Thursday Update: 04/27/06

I just wanted to post an update on our visit to IA City. Matt went in for his 4th angiogram yesterday…at 7:30! YIKES! They got right to work on him and spent about 2 hours looking at the blood vessels in his brain. What they discovered is that the abnormality in his brain is an AVF…the fistula I wrote about before. They were able to do a test run, so to speak, to be sure they could get up into the affected veins and they can. They did not need to do the WADA testing, because they were able to get to the places they needed to and felt good that the risk of causing further damage is low.

The doctors recommended the embolization treatment, injecting glue up into the affected veins to close them off. They feel pretty confident that this is the safest and most effective route of treatment for Matt. They also explained that they will be able to tell right then if it successfully closed off all the affected areas…which will give us all a peace of mind. There is a possibility that it may not all be closed off. If that happens, we’ll have to discuss where to go from there. Hopefully it will all be successfully occluded and we can just move on! The nurse will be calling me to schedule Matt’s embolization procedure. He will have to be hospitalized for two nights afterwards, so I’m hoping we can get it done over a Friday-Sunday…but we’ll make arrangements whenever we have to. Hopefully we can get it done sometime in the next few weeks. I will keep everyone posted.

Today we are just taking it easy. After that long day and another painful procedure Matt is pretty pooped, as am I. We are looking forward to the weekend and relaxing here at home!

Comments

WE'RE ADOPTING!!

Bah! I said it…er wrote it…out loud. There it is, in black and white for the world to see. (Pause for a drink and a breath) Matt and I are in the very early stages of planning to adopt. We have had a few meetings with an adoption agency, we are gathering the necessary information, and we are making plans to get this ball officially rolling SOON. It has been a very long and winding road to get us to this point, and honestly I never thought we’d get here. Adoption isn’t what we started out hoping for. It isn’t where we thought we’d end up. But here we are – gearing up for what will surely be a life-changing experience for us with hearts full of hope and excitement. The topic of adoption has come up in the past, but we quickly dismissed it for one reason or another. Matt and I have had our fair share of insecurities about whether or not adoption would be a good option for us. Who would look at our family profile and pick us?? It was a burning question that we probably still have ...

I may as well tell you...

I had a miscarriage. I’ve debated for weeks whether or not to acknowledge it publicly. It’s such a personal thing…and this is such a public medium. But a few months have gone by and I’m no closer to feeling ok about it and truly nothing else on my mind really compares, so here I am, letting the world in on my secret. Over the past few weeks I’ve found very little comfort in the fact that only a small handful of people know about the miscarriage. It became nearly unbearable this week, during all our wonderful family Christmas celebrations. Being surrounded by so many people who love me and support me and have no idea how my heart has been broken – it’s a lonely place to be. Not that I would want them all to bombard me with pity or questions or sad looks in their eyes – I realize I can’t have it both ways. But a little acknowledgement goes a long way and I simply can’t ignore or deny the fact that something major happened in my life and impacted me, impacts me still. It was a ...

A Glimpse Into Open Adoption

If you had been a customer of the Longhorn Steakhouse on Highway 19 in Palm Harbor, FL last Sunday night, you may have seen two couples walking through the restaurant, oogling a sweet baby boy on the way to their table. You may have commented on how cute he was. You may have thought he looked a lot like the woman carrying him. You may have wondered about the man in the wheelchair. But you likely would not have assumed you’d be witnessing this baby’s biological parents sit down to dine with his adoptive parents. It’s a scene I’ve been playing over and over in my mind as I recount the wonderful experiences of our trip to Florida. The magnitude of that moment, that evening, will never be lost on me. It was incredible to be a part of – and I’m so very grateful we had it. We had met up with Ethan’s birthmother, L, earlier in the day. She hadn’t seen him since he was a few hours old and was anxiously waiting for us outside a local mall. As soon as we saw each other the tears welled up in o...

Karwoski Life

Search This Blog