jealous! Really, I have NO desire to be the center of attention! ;)
Then of course, are the "right after treatment" pic, and the "day after treatment" pic. Not too bad!
So that is my quick update. Will get my website updated soon!!! Thanks to everyone for checking up on me all the time and the well wishes!
i have a brain arteriovenous malformation [AVM] its a collection of blood vessels that are abnormal in my brain. the [AVM] is composed of a tangle of arteries and veins that form a clump. arteries are those large, thick walled blood vessels that carry blood from the heart to the brain under high pressure; while veins are the softer blood vessels that carry blood back to the heart [veins can usually be seen on the back of your hand]. so, the tangle of blood vessels that make an, AVM may be large, with the tangle web of blood vessels being serveral inches across, or small, perhaps the size of an olive. AVMs are supplied by arteries that branch off of normal brain arteries. it can be visualized as a branch on a tree that goes to a bad portion of the tree. typically there are one to four arteries that supply an AVM, occasionally more. these arteries can be blocked off or removed at surgery safely [so they say] because they supply only the AVM, not the normal brain.
they [my neurologist's] think i was born with the AVM, kind of like a birthmark. there is no known cause for why people have AVMs, and its probably a random event as the brain develops.
brain AVMs dont grow like a tumor. generally they remain about the same size after they are diagnosed. however the blood vessels that compose an AVM can change over time. some arteries and veins may get larger or portions of the blood vessels may close up. some vessels may dilate. these dilations on an artery are called aneurysms; on the veins the dilations are called varices [like varicose veins that can occasionally be found on your leg]. rarely AVMs may get notably bigger or smaller.
there are basically three things that can happen to an AVM to cause problems: bleeding, seizures, or steal blood from the normal brain. right now all i can tell you is, i have seizures. from... really go see her. --------------------------------
-------------------------------- Me, I had a weird night... and an even stranger morning... afternoon. I could not get to sleep until 3:00... I tried to sleep... but I could not get there. I woke at 6:00 drank a pot of coffee... and went back to sleep!
It is now 1:28 and I've just got a shower.... and got dressed. I feel like I could go back to bed... The sun is out! It is 60 degrees out side. It is almost summer time out there... almost.
okay nuff about me...
Iron Maiden - Eddie Murdered On Stage Live Dortmund 1983 Rare Footage
My wife is due back at any moment. I have nothing to report on AVM news. YYYYEEEEEEHHHHHAAAAA!!!
She is getting a friend to stay with us. She is in rough shape. She had a hip replacement. Her husband is a real piss of shit! A truly weird dude. He is a Vietnam vet... and the war dun' F'ed him up. He drinks and takes his wife's prescription medicine and hallucinates. He dodges the VC and sees little people witch he try's to shoot... charming.
We arn't bringing him...
I have to go... here buy something... maybe.
Wow today's music really SUX! Here try this...
and a little youtube...
1983 Ronnie James Dio "Rainbow In The Dark" (Rock Palace)
No news today. another nothing day! could talk about my day at home... but it literary read "I woke up... I took a nap ... I woke up... I went to the computer... I started this post." Evan I had to yawn.
let's see if i can find anything over at youtube...
INSX
INXS - Need You Tonight & Mediate one more... okay I is easier than typing...
