Free Wheelin'

Intrepid is ALMOST home!

2011-11-27T18:03:00.001-06:00

Well we made it! Beginning to question it there for a while! Mom has basically been sick since the first part of October. The doc finally put her on a strong antibiotic for 10 days and that seems to be working.

I, also have been fighting allergies. I got over the bad sinus infection but still struggle on some days with sinus headaches, scratchy throat, etc. But, here it is, Sunday night, the night before going to training camp with Intrepid at Texas Hearing and Service Dogs!

It's cold down here in Texas. Of course it has been beautiful weather until the week I have to go out in it! Tonight the low is 35. Out in Dripping Springs at the training center it will feel colder, they are kind of in the country a bit and on a hill.

I worked Black Friday and that was rough, my throat was killing me, but I made it through it. Worked until 1am and then got up early to go to Llano for our Thanksgiving with family. Then spent the rest of the evening that night here at home with my brother, sister-in-law, and my nephew.

Today I have just been relaxing, and about to go to bed in preparation for the big day, and coming week. We will be leaving here about 9am and staying all day.

Intrepid will officially be moving in on Monday, December 5, which is the following Monday after training. Man, I wished he could move in over the weekend so I could spend some quality time before going back to work on Monday. But it just wasn't possible for anyone to bring him and do the first day of the 16-week in-home training (just one day a week). It's gonna kill me to have him sitting here and working and not be able to interact with him as much. But, I am just glad I will be at home and don't work in the office. That would be WORSE! LOL!

Anyway, I will try to post after he has moved in, and/or the weekend after training. I can't believe the day is finally here to get another service dog. :)

Ready for Things to Start Calming Down

2011-11-13T00:42:00.001-06:00

So I apologize in advance for all the pitiful poor me posts. It has just seemed to rain shit lately! Once one thing starts looking up, something else pops up. So I have this wonderful an exciting thing coming up with Intrepid… which might I add that as of right now it is 15 days until I go to training camp for the week. Which might I add worked out perfectly for me to be able to get vacation days the week of Thanksgiving. I will have off Monday and Tuesday, work Wednesday, off Thursday, then work black Friday. The following morning we will be going to Llano for our family's Thanksgiving. Then will have a long training week out in Dripping Springs for Intrepid. So all this is great.

This last Monday, I get sick AGAIN!!! I had to take off early Monday night and ended up having to take the rest of the week. Man, do I have timing or what?? I mean I guess it could have been worse, it could have been the week of training. But it doesn't look that great missing almost a week of work before taking VACATION! I sooooo blessed because I have the best manager ever though and work for such a wonderful company. They truly understand my special needs and never make me feel bad about it.

So this time (I am not sure if I said in my last post, but Mom was sick again as well). Hit me like a ton of bricks… I started coughing and having that "tickling" feeling in my throat--which means drainage--which typically means its going right into my lungs. Even though I really had no other outward symptoms, we called Dr. Shapiro's office and his assistant, Barbara Jones called me in some azithromycin antibiotic and some Pulmicort steroid nebulizer meds. By about Wednesday my nose started up. Kind of the cross between running and stuffed up and felt all "sneezy and itchy" … Man I tell you, I haven't been that miserable in a while. Because my muscles are so weak, I can barely blow my nose. Even what I could, nothing much would come out. My docs office didn't want me to take any antihistamines because in someone like me it can cause all secretions to thicken and can get mucus plugs and such in my lungs. By the time the nasal congestion had gotten really bad, I had completed my azithromycin. We were doing nebulizer treatments 3-4x a day, CPT, and cough assist … even though my cough seemed to have gone away. Anyone that knows me knows it ALWAYS goes to my lungs. I was having to take Afrin 2x a day just to be able to breath and had to take Nyquil to sleep. My nose was so irritated it started bleeding. So by Friday, I called Barbara back and she finally agreed to let me have Astelin (which I call the super nose spray--its what helped me get over my last sickness) and it is an antihistamine. She also put me on another antibiotic, Levaquin. Barbara also told me to try nasal irrigation with a Neti-Pot… but this scared me and I couldn't think of how I would be able to position my head right to work. I had even resorted to putting mentholatum up my nose, and sitting in the bathroom with steam going to ease my sinuses. This is how I looked...

Note how swollen my right eye is and the red side of my nose--this was my worst side for congestion. The other side, I was obviously kind of black and blue under my eye. Not sure what caused that other than just pure sinus inflammation. So since I couldn't do the Neti-Pot… my best friend Jessica, which suffers from SEVERE allergies, told me to try this other type of nasal irrigation that doesn't involve tilting your head.

http://oceannasalcare.com/products/ocean-complete-sinus-irrigation/

I have NEVER done this sort of thing before. It is not the most comfortable experience, kinda gross and scary as well because you can feel it going down in the back of your throat and you feel like you may aspirate or choke. But I have to say… this is the best thing since sliced bread!! I felt totally cleaned out and was able to blow out what was bothering me so much. I combined this with Sudafed, and started my Astelin yesterday and totally I am almost totally well. I can't believe that I kept all of this crap out of my lungs. I think this was my first official sinus infection.

All of this while my dad is on vacation too… my poor mom had to handle me all by herself.

No new news on my wound other than it is continuing to show improvement. I think it was down to 0.7 on the last visit and the circumference was smaller all the way around as well. I am on my last Apligraf… next week I will start Dermagraft.

Did I mention that there is only 15 days until Intrepid comes home?? <smile>

Here is a picture that was posted on Texas Hearing and Service Dogs website. Might I encourage you all to become a fan on FaceBook and also make a donation through their website.

THSD Director of Training Al Kordowski and President Sheri Soltes take Service Dog Intrepid to an open house hosted by a law firm in downtown Austin - roof top!

I am on my way!!

2011-11-06T00:34:00.001-05:00

So I am very excited to report that my wound looked amazing again! It went from 1.8 cm deep to 1.3, now to 0.9! The granulation of new tissue was amazing! One part was even hyper granulated which is "too much" granulation in a certain area. Obviously they were not concerned with this! Also when the doctor was scraping the wound clean, he ACTUALLY hit a vessel. Yay! a vessel!! Normally the tissue has been so tough and fibrinous with little to no circulation I would hardly even bleed!

I will be getting my last Apligraf that is allowable next Thursday. Then the doc is gonna switch to Dermagraft which we will get 8 applications of. I say, lets do it! Close this nightmare of a bitch up!

Mom is sick AGAIN! I feel so bad for her… I am not sure why we keep catching crap. I have been having a scratchy throat and some drainage, but I am already on nebulizer treatments, antibiotics and nose spray. So hopefully I will head it off. I dodged it last time.

*** side note*** I am sitting her watching the end of Seven Pounds and bawling...

Ok, on to other things. Twenty two days until Intrepid comes home! I got all of his stuff and everything set up awaiting his arrival!

As you can see I got his food as well! The wrought iron raised food bowl. I am so excited I can hardly stand it!

A Little Good News

2011-10-30T23:36:00.000-05:00

I am a little behind on updates.

My first Apligraf did not "take" per se. These types of grafts don't really "take" but more so stimulate granulation. It didn't do anything and there was a good amount of slough underneath it. The doc said he would try one more time and if it didn't work then we may have to have a serious conversation with a plastic surgeon.

I have had my 2nd Apligraf and checkup and it looked GOOD this time! For the first time in a very long time the wound base had granulation buds of new fresh tissue at the bottom and some on the sides. The wound was also smaller in diameter and depth. For example the depth was 1.8 cm, and now it is 1.2cm. I am SO incredibly happy. This time the wound vac was removed, which in my opinion was disruptive to the graft and dries the wound out too much, and to getting and using the low-air-loss mattress overlay (which I should have been prescribed a long time ago.)

