We've connected with most of you in some way or another over the past few weeks, but for those out of the loop (sorry!), Cameron's procedure went well...
They used six catheters (3 in each femoral artery) to ablate the abnormal tissue in both the left and right chambers of Cameron's heart. The whole process took about four hours once they got started (about 2:00 p.m. - two hours late) and the doctors said everything went as expected. Cameron woke up with a huge headache and was starving (he'd been fasting since the night before) and conked right back out after eating and some painkillers. I left the hospital about 10 p.m. and when I got back the next morning at 11:00, he was ready to be discharged. He spent most of Saturday sleeping while I ran errands to fill his prescriptions, get some food he could eat (his throat was sore from having all the camer and heat sensor down there), etc.
On Sunday, Cameron was ready to get out of the house after being awake all morning. I decided I would "get ready" and then see how he felt. As I suspected, I came out of the bedroom about a half an hour later to find Cameron sound asleep on the couch - where he slept for the rest of the afternoon. (c: I did finally let him out of the house on Monday - he had to get his INR (blood thinness level) checked and then we got breakfast. As the week progressed, Cameron had more energy with each day. However, all of his wound sites (on his wrist from the IV and another pulse monitoring instrument and in his groin from the catheters) were very swollen and extremely bruised and painful. This limited Cameron's walking for a few days. The followup with the doctor on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving was fine, though they had him get some blood work done to check his cholesterol levels, etc., since that hadn't been done yet. He got the results last week - and the numbers are pretty high - so he has another appointment next week to go over that.
We didn't do anything special for Thanksgiving - no point in cooking a feast for two, but it was nice to just have the whole week to relax and do whatever we wanted. Cameron went back to work last Monday and has been doing well, though a little more worn out than usual at the end of the day.
Last week was my birthday and it was pretty fun. On my actual birthday, I just opened presents, talked to my family, wished my twin a happy birthday, and went out to dinner. By the time we got out to dinner after talking to the family it was 9 so we didn't have a lot of choices left on the east side. We settled on Z Tejas - while a chain, they have some good food and an awesome margarita! Cameron's work team's Christmas party was last Friday and we had a good time. There was a photographer there who took a seven-second video of you and made it into a flip book. Let's just say our flip book is epic. If you want to see it, you'll just have to come visit us. On Sunday we got some yummy birthday sushi, courtesy of Ray, had a fun drive to West Seattle to visit a cute little coffee shop on Alki Point with a great view of the Sound, and then met a bunch of folk for my birthday dinner at an Ethiopian restaurant. It was delicious. And came with singing, awesome people and conversation, Beard Papa's cream puffs, and cute little presents. 'Twas a great celebration.
This week has been pretty busy too. I still haven't had much luck on the job front, which of course makes it harder to stay motivated on the search, but I found some volunteer work to keep me occupied and possibly connect me to the local political realm up here. On Wednesday I had my volunteer orientation at OneAmerica, a local nonprofit that advocates for human, civil, and immigrant rights here in Washington and across the United States. I will mostly be working with their Education Policy Advocate/Researcher on English Language Learner issues in local public schools. I also hope to be able to get involved in their legislative lobbying efforts, but either way my knowledge and skills are going to be put to good use. I officially start next Monday.
Tonight is Pho Club, which I think I'm not supposed to talk about, but am going to anyway. A bunch of folk, actually a lot of the same folk who joined me for me birthday, meet up once a month at a different Pho restaurant for good food and conversation. Last month we went to a place in Ballard. Tonight is in Queen Anne. Tomorrow, Cameron and I are taking a speed-reading class. I'm hoping it will be fun, educational, and actually work. We are supposed to bring non-fiction to learn, though the skills can be applied to fiction. I'll write more about it after the experience. On Sunday, we'll be joining our friend Ray for the food tour of Pike Place Market. So excited to learn more about the little shops in the Market. If you've ever been in there, you know it can be a little overwhelming. I hope we find some new places to check out when people come to visit.
Finally, and most excitedly, we've decided where we are going for our honeymoon: Barbados! It will be late March or April, but we bought the hotel package. Next, we just need to figure out flights.
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