Jake had his third surgery today, to remove the AVM. Going into this surgery, we were warned of the risks. The ultrasound on Wednesday revealed a vein was still being fed in the AVM, and there was a risk of Jake bleeding during the surgery. To help prepare for this, his blood type was taken, and the blood bank was made aware that there might be a need for a transfusion. The doctor explained to us also, that Jake would more than likely have a half dollar size open wound from taking off the mass of the AVM. He told us he would do his best to get it as closed as possible, but we were looking at another surgery or two of reconstruction.We woke up at 5am this morning - none of us ready for the day. Being a family of mostly night owls, it was not an easy task. We were out the door, and on the road around 5:45, ready to be at the hospital at the 6:30 call time.Getting into the hospital, we went right up to the OR check-in. They led us to a room for Jake to get his gown on, and we waited for his turn to be called into the OR. At almost 8:00, we met with the anesthesiologist. He was great with Jake and really put Jake's nerves to ease. Jake and Michael went back to the OR around 8:10, and Michael sat with him while he fell asleep.After checking in at the OR Family Lounge (on floor higher), we went down to the cafeteria to get some breakfast. Since Jake couldn't eat anything after midnight, the rest of us did the same. Michael, Chris, and I ate a typical hospital cafeteria breakfast (not quite a "yum"), and headed back up to the lounge. We got settled in, just in time for Jake's doctor, Dr. Hamilton, to come find us. He had a thought about what could be done after the surgery to help speed the healing process of the wound (which again, he estimated to be around the size of a half dollar.) He let us know that they were starting late, and that they had just got Jake positioned correctly (he had to be on his stomach, since Dr. Hamilton was working on the back of his head.) Shortly after, Dr. Hamilton's secretary also stopped by to let us know that they had just started.It looked like it was going to be a long day.A few hours went by, and we all got a bit stir-crazy. Chris had played about every PSP game we had with us, and Michael and I were a bit tired of sitting as well. By that time, it was about 11:30, so we decided to go grab some lunch. We had found out from the gal in the Family Lounge that there was a better cafeteria located on the floor below us and decided to try it out. It was by far, much better food. We wished that we would have known about that cafeteria about 3 surgeries ago! :) We had a decent lunch, and headed back to the Family Lounge. Again, we got there just in time for an update. Jake was doing well, but we had no idea what time he'd be done.Around 1:00, Dr. Hamilton came up with his camera. He was done! He turned on his camera, and showed us a picture of the back of Jake's head....he was able to close the wound COMPLETELY!!!! The AVM had actually swollen up during the surgery, and he said it was a bit difficult to work on, but once he got the outer edge of the AVM separated, the rest was easy sailing. He said that the vein that was still being fed was actually quite large, about the size of his pinky finger! He said there was some glue in the vein, so he tied up the vein with sutures, around the same area as the glue, and reinforced it with more sutures, so that is completely closed off. He said that as Jake heals, that vein will just become a dead end as tissue forms around it. He was quite amazed at how nicely Jake's wound closed.Jake will have about a 9cm horizontal scar on the back of his scalp, but he was able to pull the scalp enough, that Jake's hair should grow nicely, and cover a lot of it. He said he wouldn't be surprised if, after a few months, he could have a haircut as short as Chris'! The best news of all - since the AVM was gone - there wasn't any need for more surgeries...HE'S DONE!!!!On a humorous note, Dr. Hamilton knew that Jake wanted the AVM in a jar to bring home and show his friends. After the surgery, as per standard policy, the mass was to be taken to Pathology for study. Dr. Hamilton ran down to Pathology in hopes of getting the AVM for Jake, but was too late. Michael and I both thought it was very thoughtful for the doctor to indulge in a 10 year old's request - even though he wasn't able to fulfill it, it was a blessing that he was willing to try!Waking up was a bit difficult for Jake. They had him wake up before we were in the room, and that scared him a bit. We were able to go in the room shortly after, and hold his hand. Chris was even able to be in there with us, and I think that helped Jake a bit as well. Since there was a lot of equipment, and technically, Chris wasn't supposed to be in the room (nobody under the age of 12 was supposed to be in there), Chris and I went out to the waiting room while Michael remained with Jake. It took a couple of hours for Jake to recover enough to be released to come home.....We're home now, and Jake's slowly getting back to normal...as normal as he can be with a swollen face (from being on his stomach for over 4 hours) and a huge bandage on his head. He's in really good spirits, and has enjoyed some chicken noodle soup. We go back to the hospital in the morning, to meet with Dr. Hamilton for his post-op check-up. Dr. Hamilton will remove the bandage then, and teach us how to care for the stitches and staples over the next few weeks.We're so grateful that this is over for Jake, and that the wound was able to be closed completely. I joked with Dr. Hamilton that we're 10 months ahead of schedule now! It's such a relief to see the end of this. We've been so blessed with such amazing doctors, I can't begin to express our thanks to God for this! All the prayers of our friends and family have been felt every step of the way, and have been a real life line in this journey. Thank you, all of you, for all your support!We're looking forward to these coming weeks of Jake healing. Dr. Hamilton is very hopeful that the stitches will heal nicely. The downfall of it is that we're going to have to shave/buzz Jake's hair, since so much of it had to be shaved off for today's surgery, Dr. Hamilton suggested we just take the rest of it off so that all his hair can grow out together, and be more manageable. Jake has been wearing a hat for some time now, since he's had to deal with the wound on the AVM. We were anticipating another open wound, and fully expected Jake to have to wear a hat for a lot longer. Well, he'll still wear the hat, but hopefully for not longer than a month - just long enough for his hair to grow out some.I can't get over how faithful God is! He's simply amazing! I can see in Jake's eyes already, the peace overtaking him, knowing that he's done with this horrible ordeal. He's even joking and giggling at cartoons on tv tonight! Michael asked me this afternoon if I had a good day. I told him I did - because my baby is okay! Praise God!!!!!