I only get the once a week reveals at the wound clinic. No changes in between. They don't want the graft TOUCHED for a week. The only downside to being on regular foam wound dressings is that I cannot shower. So I have had to resort to sponge baths and getting my hair washed at a little salon 2x a week. But I don't care! If it continues healing then I will do what I gotta do! I go back to check on the 3rd graft this coming Thursday.

The "plan" is to keep using the Apligraf two more times which is the maximum amount of applications. The moving on to Dermagraft which apparently will work better as a tissue "filler" and they allow 8 applications of that. Then hopefully we can get it to a closing point. I really appreciate the doc doing everything he can to keep me from having surgery.

Might I add that the low-air-loss mattress overlay is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!! For the first time in a very long time I have been sleeping well and not feeling sore and beat up when I wake up. On my left side in the past I have only been able to lay for no more than an hour because my scoliosis--my ribs poke out and start hurting. On my right, now I think I am developing arthritis in my shoulder and it may in part be due to my right arm contractures. Then my back I was laying right on my wound. Couldn't win for losing. Now I can lay on my right or left side for HOURS at a time. Not to mention this is great for mom. If I sleep good, she does as well. She comes in sometimes to check on me when she hasn't heard me holler for her in a few hours.

I now have a new sleeping buddy that apparently loves the air mattress as well... OJ! The cat that we "rescued" per se... the attack rabies infested cat... anyone that reads my blog knows who I am talking about. Our old house cat Maggie hates it... it just freaks her out. She used to sleep on my bed all the time--without me in it--she doesn't like me. We put OJ up there a few nights ago and ever since he has slept with me the last 3 nights. He always starts off laying right behind my back and he will sleep on the bed for HOURS!! I joke by saying that apparently OJ didn't get the memo that I am not the biggest fan of cats! But, I suppose I will make an exception. He IS awfully sweet.

Over the weekend we went to our favorite mexican food restaurant. Garcia's Cafe downtown. I felt so bad for them because there was hardly anyone there through no fault of their own, but because construction has had the whole area around them so torn up its almost impossible to get there. It's been like that over a year. They are a small family owned and operated restaurant. So if you live in the Austin area, come on out to Round Rock and have some of the best mexican food anywhere! They all knew Nellie so well. One of the waitresses this time around said, "where is your dog?" I had to tell her the news. She was so sad and talked about what a great dog she was and they loved having her at their restaurant. I told her it's been almost 2 years. She couldn't believe it. It feels good to know people still think of her though. But, I was able to tell her my happy story about getting Intrepid. She asked so many questions and was genuinely interested. I also have bought all of his supplies needed to move in. That was a lot of fun! Got his crate, a Martha Stewart bed, a Kong (with some fun filler treats), a training bad (2 actually), The Furminator shedding tool, a food bin, a wrought iron elevated food holder with stainless steel bowls, his food (Nature's Select) and his name tag. I got just about everything. The countdown is on at only 27 days now (well at midnight it will be 27). Boy that Thanksgiving week will be NUTS... Thursday of course I will be off for Thanksgiving, then it will be Black Friday at work--ALL HANDS ON DECK... then the next morning will need to drive to Llano for our family Thankgiving. Then the next week is the training camp week for Intrepid.

Well guess thats all I have to share for now. I pray next Thursday there is MORE progress on the wound. *crossing fingers*

The big reveal...

2011-10-16T13:57:00.001-05:00

The Apligraf application went well... it was pretty cool. I really feel this is the road to recovery. It HAS to be! Sadly, I still have to have to VAC on but the pressure was turned down to 125 mmHg. On Friday (2 days after application) I did develop a blockage in my wound vac. So poor Jacob came by (while on vacation) to cut out the suction disc and tape in a new one. So come tomorrow (Monday) will be the first day to see my wound since the Apligraf application and Jacob will be doing the wound vac change. The vac isn't changed near as much because you need the graft to remain as undisturbed as possible. In between the wound/graft and the foam for the vac is a mesh overlay which protects the graft. I then won't be evaluated on progress officially by a doctor until Thursday. I hope it "takes!" They made it sound as if they will be doing another application on Thursday as well.

Mom and dad have both been very sick with some sort of upper respiratory infection that comes on out of nowhere. Kind of starts off as allergies with maybe a small sniffle and some tickle in your throat to in the blink of an eye, full out bronchitis-like symptoms. Thank God for nebulizer. Even THEY use it when they get very ill with a cough. Especially my dad, he smokes too much and has had several bouts of pneumonia himself. They seem to both be getting better... dad's cough is sticking around longer than mom's but mom also don't smoke as much, AND conveniently had her annual doc appointment during her sickness so she was able to get a Z-pak. It really sucks when BOTH of your caregivers are very sick. Not only because you feel bad for them, but also because of the fear of catching it. We don't normally go to extreme lengths as far as wearing masks, but this time around we did. I cannot get sick a 3rd time for this year--on top of nursing this wound. So any time mom and dad had to interact with me, they wore their lovely face masks. I HAVE been having some allergy-like symptoms over the last couple of days, but I started using (what I call my second level nose spray) which is Atrovent to help stop any post nasal drip before it gets to my lungs. Seems to be working. My throat is just a TAD scratchy and every now and then I feel a little tickle. But I will NOT get this!!!

Over the weekend I have done a whole lot of nothin!!! Sometimes I kind of like it that way!

I would like to end this blog entry with a great story written about THSD and them finding more service dogs in shelters! BTW... Me and Intrepid--our video--is now on the front page of their website! :) www.servicedogs.org

Click below to see news story:
News Story about Texas Hearing and Service Dogs

Last noisy load of laundry and other stuff!

2011-10-10T00:02:00.000-05:00

So I guess I need to kind of catch everyone up on the latest adventures in my crazy ass life!

There are kind of a lot of loose ends to tie up. Some good, some bad, so here we go...

Let's just start with the ongoing wound saga. So I went 2 weeks without debriding in order to prepare for a major debride which my doc needed a Bovie cautery (which stops bleeding) in order to do. Toward the last two wound changes, the son-of-a-bitch sloughed all the way back up again. I am not sure why it is doing that. I am even drinking a super duper vitamin drink now. So basically my doc cut the wound bigger to get down to soft tissue. He cut all hard stuff out and you could actually take your fingers and pinch it closed now. He kind of beveled it out too. The last wound change it looked a tad "sloughy" at the bottom. But, we shall see tomorrow or the following day how it looks. Surprisingly the surgery didn't hurt at all. In normal situations he would have done it under general, but since thats not safe for me, and I have had a bone biopsy under local injection, then he did it that way. I will say its a bit tender a few days out now. Another thing that was changed was they are putting BioStep which is a collagen based wound dressing to cover the bottom of the wound. You soak it with saline and then place it in, then the VAC.

Next week the plan is to try putting Apligraf a partial synthetic skin graft into the wound. At this point my doc is like, "I just want to close this thing!" I agree of course! Come to find out, Apligraf is made from baby foreskin! I always knew circumcision was the way to go! LMAO! Apparently that tiny bit of skin can grow a TON of new skin. So here is to hoping.

About my fish tank... I am sad to report that Mr. Limpett passed away. :( The orange swordtail killed him. I felt so upset over this. I should have just kept him by himself, but I really thought he would be happier and if ANYTHING thought HE would kill the others.

One thing I wanted to talk about is a great night out with my mom and sister-in-law! The boys were all over here watching football and I told them we needed to go out and do something. We went to Tokyo Steakhouse and Sushi Bar. (I don't do sushi though)... None of us had ever actually been to a place like this with a hibachi grill. I will say it was quite expensive for dinner, averaging about $30 a plate. But the food was EXCELLENT and so was the entertainment!

We had such a good time! We went back home and watched Bridesmaids together. Mom had never seen it. She loved it!

