Hoyleton Water Tower Photo Credit to Deb Holle
So April 19th I had Zach and we were go glad to meet our precious baby boy. He's so wonderful and cute. Also, this meant we could schedule surgery. We scheduled my surgery for May 16th. Well, my body had other plans. On the 12th I started having belly pain and my surgeon's office told me to head to the ER. In the ER they ran tests and said that I didn't have gallstones (I assured them I did.). They kept me overnight for observation. Then, in the morning they ran a nuclear test on my to check the function of my gallbladder. When I returned to my room Nate informed me that the doctor stopped by and recommended surgery because my gallbladder was only functioning at 4%. When my cell phone battery falls below 10% I begin to panic a little, 4% is terrifying. Now, think about one of your internal organs working at 4%. Not something you want to hear. Within an hour and a half I was in the operating room. When I was in recovery I don't remember anything but being in so much pain that I never opened my eyes and I think I was saying, "help!". Yes, ridiculous. However, I feel like you have a little license for crazy when you are on Morphine and coming out of anesthesia. I was pretty nauseous for about five hours that followed but was better by morning and well enough to go home. I can't say enough about the operating room and pre-op staff at Mercy Hospital St. Louis. I received fantastic care.
A couple days after I got home from the hospital things started to go downhill. I wasn't sleeping through the night because I was trying to feed Zach and pump. I also had a bad reaction to the anesthesia and ended up with BAD anxiety that manifested itself in hypochondria. So, we made several trips to the emergency room because of anxiety induced symptoms. One of the ER trips was the result of a UTI and a possible colon infection. I was put on some very heavy antibiotics which upset my stomach. At one point, I told the doctors that my entire torso hurt. Now, I'm left with some pretty bad acid reflux and occasional pain which I'm going to see a gastroenterologist about this week.
Throughout all of this, my mother-in-law, my mom and The Village of Hoyleton kept us afloat. Nate's mom took care of the children. Women in the congregation made meals for us every Monday, Wednesday and Friday for the entire month of May taking the stress of planning dinner off of us. My mom came over here and took a couple of days off work to take me to doctor's appointments. The entire congregation was very understanding when Nate needed to move things around in his schedule to help with me or the kids. People were constantly texting me to see how I was doing and to let me know they were thinking about me. I received the sweetest "Get Well" cards in the mail. There were prayers coming from the people in Hoyleton, our friends in McAllen and many others. For the first two weeks after my surgery things were rough and we needed these people.
We have always been blessed to have a "village of help" wherever we lived. The Village of Hoyleton has proved that they are no exception and set the bar high when it comes to taking care of their people. We could not have done it without our village and I am so glad that we had "The Village of Hoyleton", friends and family to help us get through this tough time.
The only thing left to do now is figure out what is still making me not feel great when I eat certain foods. I need to be able to eat good food again. This girl NEEDS cheese in her life. I am feeling much better now, even though I am not 100%. People say it takes a village and I'm glad that I have "The Village of Hoyleton" as mine.
Just because they're cute...
That's all for now. God is good.
No comments