his forum... --------------------------------- I got nothing to say really... so I will give you youtube...just for fun...
Phil Collins "Against All Odds" Live Aid 1985 I am also posting from a comp. that has no sound.oh well....
Hi guys and Gals, The comp I am typing from... it dose not have spell check... and it will not upload pics. So on the post I'm gona upload thar are a number of great pic... so do me a favor... go pay her a visit. ----------------------------- Dr. Zane Saturday, February 28, 2009 Hi Everyone!I've been wanting to blog - Mark is in the garage and I'm trying to watch some of the ELLEN shows I have on the dvr and putting away some of Saba's clothes that are all over the place when I change her in a rush - all the while making sure Hanz doesn't get in to trouble! What kind of trouble? Oh, his favorite - going into our bedroom and walking off w/some of my socks and Crocs! He's already had his bath today, as he will be going w/us to Rockport on Sunday to see Uncle Jim and Aunt Shelley! Hanz will be staying to visit w/his cousins Ripley, Emee, Betsy and Katy while we are in CO! We won't leave him out there until Tuesday night, but we want to make sure and get him acquainted first! It's breaking my heart to think of leaving my baby for several days, but he'll probably have a blast out there! Jim and Shelley live on a big piece of property out in the country and their friends Linda and Buddy also have pets! They have a yorkie named Hockey and all of them are dog lovers, so Hanz will be very well taken care of! Sniff, sniff, waaaah!Ok! Back to the reason I'm blogging! Went to see Dr. Zane on Thursday, and Mark came with me - I've been wanting him to see how awesome Dr. Zane really is and what excellent work he does! I'm posting lots of photos of our office visit, so get ready for that! Dr. Zane is so personable! He saw I was reading the book "The Kite Runner" and said he had read and enjoyed it as well! Also browsed through the photos I had with me of our little angel Hanz, since Dr. Zane's family has several Brussels of their own! Isn't that awesome? The Brussels he and his wife have looks like such a little princess!So! The tech told Mark she was happy to meet him, as I talk about him all the time! Dr. Zane took a look inside my ear and was happy w/the healing process since the last time I had seen him! Still had to get some of the scabbing and old, dead tissue out of there - the look on my face in one photo tells you how painful that was! Mark took photos of the screen we were seeing everything Dr. Zane was doing on!Dr. Zane has these tools to scrape the scab and tissue and to snip it if he doesn't want to pull any further! At one point of course, there had to be bleeding! Right away, Dr. Zane gets a Q-tip and puts pressure on the bleeding area! He also puts a cotton ball in my ear, so that the blood won't go inside my ear. He checks to see if it's still bleeding, and of course it is, so he gets another Q-tip and puts some more pressure on there. Can you say, "PAIN"?! Ugh! This is no fun at all! At one point when he was pulling on a scab I had to yell out, "OUCH"! Seems like I was holding my breath the entire time Dr. Zane was debriding my inner ear! Dr. Zane cauterized the area where I was bleeding from - yikes! That burned, whew! I just have to say how impressed I have been with Dr. Zane! He is in complete control of the situation and my having an avm and a bleed have not been a problem @ all for him! His confidence puts my mind @ ease, knowing that he is doing as much as he can to make sure I heal in the best possible way! I wanted Mark to go with me, as it's kind of hard to explain what all I go through during one of my office visits with Dr. Zane! I wanted to especially share this with all of you - this is why your prayers help me so much! This is not easy @ all! There is so much discomfort going on with my ear - it drains, it's scabbed on the inside and out, and