do i get street cred for this?

I got a request to see the slasher incision-will-be-scar. Didn't think of this as blog material before but really, I guess I would be interested in seeing the scar if I'd been keeping up with this whole "surgery" scam on my blog for so long. (I did a little investigating and discovered that "carotid body tumor" is actually code for "demons" and "surgery" adds up to "beat those demons out with a steel baseball bat... no wait, make that a pair of steel Paris Hilton-like stilettos."). For those with weak stomachs, I will give you some scroll time to find your way to the exit.

See? The hospital wasn't all bad, they gave us a room with a view. A nice view, even. :)


Another view.


Okay, are you ready?




About 24 hours after surgery.


This afternoon. Lookin' pretty tame in this photo. Unfortunately, the bite is much, much worse than the bark.


The incision on my leg is about six inches long. Gag. This has actually been the worst of my pain today. They had to go pretty deep to get to the femoral vein so I'm expecting to really feel this one for a while.


So, do you think I'll get some street cred with my students for this?

Oh, and if I haven't ever mentioned this before, my parents are ah-mazing. They brought us a recliner for me to inhabit for the next couple of weeks. Sleeping last night was a pain, even with the million pillows we spent 30 minutes strategically placing behind my back, neck and head. I was seriously missing that hospital bed last night. So, leave it to my parents to just up and bring us a brand new recliner. Hoping for a more peacful, less stiff night's rest. Best. Parents. Ever.

And don't even get me started on Paul's mom, she has been a Godsend with Grayson. He had his first fever the day I was in surgery and she took him to the pediatrician. (Just teething, thank goodness.) I think tonight is the last night he will spend over there and he will be here tomorrow night. Paul's mom brought him over yesterday for a few hours and Emma brought him today -- it's pretty tough to watch him be all cute and cuddly and not even be able to hold him. I would have been able to hold him (on my lap, but absolutely no lifting) but because of my leg I can't for a couple of weeks. And because of my tongue/speech thing I can't even talk to him normally. So. Frustrating. Hopefully today was the worst of it and I'll be on a steady uphill climb soon. My first short-term checkpoint? Regular showers.

home

We're home. :) Actually, we got here yesterday but it was just one big blur of pain, sleep and trying to eat. Hospitals are definitely not conducive to rest and healing like you'd expect them to be but I will give them kudos for pain management. Pain management at home is not so easy. On the way home, we dropped off my prescription, Paul brought me here and then went back to pick it up because my dose from the hospital was pretty much out. It probably only took him 15 minutes to get there and back but it felt like five hours and once I took it, it took about an hour for it to do any good at all. A problem with pain meds at home: nausea. Because of this crazy frustrating tongue/speech problem I'm having, it's been hard to eat much. So, basically we've been crushing up the pain pills in some apple juice (hard to swallow the pills alone) and sometimes I take a benadryl shortly after that. Today's been better though. I successfully ate a few spoonfuls of oatmeal for breakfast and I just finished a full serving of applesauce and some chicken. It's easier with the little "techniques" the speech language pathologist gave me.

The tongue/speech thing feels a little better today. I've been able to eat and swallow a little better but talking is a lot harder (mostly because of my voice though) which is just really frustrating. Since it is a little bit better today, I'm hopeful that the nerve wasn't actually clipped and that it's "healing" from being stretched out. Time will tell, I guess.

I don't think I mentioned any of the details yesterday... when I was in recovery, here are some of the things the nurses were saying, either to each other or to me: "... tachycardia... yep, it's a little 'tachy'," "honey, they had to cut off the blood supply to your brain," "...attached to the carotid... got a piece from your leg..." That's really all I remember, other than my leg hurting and my right hand hurting from the new (and humongous, by the way) IV they put in while I was asleep. Apparently this was the first time my surgeon had ever seen this happen with this kind of tumor (fused with the wall of the artery, I mean) so it's "interesting."

I go back on the 8th to the vascular surgeon so (I think) they can do an ultrasound of the area and make sure the vessels are healing properly. And then I'll go back to my surgeon at the end of the month for a general check-in.

Haven't really felt like being on the computer much so posting will probably be down unless that changes. Maybe I'll finish answering some of those questions from you guys (you can still ask if you think of a new one).