Work this last week was very strange, sad, and crazy all at the same time. On Wednesday in our weekly meeting with our manager, we were about to be trained on some of the new features of the new iPhone 4S when a coworker said, "excuse me but has anyone heard about Jobs?" We were like what?? He said he has passed, well he had learned from the news minutes before it was formally announced by Apple. Our meeting went very somber. I have to say, aside from the passing of Michael Jackson this is one of the saddest I have been in the passing of a public figure to whom I have never met. I suppose because I respect him so much and what he has done for what we know as computing and how we connect with people and live daily life sometimes solely on the devices he created. I am truly blessed to work for such a wonderful company, founded and run by such a wonderful innovator and brilliant man. I know what it is like to be chronically and terminally ill. It is a rough road and will be until the end. I am happy to hear it sounds as if he died "peacefully." Mr. Jobs, you are my inspiration and you will be greatly missed.

Friday was the release of the iPhone 4S... my first iPhone release working for Apple. I don't know how anyone can say that it is not a hit because I about lost my MIND and VOICE with the amount of calls coming in buying the iPhone. At one point had to take a cough drop to sooth my throat because it was so raw. My thoughts are, there you go Steve... there ya' go...

So mom's washer and dryer are both 20+ years old and second hand. The dryer we got off Craigslist about a year ago for $25. It makes the most horrendous, loud, screeching, buzzing sound when it is going, but it works. It's so loud I have to crank up my TV to hear when its on and she can't run it while I am working. I would joke every time it runs and say, "gosh mom I love your dryer... I am so happy I found it for you on Craigslist" in my ever so distinct sarcastic tone.

Well this weekend she tried starting up her old shitty dryer and it stalled. She about cried. She finally got it started again. To make a long story short though, I told her we had to go to Conn's I knew I could probably get credit there because thats where I got my TV and get a new dryer. We needless to say, I bought her a new LG WASHER and DRYER with pedestals and 2yr warranty on each. See pic. Well she is so damn excited, and I am so damn excited because I don't have to hear the SOB every time mom does laundry considering the laundry room is in my room! They deliver tomorrow and will be installed (free after rebate--which I have already filled out and have it ready to mail)... Mom and I say we are going to sit in front of them with a bowl of popcorn and watch them work and appreciate the sound of NO SOUND. How redneck is that?! LOL! Not to mention they will be so much more energy efficient. Did you know those old timer washers used 44 gallons of water per load no matter how many clothes you were washing and the new ones only use what is needed which averages about 14 gallons?

Oh! I will leave you all with this video that was made by THSD (Texas Hearing and Service Dogs) on matching day with Intrepid.

Team Intrepid!

2011-09-29T21:37:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was the BIG day to meet Intrepid. It started with a round table of discussions with all the trainers, Susan R, Susan, Elizabeth, Becky (the training manager), and Al Kordowski the new training director. Pretty amazing training team they have now at THSD. Dad, Mom, and even Eric went.

The lady that found Intrepid was there and his story is as such: He was adopted for Town Lake Animal Shelter by THSD. Somehow they original owner tracked him down and got him back. Well the original owner ended up dumping him out on the streets. Intrepid ended up actually living with a homeless couple for about 10mos. and somehow the lady (which works for THSD I forgot to add) found him again through calling the local police--I may have some of this story distorted as parts were not real clear. But anyway, she convinced the homeless couple to let her have him and PROMISED them he would get an excellent home. She said it was very sad, they spent hours with him saying goodbye.

I found out the story about the wounded war veteran that he was matched with for the 2nd time just never returned calls after the matching. So yes, they never made it to training camp. His loss, my gain.

So what I have to say about Intrepid is this... he is very sweet and has this "puppy-like" way about him. He seems a lot more athletic and energetic than Nellie was, but in a good way... not in an annoying way. His eyes are crazy intense and he is VERY tall and LEAN... which I am gonna keep him that way and not let weight get out of control like I did with Nellie. He also loves standing on my foot piece which I always wished Nellie could do so I could hug her.

Anyway, the training team and everyone on board had HUGE smiles on their faces and all said me and Intrepid were the perfect match. So I will have a week of training camp November 28-December 2 and then we can bring him home and start the once a week--12 weeks of in-home training. Even though he is already a seasoned service dog they will customize his commands for me and my abilities, likes, and dislikes. We will be training him also to drop retrieved items in my lap instead of to my hand, and moving my feet for me (as I have my mom or dad shift them frequently throughout the day).

So without further ado... here is the pics and a couple of videos from training.

Relaxing and Sharing

2011-09-24T22:58:00.000-05:00

Wasn't really sure what to call this post. I hate coming up with titles! LOL! Had a wound change today from a "fill-in" nurse... poor girl... she was so sweet but obviously didn't know what the hell she was doing. My mom had to assist her the whole way through. Thank God Jacob will do my next two changes. I just hope its on correctly. Still looks about the same.

Today I went to The Vitamin Shoppe and while my nutrition levels and prealbumin is good, I want every boost I can get. By docs advice I am taking Vitamin C (he wants me to take 3000mg--I can't do that as I already have bowel problems) But I am taking 2000mg. Also I went ahead and got some L-Lysine which is an amino acid that is good for the skin, tissue, and encourages collagen formation and tissue formation. It's in the protein family is my understanding. I want to do all I possibly can to heal this thing.

Earlier in the week I got a new fish tank for Mr. Limpett, my crown tailed betta fish. It's bigger (4gal), so in turn I wanted to get some other fish to go with him. This can sometimes be difficult with a betta. I got a dalmation molly, a red swordtail, a chinese algae fish, AND a little African dwarf frog. Anyone that knows my mom knows her terror for frogs... but she agreed and now this he/she is very cute. I named her Silvie (my mom's nickname-in honor wether its a boy or girl--lol) I have nicknamed the algae fish "The little fucker sucker fish." He's a little, hyper, annoying little thing to the others. So here is a picture... sadly... he Dalmatian molly went to visit the porcelain God. He was MEAN and was beating up on everyone! Mr. Limpett and Silvie take priority. Everyone else gets along harmoniously now.
So I will give a little info about my exciting news. This is still very fresh and nothing solid at all. But... THSD may have found me a new service dog. Ironically, back at orientation 1.5yrs ago I saw this dog and fell in love. It is a complicated story that I am not obliged to speak about but to make a long story short, he was matched with two others; one he moved in to the home and it didn't work out due to the human--not the dog. The other was just matched with him and I am not sure what happened there, but my understanding is again it was the human not the dog. So every time he got placed I was so bummed (I am selfish that way) because for some strange reason I knew I wanted THAT dog. Come to find out, I will get my chance at him. I will do a "matching" session this coming Wednesday! I feel this is divine intervention. A lot can happen during training and/or having a smooth move in if it comes to that. So there are opportunities for it to not work. It is very early still. But I really feel this dog is meant to be with me. He is a GORGEOUS black lab with striking amber-colored eyes. His name is Intrepid.

A lot of people think this is silly, but I truly believe Nellie was an angel in her own right sent to me from God. Mom had a dream about Nellie 2hrs before I got the call that they thought they had a match for me. In the dream Nellie was sick and mom had been looking for her. She was crying and said, "Oh Nellie how I have missed you and have been looking everywhere for you." She said the dream was so incredibly vivid. Mind you, she told this to me BEFORE the call. After the call I turned to mom and said, "do you think that dream you had may have been Nellie saying it was ok to let go and move on?" She said she was thinking the same way and felt a bit of closure. Mom grieves outwardly more than I. She couldn't even hardly look at any dog without crying to this day. She was very cautious of getting a new dog. Then later, I actually find out the dog is Intrepid. I began to weep when I heard. I told them they didn't understand that I have wanted him for the last 1.5yrs. I talked about him to mom often and would say I wish I could get him. So I kind of feel Nellie sent him to me. It didn't work out with the other two people because he was meant to be with me. What is even more ironic is that Nellie was also turned down by someone --- which seemed impossible because everyone fell in love with her and she was perfect in so many ways. My understanding is that Intrepid is their STAR dog of the program, the very best. Another kind of silly irony is we own a Dodge Intrepid. LOL!