of course painful! My appt. was @ 1:00 pm and I was not pain free until about 4:30pm! Got back to work by 2:00 pm and had a rough afternoon! My co-worker Kathy left for the day as soon as I returned, and I had ten defendants show up that I had to tend to! I was just so anxious to call it a day come 5pm, so I could relax and know that it was finally the weekend! I rushed home so I could go on the walk with Mark and Hanz since my knee had felt well all day! It wasn't until I was talking to my mom @ about 6:45pm that I realized I had forgotten my pain management appt. I had @ 5:30 pm! Mom had asked how my appts. went and I gasped when I realized I had completely zoned out that doctors appt. I had @ 5:30pm! I've since rescheduled it to Tuesday afternoon - the day before we leave for Denver! I have just enough pain meds to get through until that appt.! I also have a wound care appt. the same day I go back to work after my upcoming embolization!I called Shalon a few minutes ago, as I boo booed and put one photo twice on this blog and I don't know how to remove it! Shalon is my blog creator/maintainer! I want to thank so many of you that tell me how much you enjoy reading my blog! I'm hoping to hear from Wendy soon after her embolization last week! She makes the trip from Canada to see Dr. Yakes! Her avm affects her upper lip and pallet!I am soooo ready for this avm business to be overwith! It has been very overwhelming and I do have these little break downs @ times! Our original plan had been for Celia to go with me on this next trip to Denver. Unfortunately, since her mother-in-law Pat has been in ICU in Houston the last week or so, Celia is much needed there for her husband Greg and their family. I'm very happy that Mark is going with me - especially since I am still having bleeds - I think I mentioned before that Mark handles these situations very well and that eases my stress! At least I won't be missing Mark AND Hanz - this way, I'll only be missing my furry kid while in Denver! My co-worker Kathy said to me the other day, "It's just a dog"! Excuse me? I know what she is trying to say .. but first of all, a Brussels is never "just a dog"! Secondly, he is the newest member of our family - and I mean entire family! Hanz goes with us to Grandmas - there is no way I'm leaving him home alone while we're on a family visit or occasion! Lastly, Mark and I are completely in love with Hanz and are having a blast taking him for walks and just enjoying everything about him! Ok, ok ... I know, enough gushing about the little prince!I don't think I'll blog until after our return from this upcoming embolization! Both Shalon and I will be @ Swedish @ the same time, so wish us luck! We hope to get some great photos of the two of us! Please do keep up w/Shalons website and blog - she always has interesting things to say and great photos! You can get to her site from mine! It's always great seeing her - not sure who her travel partner is this time!Thank you so much for keeping up with us and all your love and prayers!Mark & CyndiP.S. Remember I told you about the MRI I had done last Friday afternoon? Well, turns out I have a torn meniscus! Geez, when will the fun ever end?! I suppose I'll have to squeeze that in between embolizations! Plus we can't forget the physical therapy I'll have to juggle between work and wound care therapy! I'll keep you updated! from... ----------------------------------- have buy some stuff...
Okay so now I am here for post number two. And seeing if I read the “how to” properly.. there is a possibility that I have head-in-ass disease, or as we like to call it around here.. a case of BAD YOGA.
So what to write about that you the reader may enjoy.. better question, do I care if you enjoy it.. well not really.. but here goes anyway.
Lets talk about stupid people.. I am not saying that I am not a stupid person, but it seems to me, if you can spot them easily, you probably aren’t one.