Until then, I see a lot of reading and Netflix in my future.

the longer version

Today, on Facebook (hello, social media addiction), I gave the short version: no embolization today and no surgery tomorrow.

Here is the longer version... this morning, we woke up at the ungodly hour of 3:30am, got dressed, didn't hurry out the door at about 4:15ish. Got to Emory at about 5:30 (right on time, go us) and proceeded to wait. Didn't actually wait too long before they called me back to pre-op. Changed into the nasty gown and super comfy socks (seriously... their hospital socks are the bomb.com), put that goofy hair net on and... "Actually, they're not ready for you." I thought maybe, "Oh, they're just running a little behind, I mean it IS pretty early, even for surgeons." No... like, they actually weren't even going to be ready for me for a while. I had two choices: change back into my clothes and sit in a stiff waiting room chair or go to an empty post-op room with a TV and take a little nap. Hmmm, tough choice but I'll take number two for 500. We were in there for about... an hour and a half/close to two hours.

8:30ish rolls around... "Okay, they're calling for you... ready?" Pshh yea, let's get this show on the road. I answer the same questions again... State your name, What's your date of birth?, What are you here for?, Allergies?, Blah?, Blah blah? (I know it's necessary but those questions get seriously old. Just imagine how old they must get for the people who have to ask them.) Paul goes to the restroom, I'm about to get an IV started and one of the nurses is all, "Oh, yeaaaaa, actually they're NOT ready for you." At this point, I just knew something was up (at some point earlier in the morning I heard "emergency" a few times so that was a hint) and that, most likely, this embolization was just not gonna happen today.

So... we go back to the post-op room again... Paul goes for a little breakfast and to see my parents in the waiting area and a few minutes later he walks back in with the radiologist who starts with "I have some explaining to do." And then he explained about the five (yes, FIVE) people who came in last night/this morning with brain hemorrhaging. Obviously, an emergency of large proportions. Needless to say, with some of the remodeling they are going through, there would be no obtaining an OR for my procedure. Maybe just a little irritating that it took five hours to learn this but hey... five people somewhere in that hospital were bleeding... IN THEIR BRAIN. If I, or someone I love, were one of those people, I'm pretty sure I'd want them clearing the OR schedule too.

And so now we are just waiting to reschedule, hopefully ASAP. But, in the meantime, Paul and I are catching up on Weeds, Season 3. :)

freak tumor update

(New post below this one.)

Here's the update from yesterday which, honestly, isn't much of an update at all.

On Tuesday morning (the 9th), I will be admitted. Tuesday is the angiogram embolization and Wednesday is the actual surgery.

Yesterday, I did all of the pre-op testing (just bloodwork and whatnot) and answered 80 million questions over and over again for about 4 hours between pre-op and the radiologist's office. In pre-op they did the bloodwork, of course, I answered all those questions (including scary ones like "Would you like a pastor to visit with you before your surgery?") and I also spoke with a student and NP from anesthesia and also a PA for my radiologist. Basically, got a check-in time (butt-crack-of-dawn on Tuesday) and answered more of those questions for them.

After pre-op, we went over to the radiologist's office where I was given a full neuro work-up kind of thing by one of the nurses (memory task, walk in a straight line, "close your eyes and touch your nose" ... that kind of stuff). Then another doctor (I believe she was a resident) went through the whole deal about what my tumor is, how they plan to embolize it before surgery, etc. So, if you're interested in this kind of stuff (and I tend to be), here's the lowdown for that part: On Tuesday morning, the radiologist will do an angiogram embolization for me. Or, I should say, he will hopefully be performing an embolization. There is a chance (about 20%) that they will not find an artery to embolize. In order for them to embolize, it needs to be a direct artery to the tumor. If there are no good arteries that are specific to the tumor, they will not do the embolization due to risk of stroke or vision loss. Also, if you're curious (and I usually am), they do not aim for 100% on this type of procedure. The goal is, instead, to minimize the bloodflow as much as possible in order to reduce the risk of bleeding or, if there is bleeding, to reduce the amount of blood loss and also to reduce the time of surgery (longer surgery = more risk, no embolization = more risk for bleeding). So, if you're into probability/odds/chance kind of lingo (and I usually am) there is about an 80% chance that they will be able to find an artery to embolize. I really hope that they will find an artery so that the risk for surgery will be a little less.