So while I feel this is all meant to be. I have to go with my heart and gut when I meet him. I will know when I look at his eyes and feel his soul. YES, I BELIEVE DOGS HAVE A SOUL. If something don't feel right, I won't accept him. It will be heartbreaking, but I MUST listen to my inner voice on this one and not let my divine intervention theory to fog my thoughts.

...More To Come...

...and a roadblock...

2011-09-23T13:00:00.000-05:00

I went to the wound clinic yesterday. The good news is, it wasn't any worse. The bad news is, it had not changed for the better at all. Everyone involved is very frustrated because everyone knows I am not the best candidate health-wise for the skin flap surgery.

The sides were still pretty sloughy. He explained it to me like "imagine an 'O' ring and how they are stiff... when the wound has slough around the edges and the vac tries to suction it closed it just will spring right back. When you hear that scraping sound when I debride... that is not bone, that is the slough. It will never heal if we cannot get some fresh, soft, fatty tissue exposed."

So...

He debrided it, switched my vac back to continuous flow on 175 as intermediate isn't working. He will be out next week, so I will continue just to get my vac changes 3x a week at home until I can see him on the 6th of October. He wants to do a radical debride. This will actually make the wound larger, but at this point I don't have much to lose and am running out of tricks to heal it. He has to get a Bovie cautery machine from the hospital (which is why he couldn't do it yesterday) and wants me to discontinue my coumadin for 3 days prior. His hopes are once he gets those walls totally gone with NO tough areas, THEN do the wound vac treatment, it will close up.

I really try to be a positive person, but at this rate, I can't help but be a little pessimistic. Especially because I know what a nightmare and how dangerous the skin flap surgery will be if it doesn't work. Please send me some positive energy, thoughts, and prayers. I need to be able to get over this so I can look toward the future for some positive things that may be happening fairly soon.

F!@% "Sluff"

2011-09-17T15:11:00.000-05:00

This is my new motto. I got my friend Amanda to make me a bumper sticker for the wound clinic. They LOVE it!

So the wound IS SLOWLY showing improvement in the quality of the tissue. No significant signs of size reduction, but the tissue has to be healthy before it will even attempt closing with the wound vac. The surgeon got really aggressive with debriding on Thursday to get some healthy tissue and get the slough out. It was not as "sloughy" as it was the last time and there is a layer in the bottom of the wound covering the bone now. He made me bleed good enough to have to cauterize areas to stop bleeding.

Let me explain for those of you who do not know how this vac works. Basically a wound has a "bed" which is the base of the wound. With suction from the vac, the idea is the bed of the wound slowly fills in with good tissue and elevates upward as close to the surface as possible. So a healthy wound bed is very good. The sides keep wanting to slough sometimes though. As LONG as there is slough in the wound (which is dead/necrotic tissue) it will not heal properly. So this is why I have to go once a week to the surgeon to get that debrided (cut) out.

I got a wound vac change today. It has been two days since my appointment and debriding. When the dressing was removed the wound began actively bleeding! YES!!! This means vascularization and healthy viable tissue is there and its not becoming necrotic! When he sprayed wound cleanser in it, it burned. This has never happened. YES!! Sensation!

So anyway... at this point just keep keepin' on... no more talk of skin flap surgery yet because we are moving in a positive direction... it is just a matter of HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE. I am willing to give it as long as needed with the vac on and utilize it to its full extend. Anything to avoid that horrid surgery and set me back.

I still can't talk about the other super good news I have. In all due time and then I will explain why I had to remain hush publicly.

Oh yeah!! I had my team party at the Hula Hut on Wednesday! It was a lot of fun. Since we are all home based, its nice to see the people you work with now and then and socialize. We had great food--two huge appetizer trays to start, then the meal of our choice (I got the Shiner Bock Fajitas), then drinks (including liquor) AND desert! I LOVE my job! Here is a picture of my team... enjoy!

I am in the very back... can you see me? -- My boss is the one on the right forefront with glasses.

Here is also kind of a view of the location on Lake Austin.

Let the good news roll on!

2011-09-10T15:31:00.001-05:00

Jacob came today and did my wound change and there was some slough in the bottom of it, but otherwise it looked a bit smaller and more shallow. He was able to scrape out a lot of the slough. My hopes remain high, even if it takes forever to avoid any kind of major surgery.

Last night I actually had to take a pain pill because it actually was hurting some. This is good news actually because the thing feels as dead as it appears and I haven't had much of any sensation from it... even after extreme debriding. The pain felt like a pinching sensation. This may mean better circulation to the wound (i.e. pain sensitivity) and also the VAC is working on cinching it up. The pain was even while I was up in my chair and no pressure on it, so that was/is a first. Jacob still remains leery on the prognosis. But, I remain positive.

Also, I am so happy because my claim finally was approved for my short term disability pay for work. They work with a 3rd party company that denied my claim first. So my boss worked with HR and they got it for me. I love my company. I got a check yesterday for the back pay. This will help with some of the medical bills rolling in!

We have a team party on Wednesday at the Hula Hut which should be a nice day and fun, and my boss also picked me to be a mentor to some of the new hires starting on Thursday. I hope the positive vibes keep flowing in!!

I have some other good news I can't quite talk about publicly yet, stay tuned!

Today is football day, so my dad and 3 brothers (Jamie, Ryan, and Eric) and my nephew Lucas, and Jo Ann's nephew Joel are all over here. I will be so glad when Jo Ann gets here so we can have "girl time!"

First positive sign!

2011-09-08T14:51:00.000-05:00

Today I saw the surgeon at the wound clinic. I see him once a week. Every time I go its the same story... more slough, no healthy viable tissue formation that they call granulation.

Well like I said in my last post, I had seen some bloody fluid in the wound VAC and blood is GOOD. So upon looking at my wound today the doc and nurse both said first off... there is new tissue growing over the bone, the tissue is granulated, and there is also some granulation around the edges! Yay!!!!

The FIRST time this wound has responded to anything in the last few months! I think it is from the wound VAC being turned up to 150mmHg. Now... the doc totally debrided the slough off again, and they are cranking it up to 175mmHg and setting it to intermittent pressure instead of continuous. They said sometimes the on/off can promote circulation better. They have it set to 5 minutes on, 2 minutes off.

Anyway, my ear is feeling better too. I am so happy! Please pray for no slough and good bright red healthy skin from here on out. They talked to me about a skin flap surgery and that is a BIG surgery... might I add it requires 30 days of being in bed on your back... PERIOD! That may kill someone like me.

Update on last wound clinic appointment

2011-09-07T13:53:00.000-05:00

Thanks Amanda for reminding me I didn't update this.

So yes, there was a lot of slough in the wound. It was debrided out by the surgeon. He wants to give it another week, and maybe consult with the plastic surgeon. I personally want to hold off longer. I don't mind doing a consult for skin grafting or skin flap whatever, but I am not sure I am ready to jump in to that yet. Wound VACs can take a month or longer sometimes to work. At the time of that appointment it had really only been 2 weeks. The skin graft stuff would pose a whole'nother list of risks. First off being that I don't think they will do it without general anesthesia which is dangerous for me. They could try an spinal block, but with my curvature, that would be dangerous also. Not to mention, I would probably have to use synthetic grafts because I don't need another wound to deal with, nor do I have much skin/muscle to spare. I know I need to get this closed up, but I don't want to jump the gun either.

After that appointment and it was debrided again. When Jacob my wound nurse changed it two days later, it had sloughed up again. Sigh... he said with a wound VAC it's not supposed to slough like that. The thoughts from my doctor friend is that I just don't have hardly any circulation in that spot. Because there is no infection, and my nutrition levels are good. So Jacob turned up my wound VAC pressure to 150mmhg vs 125mmhg.