Here are a few examples: A man in a southern town, had to have his penis removed from a soda can, when after he placed it into the opening, it started to “swell”. He suffered circumferential lacerations and required stitches. We can only hope that it does not work any longer, so he may not proliferate! (With any of his cousins or other fine folk) I am sure someone asked him “Why did you do a dern fool thing like that fer” and I am willing to bet, his response was , “To see if I could get it to fit in there.”
I heard about a young fella who to check to see if the power was connected to his spa, wet the tip of one of his fingers and touched the incoming hot wire.. I bet that left a mark! What I want to know is Did he really think he had to wet his finger to feel 50 amps of 240 volt current?
Have you ever done anything realllllly stupid? (Sure you have, we all have.. hell I married the same woman twice!) Care to comment on your act of stupidity, you can do it here and be completely anonymous.. I dare you to open up to nearly a billion potential reader.. I dare ya!
Dumb stuff I have done:
Married my high school sweetheart, while I was in high school.. during a lunch break.. of course consummating the marriage in the school parking lot when we got back was fun.. Then we divorced after 11 months.. (should have seen that one coming) Forward the clock 12 years… I find here after a short search, have not talked with her in nearly 10 years.. we start to call each other regularly, as we are both going through a rough divorce from our subsequent spouses, we have lots to share.. mostly about how bad out choices of spouses had been, excepting present company. Then after a 3 month whirlwind 1500 mile phone relationship, my dumb ass hops a jet flys to where she is and PROPOSES! WTF WAS I THINKING???!!!???. We were wed 4 days after my arrival in her home town… we separated 11 days later, the divorce took another 60 days to be finalized.. we were nuts.. I think she was nuts she swears I was… Moral: Two people in dire emotional distress, should avoid each other like the plague, outside of perhaps group therapy.
Okay, I have been married a few times.. I am real good at courtship and shit as a spouse. I know it, I warned my current wife.. she didn’t listen and begged me to marry her for 7 years! Any bets on how long the marriage lasts.. I am banking on 2 years tops.. It’s been 7 months of hell now.. I think I can take another 17?
Maybe I have a problem with commitment? I am not sure, but it seems like you need to be committed (to an institution) if you want to marry me.. I should know never to sink so low as to marry anyone that would sink so low as to date me.
OOH OOH! I forgot about this one.. I was in High school, I was dating affine young lady, and I went to meet her parents. The meeting went well, I was nervous, cause I wanted to be able to see her at least long enough to get in her drawers. (what can I say, I’m a dude!) SO we meet, we have dinner, (her mom’s cooking sucks) after the meal we watch some television, her dad gives me the third degree, and I lie and pass the questioning. The evening draws to a close, she walks me to the door, we kiss goodnight. I hope into my car .. put it in reverse.. and back SMACK into her dad’s new car! Panicking, I hit the gas rather than the break and push the little Toyota’s bumper full up into the grill! I panic further, put the car into Drive rather than park, hop out and my car rolls forward into their house! (pushing my bumper full up into my grill) This by the way takes some force to do in a 1969 Chevy Malibu! The crash(es) bring the family a running… needless to say after my ass chewing from her, her mother and her father, I left with my tail between my legs.. and I really mean that literally. She was forbidden to see me… (well that’s what she said the next day we were in school together) I never did get to get her naked… and I met my first wife a few months later.. See now if I had only had a few drinks during dinner I would not have been so nervous, and would be telling a different story of divorce today… of if she would have just boinked me before hand, we could have avoided the whole meet the parents thing.. talk about a life changing event.. funny how one little thing causes so many other little things isn’t it? Well I guess that is a topic for another entry.. now it is time to post this and see if I did read the “how to” section correctly. ---------------------------- Wow what a story teller I was... If you did not get this far... I don't blame you... if you did here is a pat on the back. Here have some stuff... you can buy...
Led Zeppelin
one more?
Led Zeppelin - Black Dog Did I tell you I was once mistaken for Robert Plant... really.
Thank You, know that by giving me a small donation you have made a happy man.
I have had an AMV, a head bleed, and now have only my left hand to type with. I try. If you think that I try, please give.
