Karwoski Life

Here are some pictures from the weekend: Litttle Matthew LOVES his Uncle Matt! He loves to hear his voice and to play with him! The birthday Girl with her cake...the theme was Tinkerbelle, so she had to wear her special Tinkerbelle dress! :) Meghan and her Aunt Emmy...with the ponies we got her! Chad, Hope, Meghan & Matthew

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!! Well, we had ourselves a busy, but wonderful Thanksgiving. We loaded ourselves up and headed up to my Grandma Maris’ for lunch. I had asked Matt the night before if he’d be willing to try going without the wheelchair. (We had gone up to celebrate Matt’s Grandma’s birthday last weekend in Boone, and we also left the wheelchair at home.) It was a bit scary, leaving that piece of security behind…but it was also a little bit freeing for me. I thoroughly enjoyed not having to lug the chair in and out! Anyway, Matt was up for the challenge and we took off with just the walker. We did a lot of walking that day…and it went just fine! Matt was able to walk up and sit down at the table with everyone, and it was no big deal! I was so proud of him for taking a chance and giving it a try. My Grandparents on my Dad’s side were also getting together Thursday, but we did not plan to stop by. It was a little out of our way, and we figured we’d be too pooped to h...

I just wanted to post a quick update regarding Matt’s AVF and our treatment plan. I spoke to the nurse for the dr in Iowa City this week, and he has determined that Matt’s malformation IS an AVF and he recommends another embolization. He believes the best treatment option is to go back in and try to embolize the remaining vessels in the AVF. Unfortunately, I haven’t had a chance to speak with the dr himself to ask him some of our questions…but hopefully we will get them answered soon. In the mean time we have booked his procedure for January 4th. It will be another 3 day process…traveling out the day before the procedure for pre-op stuff, then the procedure day and recovery in the ICU, then another night of recovery on the neuro floor. Matt is less than thrilled…FAR less than thrilled, about having to endure this procedure again. It was truly the worst experience to date, for him. Neither one of us are looking forward to having to go through it again…but we’re trying to look for...

Well, we had another full week, including another fun trip to Iowa City. This trip was another follow up with the Ophthalmologist who performed Matt’s eye surgery. We discussed how things have been going with the prism on his one lens. Matt discovered that he could bring the two images together if he turned his head to the side and sort of looked out of the corner of his eye. The dr thought it was a good sign, but that is obviously not a practical way to look at the world. So, he put another temporary prism on the other lens of his glasses. The idea is to wear both prisms throughout the evening and see if his brain can fuse the two images together. We go back in December to follow up yet again. In the meantime we are STILL waiting to hear from the other dr on what the next step should be to treat the remaining vessels in Matt’s AVF. I phoned them again today and the nurse was hoping he would get back to me early next week. I think Matt’s case has him a bit puzzled. Figures, h...

I went to a bridal shower today for the fiancée of my cousin Seth. Chelsea and Seth have been together for nearly 6 years, so we are all excited they are taking the plunge. They are a young couple, full of hope and their future is wide open for them. It was strange, going to a bridal shower. I haven’t gone to one in so long…and it seems so weird to me. I think it just made me think about myself and my marriage. About how long ago it was when I was having my showers…flitting about in my pre-wedding bliss and planning all the exciting details of my ceremony, honeymoon, etc. At first, selfishly, I didn’t want to go to the shower. I didn’t want to be around all the happy people, celebrating this joyous occasion. I didn’t want to be reminded of how happy I once was…how invincible I once felt…how perfect everything seemed. I found myself feeling sad, and jealous of their youth and the newness of their life’s journey. I felt a little robbed of my happily-ever after. Then, I starte...

Phew...what a week! So many things are happening...the elections...Rumsfeld's resignation...McCarney leaving ISU football...Britney and Kevin splitting up...it's almost more than I can bear! My head is spinning with all the goings on! Thank goodness, we are just relaxing here in the family room, trying to take it all in! It is SO nice to be home! I left early (VERY early) on Sunday morning for my annual work conference. This year's conference was in St Louis. That's right, the US's most dangerous city, as I'm sure you all read about recently. It was surprisingly not that scary. We joked about selling our own souvenior t-shirts...'I survived St Louis'...'I'm from St Louis - Back Off'...etc. We had a good trip overall, though we are looking forward to next year's trip (it will be in Orlando!). Two years ago, the conference was in Boston...just weeks after they won the World Series. This year, it was St Louis...just weeks after they won it....