Since then, the wound (while the wall of the wound is still all sloughy) the center bottom of the wound did not have any slough and had some bloody fluid. Blood in a wound is good... blood means circulation. So I am crossing my fingers and toes for some hope to ever get through this.

My ear, well stage II wound... they gave me some new ointment for it called vasolex and it seems to be getting better... for now! I apply it 3x a day.

I have another appointment tomorrow at the wound clinic. We shall see what the doc says. I am sure he won't be happy with the amount of slough.

Texas is on Fire!

2011-09-05T13:45:00.000-05:00

Starting yesterday we had a "cold front" blow through from a tropical storm and because it has been so hot and the drought has been so bad, fires have ignited all over central Texas. The first one was yesterday in Cedar Park. Luckily that got put out fairly quick, but two homes were lost. Then there were two that sparked up in Pflugerville. No homes were damaged but I think it is still being battled.

The worst one is in Bastrop which is now 25,000 wide destroyed with 0% containment! At LEAST 300+ homes destroyed, half of a state park, and its still going strong. The winds are just as bad, if not worse today.

There are fires EVERYWHERE!! At the same time of Bastrop... another bad one sparked at Steiner Ranch and destroyed 20-25 homes approximately. Then another in Spicewood where it spread and even put Dripping Springs in danger and possibly Texas Hearing and Service Dogs! They are ok right now, but their facility is located on a road that was on the evacuee list, but they are far enough down the road where they are ok for now. My understanding is that has been 75% contained now.

They just reported ANOTHER Bastrop fire has sparked. I pray for all the people of Bastrop and all of our firefighters.

A small grass fire just erupted near Hutto off highway 79. That's too close to home for me. I am blessed I don't live by a wooded area, but at this point, that doesn't mean a THING!

They are saying things may become worse before better because the wind is even worse today.

Back in to the swing of things...

2011-09-01T10:46:00.001-05:00

... or trying! LOL!

Went back to work yesterday. Setting up the new computer was a royal pain in my watoozie and I lost everything! But at least I got a more updated iMac! hehe! Work was good, we will be having a team party on September 14th at "The Hula Hut" on Lake Austin. Sounds like fun I suppose... hey it's paid and we get paid to attend, so I am there. Luckily that day is a Wednesday so dad can take me. I hope I maybe don't have to have the wound vac by then! The tubing is embarrassing!

Today I am going to see Dr. Abondo at the wound clinic. He is the general surgeon. I have already seen him prior to my hospital visit and he had debrided some of the wound. I know some more--what they call "slough" (pronounced sluff-aka necrotic/dead tissue) has come back from the last picture that was taken. But, it seemed pretty superficial and Dr. Abondo will probably just be able to scrape it out. Blech! Sounds so gross but man... if it gets me better and that wound closes, then I don't care!

I will also be showing him my ear... sigh... LOL

Other than that, the report is that my granny is doing quite well in the nursing home! Seems like her pain is somewhat remaining under control, she has been eating, and they said yesterday while my aunt and uncle were there... "Ms. O'Neal... you want to have dinner in your room or go down to the dinner hall?" Well she said, "Oh! well I think I will go down to the dinner hall!" and then she showered and wanted some perfume! LMAO! Oh good ol' Granny Grunt! Such a social butterfly!

IT'S OFFICIAL!!...

2011-08-31T12:24:00.000-05:00

No osteomyelitis!! (bone infection)

My doctor friend texted me the results... I love her that little snooper! Yeah so much for the hospital calling me one way or the other! It's good to have people in high places!

This is so wonderful because that would have been a living hell. If I had had it, not only would have it been life threatening, but I would have had to be on what they call a PIC line (which is an IV that goes into the main vein that goes to your heart) and had to been on STRONG antibiotics for 6 weeks. I can only imagine what kind of complications I would have had from that! I could have done it at home, but it still wouldn't have been good at all!

I got my replacement computer today from work, and will get dad to set it all up and try to get back in to the swing of things at work.

Oh the car... sigh... the car repairs have now climbed to $3200 *I think* and still could be more. We have to have this car as a second car for dad to drive to work and be able to leave the van here for mom and I. It already has had a new engine a couple of years ago, new transmission recently, and now WTF?? It flat out won't start and its some kind of MAJOR electrical issue that they basically have to rip the car apart to fix. Plus it needed a new radiator and tire. The only reason we even have the money we have (we have about $3000 that dad got for his old truck trade in at work). But it sounds like we will go over that... PLUS... the goal was to pay on some other debts with it. So much for that idea!

Sigh...

2011-08-30T13:37:00.000-05:00

So yeah my granny did have to go into a nursing home for at least 30 days in hopes her pain can be managed and she can be seen to better. She actually took it a lot better than expected. At first she refused, which we knew she would do, she is so damn hardheaded! But then my aunt talked her in to it. She has been there before after her hip replacement and she said it wasn't that bad at all and really liked the food! LOL! So they were all super nice there and my aunt brought up her TV, recliner, and some things from home she knew she would want. It will be for the best and I just hope they can get control over the shingles.

My ear... yeah... it's still a hot mess... I am medicating it 3x daily. I have an appointment at the wound clinic on Thursday and I will see what the doc (general surgeon) says about it. By all means I don't want it cut on again, but jeez!! This is ridiculous!

I STILL have no ETA on getting a replacement computer for work... ugh!! I need MONEY!! My medical bills are already rolling in!

To put a little icing on the cake... might I add that dad backed into our van with his work truck. So yeah, there is crushed area on the corner of the bumper. He is gonna file it on his work insurance I think because it will depreciate the value more for trade in; which my goal is to do in the next year and a half. He had it up at the warehouse because our car is in the shop... oh yeah! To the tune of $2500 in repairs.

My wound vac was changed again yesterday... I am taking pics with each change. This was my 3rd change and compared to the first pic, I can tell a difference in size, depth. So yay! Maybe in time I can get rid of this suck ass machine... pardon the pun!

You know when they say "when it rains it pours?" Well I say, "when it rains it becomes a hurricane!"

Are you kidding me??? My ear again??!!

2011-08-28T23:30:00.000-05:00

The day started off with a phone call from my aunt saying my granny went back into the hospital. She has been fighting shingles. She has been home with Morphine patches but she can't seem to get control of the pain. So she had to go back in to the hospital again. Even though we know she really doesn't want to, and we don't WANT her to have to, we think it may be a good idea for her to go into a nursing home at least temporarily until she can get control of the pain. With the pain it is causing anxiety and depression, with the anxiety and depression it is causing high blood pressure, etc. She was even having a nurse come in to put her patch on, but it is not helping and she is not eating well, and becoming rather disoriented at times.

So I pray that #1 she is able to get the pain under control, and #2 she really doesn't need to be sent back home to just start this cycle all over again. The hospital gets her feeling well, then sends her home where she deteriorates.

So I can't believe this, but as most of my readers know, I have had a big problem with my right ear where it gets like "sore". Well it hasn't been PERFECT ever since my surgery to remove and ulcerated area by an ENT (which I still think the job was botched in some way,) but the top rim of my ear got a "scabby" area from the headphones they gave us for work. This was in a different location, but the headphones really hurt my ear. I spent almost $200 of my own money to buy my own, the kind we used to use at Dell which are very comfortable but the damage was already done. So it hasn't gotten too bad, but since the past week or so, the spot that was cut out has become inflamed! It is like crusting over and weeping, even when it wasn't "open" and with the crust... then when I would clean it with peroxide it would like attach to my ear. Like a sore is being created all over again.

I have become proactive and been cleaning it with peroxide daily for the past couple of days. Every time I clean it, it crusts back over. Well, tonight, I was rubbing the crusty stuff off with peroxide... went to go apply some triple antibiotic cream and there was blood running down my ear... sigh... FML ... for those of you who don't know what that stands for... GOOGLE IT!

