Post-Op Praise

Well, since I last posted on July 16, we have had all kinds of chaos in our household!  After Abbie & Derik both dealt with full, HORRIBLE cases of Hand Foot & Mouth, I ended up with my own medical issues!  My back pain reached it's peak, and after a chiropractic adjustment provided no relief, my chiropractor suggested going to the ER and have an ultrasound done to check my gall bladder.  Turned out, I had many, and I mean MANY gall bladder stones!  That was Friday, July 27th, and they sent me home.  They told me that I needed to call back on Monday and schedule my surgery.  And on I went with my weekend. 

Saturday morning we went to a birthday party for one of Abbie's best friends!  I wasn't feeling very good toward the end of the party, and I decided I needed to take a nap when I got home.  I woke up from my nap in some of the worst pain I have ever experienced.  One of my amazing friends, Meredith (who has carted me to the hospital too many times to count), picked me up and we headed to the hospital!  After some AMAZING pain meds were administered, the doctor came in with some bad news.  My levels had sky rocketed, and I needed immediate surgery to have my gall bladder removed.  So, off to surgery I went!  Derik barely made it to the hospital in time, and I was so glad that he did!

After surgery, I was given the good news and the bad news.  Good news, my gall bladder was out, and I should be feeling better soon!  The bad news, one of the stones jumped ship from my gall bladder and plugged my bile duct.  That meant that I needed a 2nd procedure.  They scheduled it for Monday, and after waiting a LONG time... we headed up for the procedure to be done.  The procedure was successful, however... it created another issue, pancreatitis. 

At this point, I was so sick, and so tired of being at the hospital, that I swore they were making this up!  I had bad jaundice, and the pancreatitis rendered me unable to eat ANYTHING!  I was ordered to not have ANYTHING by mouth for 2 days.  When I was finally able to eat again, I took it slow, and it paid off.  I was FINALLY discharged to go home on Thursday, Aug 2, and was so happy to leave!  I would have skipped to the car, but they make you sit in a wheelchair! 

My dad and his girlfiriend, Carol, had picked the kids up on the Saturday of my surgery.  They spent the night here Saturday, and took the kids back to Greensboro, NC, for the week.  My mom brought them back home to me the Friday after my discharge.  That was by far the hardest part my hospital stay.  Not seeing my kids sunk me.  I had no cell phone signal, so skype wasn't even an option.  However, they came home to me in one piece, and were just as happy to see me as I was to see them!

As a mommy, sometimes I forget to take care of myself!  I have to remind myself, and really work hard to make sure I focus on recovering!  I wasn't supposed to pick up Brady for a while, but how can you not pick up that sweet chunky little thing!!!  Recovery has been hard, and I know it isn't over, but I am getting there!

Thank you to all of you who helped us out (in so many ways) and to all of you who kept praying for myself and our family.  We can't say thank you enough.  We are truly grateful to have such amazing friends and family!

 - Jessica