If you're into risks and more chance and probability (and I usually am), the biggest risk for this surgery is stroke. That risk falls under about 5%. With my age and overall good health factored in, that risk is a little lower. And with an effective embolization of a good artery specific to the tumor, the risk is even a little lower than that. So overall, the odds are for me. I would like it more if there was no risk at all but, of course, every surgery carries risks. I just hope that my youth and good health will play in my favor.

Regarding time, the angiogram embolization will most likely take a couple of hours (most of that is just finding an artery). And, though I'm not sure (I emailed my surgeon's nurse tonight), I think the surgery will probably be about the same.

And finally, if you're interested in the scar part of this whole thing (this was actually not even a question in my mind until my doctor brought it up), I will indeed have an "L"-shaped scar on my neck. People keep cringing and asking if this bothers me. No, it doesn't. I take showers every day, I regularly go to the hair salon and I generally like to look nice but I am not one to be very attached to my looks in that way. My hair, my skin, my clothes... they can't do anything for me and they definitely don't enhance my quality of life. But my health does have every thing to do with how I live my life and that's much more important than a silly little scar.

And finally-finally, if you're thinking I've left G out of the surgery equation, I haven't. Paul's mom is a true Godsend and will be taking care of him while we are at the hospital. (Really, she is a Godsend all the way around because on days when Paul was not able to stay at home with him while I was at work, she kept him. She worked with our schedules and even came to the house to get him so we wouldn't have to allow an extra 20 minutes in the mornings. Aren't we so blessed by her?!) Also, I won't be able to pick him up/lift him for a few weeks after my surgery so I will have someone here to help me while I'm recovering at home.

Mmk, I think that's all the updates I have. Nervous but ready to just get it over with.

(New post below this one.)

have i mentioned how much i love summer?

Really, I am LOVING this free time. Or at least the free time that I do have with this little Chunk of mine. I almost forgot what it was like to do so many Amanda Things. Especially craft-related Amanda Things. I'm very slowly getting back into making greeting cards (When I say slowly I mean sloooo....oooo..wwly.). Haven't done any sewing yet but I have a few projects in mind should I ever pull the machine back out.

Anyway, over the past week or so I've been getting back into making jewelry. (Another random craft fact about me: I used to make almost all of my own earrings and bracelets back in the day. I liked things to be simple and cutesie without all the "I BOUGHT THIS ON MEGA-CLEARANCE AT CLAIRE'S" non-appeal. And if I was just feeling real crazy, sometimes I would make earrings for friends if there was a holiday.) I had been toying with some ideas in my head for a while but mostly it was one of my co-workers who actually inspired me to get back into doing it. So, while I was at Hobby Lobby scoping out 50% off card-making supplies I mozied on over to the beads and behold, they too were 50% off! And then it was all over for me.

I got beads of all kinds... glass, ceramics, jade, turquoise, seed beads, "naturals"... picked up some stretch cord and wire and I was good to go. I held off on the metals (jump rings, clasps, fish hooks, flat posts, crimp beads, etc.) because, if you don't know this already, everything in Hobby Lobby goes on sale pretty frequently. I figured since beads were on sale last week that metal beads and jewelry supplies would probably be on sale this week, and I was right. (I love the Hob Lob but what I'm saying is you should probably never buy anything at Hobby Lobby unless it is 50% off... if it's not on sale this week, chances are it will be in the next few.)

So ANYWAY... I'll just stop talking and get to the pictures.


Here is what I made with some of my haul...

A couple of bracelets -- I made them both with stretch cord so that (hopefully) G won't break them when he pulls a little bit.

"Natural" flat ovals alternating with limey-yellow turquoise stones.





A few sets of earrings...

Mustardy-yellow ceramic donuts with teal glass bead in center.


And some danglies...


I want to make these with large purple stones next time so they'll look like eggplants.



Okay, I'm spent.

Tomorrow, I go to Emory for my pre-op work-up and to meet with the radiologist who will be doing the embolization (a week from today). If I know anything after that of course I'll report.

x marks the spot

Today, I picked up my CT films to take to the surgeon on Thursday (all of those are on CDs now... fancy shmancy!). To my layman's eye, the "toomah" looks like a little blur at first but when you look a little more closely you can even see how it splays apart the ICA and ECA. Insanity!

So, if you've ever wondered what a carotid body tumor looks like...



Me no likey.