I have an appointment on Thursday with the general surgeon at the wound clinic. I am going to get him to take a look at this. I definitely want a second opinion. This should NOT keep happening!

Nice long weekend

2011-08-27T19:29:00.000-05:00

Well looks like I will have a nice long weekend. My work computer crashed in the middle of shift last night it seems. I *think* I may have had it set to auto download updates without realizing and went on break and my computer froze on the screensaver. With all the work stuff installed, updates are not necessarily a good thing. That's the only thing I can think may have happened because it was FINE. Now it won't even boot up, not even in safe mode.

Sooooo.... I took the rest of the night off, and probably the earliest they can get another computer to me is Tuesday. So I may end up with a long weekend. At least I feel good, but man... I have already been off for 3 weeks! Now this! Sigh... LOL!

I am more concerned with losing all of my bookmarks on my work computer. Maybe there is some way they have it saved under my work profile??? We shall see.

Got my wound vac changed today. Not quite sure if it looks better or not. I would post pics but I think they are just way too graphic. I want people to read my blog, not be scared from it! LOL!

They have me scheduled for wound vac changes 3x a week, but Jacob will only be coming once. Wednesday Jacob can tell me what he thinks, and then I have an appointment with the general surgeon at the wound clinic on Thursday. I pray that it doesn't try to keep refilling with necrotic tissue.

I am buying the family some Smokey Mo's Bar-B-Q tonight for dinner and think I am just gonna catch up on my Dateline and 20/20 recordings. Wow... I am getting old!

Slowly getting back into the swing of things...

2011-08-26T13:58:00.000-05:00

So far so good... I have 3x a week scheduled wound vac changes for now because it is so fresh. My 2nd one since the hospital release will be done tomorrow. Ironically by the same guy that screwed up over a year ago. I will be watching him like a hawk... It wasn't that he did the dressing wrong, it was that he gave me misinformation on telling me I could shower with it on. My favorite wound guy will only be coming 1x a week. :(

I have my first doctor appointment with a general surgeon since the hospital stay also. They wanted me to do all my followup in downtown Austin at the hospital and wanted us to drive there 2x a week for wound changes also. I do not believe that is necessary as I can go to see the docs at the wound care clinic in Cedar Park at the MOST 1x a week, and in between can get wound vac changes in between at HOME!

Work is going well... I went back on Wednesday and today is Friday... woo hoo!!! Thus far I have had good sales the last 2 days. I am just so happy to be back to work. I hope I stay healthy for a long time now. I don't want my boss to think I am a liability! It has been a rough year. After I quit Dell in 2009 I hadn't been sick until February of this year. Sigh...

Here is a picture of my dear friends that came to see me at the hospital. Galaxia and her husband Phillip. Good pic with Mom too! ;)

Pneumonia, Wound, Bone Infection = NO FUN!

2011-08-25T14:21:00.001-05:00

Too much to really say in a status update so thought I would write as a blog entry.

First and foremost I must say that all the doctors and nurses were AMAZING at Brackenridge. This was probably one of the best experiences to date as far as staff goes. The ER is always a nightmare, but again, all the staff was excellent.

I don't know what I would have done also without my dear friend which happens to be an attending OB doctor at Brackenridge and was on call all weekend. She was my voice and put the fear of God into any other intern or resident involved with my care.

So let me explain. Everyone knows I am a skinny girl. Well I had a bony area on my tailbone for YEARS that the skin never ever broke or anything, just got red now and then. I am only on it when I go to bed at night and even then, no more than 2-3hrs at a time. So I was getting physical therapy and it was mentioned in passing. They said they could come bandage it as a preventative to getting a wound. GREAT! (I thought)... So they came 2x a week and put this special bandage on it. Well, every time they would come it would be a different nurse (mostly LVNs). I was always told I could shower with the bandages on; as it was too hard for my mom to get them on correctly. Well one day the head nurse came (he was an RN) and he put the wrong bandage on and well I showered... 2 days later... took off the bandage and it had leaked and macerated my skin (broke it open).

We have been fighting this wound ever since. It always looked pretty superficial but kept scabbing over. We discontinued home health because Mom was so pissed at what they had done she thought we could get rid of it ourselves. We treated it daily with topical antibiotics, peroxide, you name it. Some days it looked better, but never seemed to fully heal. This has been there almost a year. My horrible hospital stay in February made it worse. Since then, I would say over the last 2 months we noticed it was "weeping" some bloody fluid. So we were not sure where to go so I contacted my nurse (one that did my dressings right) and she said the home health care had just hired a guy that specialized in wound care.

We loved him, he is from Louisiana and has a pretty strong accent. Pretty nice to look at too, and STRAIGHT lol! but very married. He is hilarious and good at what he does. He knows his wounds. Well come to find out, he said my wound was much worse than we thought. He said at least stage 3, possibly stage 4. This freaked us out. Well he treated it for 2 weeks with ointments to try and debride the wound--this means to rid it of all necrotic (dead) tissue and "clean" the wound because apparently it can't heal unless that tissue is removed. Well everything he did didn't work. It may have gotten SOME better, but not near what I should have. He told me I would have to go to a wound clinic.

Well I started feeling sick a couple of days before going to the wound clinic (which was in Cedar Park-the closest one to me). I went, saw the doc which was a general surgeon and he decided he wanted to debride some of it. He cut a small area out, but it was deep. He cut all the way down to muscle, that is how bad the wound was. He was worried about a condition called osteomyelitis which is basically infection in the bone. With wounds that deep that won't heal, sometimes it is because the bone is infected. Especially seeing as how right on the other side of the muscle he cut down to was my sacrum (the sacrum is basically the top part of your tailbone). Osteomyelitis can be VERY serious and life threatening. The next step without treatment is sepsis (blood infection) or spread to other connecting bones/tissues. Since the sacrum is attached to the spine... this was especially worrisome because obviously your spine goes to your brain.

So he ordered an MRI and some blood tests. I won't go in to all the details about that mess as we had serious issues with the Cedar Park hospital getting the MRI done. Anyway, by this time I was fighting pneumonia and had just got on a new regimen to try to stay out of the hospital. I was missing; going on 2 wks of work. I ended up getting the MRI done on Friday the 19th and the wound clinic wanted to put a wound vac on the wound. This is a device that does exactly what it sounds like... it vacuums out any fluid out of the wound and promotes healing by creating more blood flow also. By this time I was on the back end of the pneumonia and showing improvement. I was so happy to get the MRI done, I had the wound vac in place, and was gonna start back to work on Monday the 22nd and expected to not hear anything on my results until the following Thursday with my next wound clinic appointment. Well Friday night at about 10:30pm... I am sitting in front of my new iMac and jamming out to music... was finally feeling well... the phone rings. Dad brings me the phone and yelled at me to turn down the music. I was thinking, "who could this be?" Well it was a doctor. My primary doc's doctor on-call. He tells me he received the MRI and spoke to the radiologist and that I had osteomyelitis in my sacrum and coccyx (tailbone). He says "You need to go to the ER and start IV antibiotics tonight".... "what?--can't it wait until Monday?" "not by my recommendation, this is serious and could be life threatening and you need antibiotics ASAP"...

So there went my happy times... mom, dad and I discussed it in length and cried a bit, and also put in a call to Dr. Shapiro, my pulmonologist so he could be aware and also oversee anything relating to my respiratory state. Seeing as how I was still coughing from the residuals of pneumonia. He said I should go to the ER the following morning. I insisted on going to University Medical Center Brackenridge Seton because they are a higher level of care than the hospitals around here, and Dr. Shapiro does rounds there. The only problem is that it is a charity hospital and so the ER is always filled with crackheads and homeless. Dr. Shapiro said the ER would be a mess on a Friday night.

So mom and I got there around noon on Saturday. We sat in the ER for almost 8 hours! Got in to an ER room quick, but after that we just waited and waited. I got an idea and called my dear friend Diana that I did the ballet with. I had forgotten she is an attending OB doc there at the hospital. I thought she would probably want to know what was going on. Well ... she happened to be on-call and came to the ER to see me. The timing was perfect as an ER intern came in to talk to me. My friend was in regular clothing so he thought she was just any other "friend"... he began asking me questions. He forgot to ask one important question and she spoke up and said "Are you allergic to any medications?" He said, "good call!" ... she said "yeah, I am OB attending here at Brack"... boy his whole demeanor changed!! hahaha! He had come in a bit cocky. She said in a joking (yet not joking way) "I will be watching you!" It was hilarious and pretty awesome to know someone with that much power that you can honestly say is your friend.

Right before we went to our room, we met with a really nice plastic surgeon that said she would come see me the following day. That she wasn't convinced by the MRI that I had osteomyelitis! She said she would need to surgically look at it and debride it.

I finally got into my room with two IV ports, one in each hand, by about 8pm. Mom and I were starving and dad brought us up KFC. I wasn't about to eat the hospital food. I had missed dinner anyway.

The next day, Sunday, I saw my friend sitting at the nurses desk and could see that she was looking over my charts. She then came in, this time all in full doctor's coat and all. Right after she was there for a bit, the plastic surgeon came in. My friend asked if she could stay for the procedure. Boy was it a procedure!! Something that would typically be done in an operating room, and even under general anesthesia. I was blessed because this wound has never hurt me... I can't feel anything in that spot at all hardly. Well she gave me a shot of lidocaine and epinephrine to control bleeding and I didn't even feel that!!

Well basically the wound is the size of a bit bigger than a quarter in diameter. She cut the whole wound out!! It was full of dead (necrotic) tissue. She tried to pull it out without using a scalpel but it had been there so long it was fused in there hard. She cut all the way down to the bone. She did some swabs of the tissue to culture and shaved down/off some of the bone, and sent some of that for biopsy. The great news was that in all of the tissue or bone she saw NO visible signs of infection anywhere. She said the bone will because very brittle and looks discolored. She said all the bone was very healthy and now that she got the dead tissue out, all the tissue left was bleeding and red which is good as all that's left is healthy tissue. My friend agreed everything looked good. So then the wound vac was put back on and the hope is that it will close up the wound, at least mostly. I am not sure how long I will have to have it. Finally I got the hospital to let me go home Monday because really I wasn't doing anything there I couldn't do at home. Jacob, my wound nurse, changed my vac yesterday. My friend wanted me to send her a picture with each change. I saw it for the first time since it was operated on... it is DISGUSTING!!! So bad I won't even share... and for those of you that know me... know I have no shame with almost anything! It is a big open nasty wound and you can see the bone... it's pretty scary. I have an appointment at the Cedar Park Wound Clinic next Thursday and Jacob will be changing my bandaging 2x a week. I pray I don't need any other surgical intervention to close this. They were saying if the vac doesn't close it they may do a skin graft or create a skin flap to close it. Blech!

So there ya' go! I got back to work yesterday and it felt so good!

I will try to keep up with posts better so I don't have to write novels. (I know I always say that!)

I am a workin' woman!

2011-05-14T23:06:00.000-05:00

Man, it has been a long time since I posted and I am sorry for that to all of those that follow my blog. I have been working now approximately 4 months (including training) and I love my job, love my supervisor, and love my teammates. I really couldn't ask for a better job.

So I have been on quite a journey the last few months. I am in the slow process of paying off all of my debts. I only have one more large payment on my last major credit card, then I will pay off of my TV and essentially have no more debts. Although I may have to try and do a 12-month no financing option and get me an iMac computer I am SOLD!! This computer DARS got me for work is acting like it may want to die on me. Of course the warranty is about to go out.

My other projects are to slowly do some remodeling of my bedroom/office/apartment. We have to get some electrical work done first and I got some new; very pretty, track light kits since I got a new gorgeous ceiling fan... my room is very dark because the bulb is tinted. Once I get all the electrical work done, I am going to start saving to get some new furniture, and also to hire someone to come in and paint, fix walls, replace baseboards, and put in some stick down hardwood.

Before going out with friends.

During all of this I am also working on getting an overhaul on my "grill" i.e.; teeth. That has been a borderline nightmare so far. LOL! My goal was to get braces next year. Looks like that may not happen. I knew I needed a lot of work done to get there, but it is costing more than expected. The dentist my family has always gone to is a bit pricey and he is not in my "network" for my dental benefits. So my insurance doesn't pay as much and on top have to pay any difference is what my dentist charges vs. what the insurance allows to be charged. I tried going to a dentist in my network, and he couldn't even get one molar numbed. So I went back to my original dentist. I probably need about 12 fillings, may need to remove some teeth, and maybe a crown or two. ALSO, my bottom wisdoms need to come out. Sigh... So far I have had 3 fillings and go back for 3 more on Monday. But after that visit, I won't have any more flexible spending account money to cover my copays/difference in what insurance pays. I only allocated $1000 for the year thinking that would be enough. I have $2000/yr. for overall dental benefits and I am about half-way through that already also. Makes me really wish we had had the money to get me dental care growing up. But, we can't change the past.

I have some great news though! After all of the last few months of fighting with my insurance to try and get them to agree to pay for my Nexium... they have now approved my appeal!! I got a great letter from my doctor that described all the medicines I have tried, and he also put on there that Nexium was all that worked and I was at high-risk for stricture. I assume they don't want a wrongful death lawsuit on them! LOL! I also wrote a letter stating that I would pursue further if they did not approve it. Thank the Lord for the approval on that!

I made it!

2011-03-05T16:00:00.000-06:00

All is well over here... going very well actually!... I have finished all of my training and had my first day live on the phones yesterday. Man, it was nerve wrecking at first! Even though I am not new to call center sales, I am still not 100% comfortable on product knowledge and all the tools we use. I know it will all become second nature over time. I wish I could say I sold a computer on my first day, but sigh... I did not... oh well. No big deal really.

Now that that is over, I am just relaxing over the weekend in preparation for my new work week next week, 100% on the phones. But, hehe, my new night schedule starts... so I am SO glad the morning work is OVER!!

Be sure and send me a message if you happen to be interested in buying a Mac... keep in mind I can sell just about anything except iPhones, and I am not on commission... but do get credit if you buy from me. :)

Over the week, I had some more good news... I got my new power wheelchair... It is wonderful, yet, it is taking me a bit to get adjusted. More so getting the cushion broken in. So my back and bum have been hurting and been having to get mom and dad to re-adjust me numerous times throughout the day. There are some other things that the company I got it from will need to come out and adjust. So all this just takes time. The features are AWESOME... I just have to become comfortable in it.

Here is a little video I made about it... forgive my horrid appearance!

Life is Good!

2011-02-26T00:00:00.000-06:00

Thank you sweet baby Jesus!! I am 100% back to myself! I didn't break fevers until a week after I was in the hospital. It is amazing how much fun work is when you feel good!

This picture is a good reflexion of how I felt for that week back, I was still very sick with pneumonia, typically working while on oxygen, and running fevers.

LOL! This was done with iPhoto on the iMac. Anyway, I cannot believe that 3 weeks of training has already passed, and we will be done with training next week! I am so excited to get to my new schedule of 4 p.m. - 1 a.m. because this waking up early is for the birds!! I am NOT a morning person at all!

Other than that, things are going well... just the same old drama around the household... it is always something, normally relating to money! LOL!

Image via WikipediaOh yeah! speaking of that! I DO have one dilemma! My NEXIUM is not covered by my new insurance!! I have tried all the other reflux meds and have had reflux since I was a child. None of them work for me like Nexium does. In fact, they just had to up my dosage to 40 mg 2x/day! That is almost $400/mo! The substitute they want to recommend is generic Priolosec which doesn't work AT ALL... So I have already filed an appeal, don't think it will do any good, but have a feeling I am gonna have a fight on my hands!

3 Weeks of HELL!

2011-02-20T18:35:00.000-06:00

So the last time I posted I had been offered the job at Apple.

I did my three days of orientation starting on January 31st. For the most part, it went well, but... the weather was the coldest it has pretty much ever been in Austin and we were having rolling blackouts. It was tough getting up early enough to get into Austin at the Renaissance hotel by 8:30 a.m. Anyone that knows me knows I am not a morning person AT ALL! If it is before 10 a.m. I consider it "the butt crack of dawn!"

The first day of orientation was smooth. It was actually in a building next door (walking distance) from the hotel. The second day, since I knew it would be very cold, I had mom drop me off at that building. Only to find out that after breakfast we would be moving to the hotel... GREAT! Well for everyone else, this was simple... there was a quick stairs cut-through to the hotel. For me... I had to go about 200ft to the front of the hotel, go to an elevator clear across the huge hotel lobby, go downstairs, then to the room we were in. Someone walked with me luckily. However... when lunch came around we were told to go back to the other building... well everyone kind of took off... by the time I got to the building, everyone was in; seated, and eating. I got stuck outside in 16 degree temps and couldn't get in the building. I was out there about 5 minutes before (luckily) my manager was lagging behind and found me there waiting and hollering for help! LOL! 5 minutes may not sound like much, but imagine 16 degrees, not including the gusty wind, and I had no jacket either! I just doubled up long sleeved shirts because I figured we would be inside all day!

Luckily, the 3rd day, we stayed in one place and got lucky that we had a short day and got out of orientation by noon.

I was exhausted by the end of the 3 days of orientation but excited as training started the following day at home. Our training would be 4 weeks long, Monday-Friday, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. (which I wasn't crazy about, but that is ok). I finished up the week with training on Thursday and Friday, and then BOOM! Monday I was feeling sick! I immediately got an antibiotic called in, started my nebulizer treatments and all that good stuff. But I was running a fever too which wasn't good. I made it through Monday, BARELY, and I was miserable. On Tuesday morning I was already in BAD condition. I was throwing up and couldn't keep any of my meds down, so off to the ER we went.

I was crying the whole time in the ER because here I am with my dream job, I had gotten past the first hardest part, and now I was very ill. I know how it goes with me... I am not sick just for a day or two... I become deathly ill quickly and for weeks at a time. How could this be??? I hadn't been sick like this in 4 years! My mom and dad called my boss. I was so blessed because apparently he had been told a lot about me by former Dell coworkers that now work for Apple and could attest to work ethic. He went to the highest possible person in HR and he said if I could be back by Monday, it would be ok and he would catch me up in training.

So of course within only 24hrs. I had pneumonia and had to be admitted to the hospital. Well with me being a total invalid when I am not in my chair, it was understood by the admitting docs that I needed to be put in IMCU and not on a regular floor because I needed the extra attention.

I spent 4 days in the hospital, the doc that was taking care of me I barely saw and when I did I questioned a lot of things. First of all, I questioned his title because I wanted to be seen by a pulmonologist. The nurse asked him and he said he was (I looked him up when I got home and saw NOTHING saying he specialized in pulmonology, that he was a hospitalist/internal medicine doc.) He then stated he didn't think I had pneumonia because the x-rays only showed a few spots, and ordered a CAT scan. He said if it came back negative he would send me home WITHOUT antibiotics... WHAT???!!! Yeah, he says because of all the negative effects that antibiotics have... umm... duh? But I think me not developing secondary infections takes precedent over what could happen if on antibiotics... not to mention... I have been on so many antibiotics through my life and been fine! So, the CAT came back positive for pneumonia... duh again... and then he got aggressive with IV antibiotics. There was another day before this that I know for a FACT they didn't give me any antibiotics and they kept swearing they did and the doc made a point to say "you haven't missed one day of antibiotics" every time he came in.

Then he tells me about how he wants me to do a swallow study because "we need to find out why you get so many pneumonias"... what? I have muscular dystrophy and can't cough! He thinks I may be aspirating on food... which can be a culprit in some MD folks, but I would know if I am aspirating and as long as meats and breads are small enough, I have no problems with swallowing at all. Bottom line is, I get pneumonias because of my inability to cough... period. This isn't my first rodeo!! I have dealt with this my whole life and I think I know my body better than him! Well anyway, I denied the study.

Then the 3rd day, he decides he is going to move me to a regular hospital floor. Boy was my mom PISSED... not only that, but I couldn't even push the nurse call button and they promised to get a button that I could use with my mouth for quadriplegics, but of course they move me and then can't get it! I had to holler from my room to get a nurse, and even then sometimes they wouldn't hear me. What if I was choking on my own secretions?? I can't even move my head!! I wanted to get in my wheelchair, but I was having to go to the bathroom every hour because of the IV, which might I add I started getting skin breakdown from getting on and off a bedpan, and from laying in bed so long. But, realistically, the nurses would have had to be getting me in and out of bed all day, which an IMCU floor can barely do, much less a regular floor!

So by this time, I had been on strong antibiotics for 4 days (I think 3 though!) and knew if I didn't start moving I would get worse, weaker, and could actually end up bedridden if I stayed any longer. When it came time to talk with the doc, it was a nightmare. We explained the situation and how I NEEDED to go home so my mom could take care of me as needed. Well, he refused to agree to let me go home. We tried and tried explaining that we knew what was best for me and I could NOT stay another 24hrs. He kept going into mumbo jumbo about my disease like he was an expert and I didn't know squat... he kept bringing up the swallow study and I told him "look, I will deal with that when and IF needed, but for now, I just want to get better from this pneumonia, not analyzed after 33 years why I get pneumonias!" He got REAL snippy with us... he refused to send us home with any of the scripts for nebulizer treatments, nausea, etc. to get us through it at home. He said all he would do would be antibiotic, because if he wrote the other scripts, that meant he agreed on me going home!

Lesson learned... we went to a hospital that is new and nearby, that we have liked for ER stuff but never been admitted. We should have gone into Austin to the hospital my pulmonologist works at and we wouldn't have had this problem. I will NEVER go to that hospital again for respiratory issues!!! They do not have the resources or knowledge to take care of complex disabled people!

Needless to say we called my pulmonologist... he was PISSED and said "go home!... you know what is best for her! and I will get you any meds you need"... HALLELUJAH! So we were forced into signing an AMA (against medical advice) form for the FIRST time in ALL of my hospital stays! Which, come to find out, I was told that my insurance MAY deny my whole hospital stay because I signed that. Trust me, I will appeal that if it happens!

Over the weekend, boy did I start coughing... which I knew would happen because I was actually moving things. It is amazing how much stuff was just sitting in my lungs rotting and would have gotten SO much worse if I had stayed! Mom and dad worked on me non-stop with nebulizer treatments, CPT (chest percussion therapy), and cough assist machine. Along with supplementing with oxygen. I was still VERY ill by Monday, but I was able to make it through training for the rest of the week. My fevers didn't break until Friday! I got caught up on the 4 days of training I missed within a day and a half, and got caught up to the class within that time. My boss was kinda shocked... don't underestimate me! I am an overachiever and if I want something bad enough, it will get done no matter what!

Today is literally the first day I have felt about 97% normal. I got out of the house today for the first time since orientation week and did a little shopping which felt good. I made it over a very scary hump, and it can only get better from here. Once my training is over, my schedule will be 4 p.m.-1 a.m. which I actually really like... I am a night owl as most people know!

They kept saying how good my lungs sounded, I was barely coughing, but that is because I wasn't getting up out of bed!