This baby is sure cute...
Sunday, November 11, 2012
Thursday, November 8, 2012
A Week We Hope Never to Repeat
All right, I've already written this and it is much too long.
Spoiler alert... here is the short version:
Paige has a cold
Shayne has a double ear infection
Madi has a hacking cough (and probably a sinus infection)
Kristen has a diseased gallbladder and needs a D&C because some placenta stuck around
Kevin has a sinus infection and bronchitis
Wahoo! Don't you want to hang out with us?
and surgery is Friday morning for Kristen.
Where to begin?...
This has been a bit of a rough period for our family... almost to the point of comedy. But I am sincerely grateful now that I have been given the gift of optimism.
We begged to get ourselves out of the NICU and soon after that we all got sick... surprise :o)
The day we went home I went to the ER dying of a gallbladder attack but the stone passed or moved or whatever happens with those pesky things so I went home after wasting several hours there.
Then life settled for a few days. We played with Grandma, life was perfect. Then she went home. That's when the terror began :o)
The colds started which is no big deal, everyone gets colds. But then colds turned to sinus infections and ear infections and Kevin even has bronchitis.
Saturday I had another rotten gallbladder attack but I didn't want to go to the hospital just to be sent home again so I fought through it at home for as long as I could but gave in as it peaked again after 6 hours. I went into the ER again, this time the Doctor did an ultrasound and found a fat inflamed gallbladder full of stones. The lab results also showed high billirubin levels (jaundice) and all the other things that indicate that there was stone blocking my bile duct. But once again, the stone moved and pain stopped. Because there wasn't immediate pain, they once again sent me home and told me to schedule surgery to have my gallbladder removed in the near future... oh, and come back if the pain starts again.
Within a few hours it was back. It wasn't as intense but the pain was increasing and now it was late at night so I didn't want Kevin to have to load the whole crew and take me. I wanted to get into the ER before it got too bad to drive but when I knew it was going to hang around, I was tired of going in and the pain leaving. The pain was bad enough I couldn't sleep but not so bad I was sure it wasn't just going to leave again. I tinkered around the house for a while then drove to the hospital. Surprise! I got there and the pain was less. I hung out and tried to sleep in the car for a bit to see if it was real or not. Eventually I checked in (by now it was Sunday morning) and the pain was pretty bad. They decided to admit me for an ERCP where they put me under and sent a scope down my throat into my small intestine to find the bile duct and hopefully remove the stone. Well, surprise surprise the stone was gone so now I just got to stay in the hospital for a day of monitoring. But on the bright side a surgeon came to visit me during my stay and we got the surgery scheduled for Friday.
Kevin is my hero. He had the kids and everyone survived. In fact, everyone was even bathed and happy. His new preceptor was also kind and let him come in late Monday as we waited for me to be discharged. I got home just in time to scoop the kids up and go see Paige's surgeon. It was a crazy day, but at least everything checked out well at the surgeons and Paige was up to a whopping 6 pounds. That was the YAY of the day!
I wish that was the end of the story... this post is getting much to long, and so was our week.
Well, Tuesday I went in for my postpartum checkup (and the plot thickens)... turns out I need a D&C too. My surgeon said it was simple and it could be combined with the cholecystectomy the problem was that he could only do it at the downtown hospital and I was scheduled at the one closer to us. Well thank goodness for an amazing doctor who treated me like his own daughter and immediately got on the phone to find another surgeon and a time when they could both do the surgery. There is a lot more to be said about that, but truly I am grateful for him and the surgeon that will be doing the gallbladder surgery. The Lord watches over us and they found a time and the one slot that was open for surgery Friday.
This post is way too long, so I won't go into any more detail, but I just want to record here how grateful I am that we don't live somewhere rural, that I have an amazing husband that can handle a 4 year old, 2 year old and new baby (even through the night), a ward that is VERY on top of our needs and doctors that are really fantastic. The situation may be less than ideal, but truly God is watching over our family. That may sound strange, but with all the details and from my perspective I really do feel blessed and protected.
Now I need to head to bed and try to rest before surgery in the morning. Oh, one more thing...
Don't feel like you need to say the right thing now, we really are okay. Rough patch, but this experience has been empowering for our family and really brought Kevin and I closer than ever. I'm grateful for the priesthood, an amazing husband and a Creator who knows my needs, my mind, my family and even my body. No need to get too personal here, just wanted you all to know we are alive and this is why I haven't been returning phone calls :o) Chaos will be under control soon... maybe :o)
Thanks for enduring the length of this post. That just saved me a lot of time explaining it to everyone individually on the phone!
Spoiler alert... here is the short version:
Paige has a cold
Shayne has a double ear infection
Madi has a hacking cough (and probably a sinus infection)
Kristen has a diseased gallbladder and needs a D&C because some placenta stuck around
Kevin has a sinus infection and bronchitis
Wahoo! Don't you want to hang out with us?
and surgery is Friday morning for Kristen.
Where to begin?...
This has been a bit of a rough period for our family... almost to the point of comedy. But I am sincerely grateful now that I have been given the gift of optimism.
We begged to get ourselves out of the NICU and soon after that we all got sick... surprise :o)
The day we went home I went to the ER dying of a gallbladder attack but the stone passed or moved or whatever happens with those pesky things so I went home after wasting several hours there.
Then life settled for a few days. We played with Grandma, life was perfect. Then she went home. That's when the terror began :o)
The colds started which is no big deal, everyone gets colds. But then colds turned to sinus infections and ear infections and Kevin even has bronchitis.
Saturday I had another rotten gallbladder attack but I didn't want to go to the hospital just to be sent home again so I fought through it at home for as long as I could but gave in as it peaked again after 6 hours. I went into the ER again, this time the Doctor did an ultrasound and found a fat inflamed gallbladder full of stones. The lab results also showed high billirubin levels (jaundice) and all the other things that indicate that there was stone blocking my bile duct. But once again, the stone moved and pain stopped. Because there wasn't immediate pain, they once again sent me home and told me to schedule surgery to have my gallbladder removed in the near future... oh, and come back if the pain starts again.
Within a few hours it was back. It wasn't as intense but the pain was increasing and now it was late at night so I didn't want Kevin to have to load the whole crew and take me. I wanted to get into the ER before it got too bad to drive but when I knew it was going to hang around, I was tired of going in and the pain leaving. The pain was bad enough I couldn't sleep but not so bad I was sure it wasn't just going to leave again. I tinkered around the house for a while then drove to the hospital. Surprise! I got there and the pain was less. I hung out and tried to sleep in the car for a bit to see if it was real or not. Eventually I checked in (by now it was Sunday morning) and the pain was pretty bad. They decided to admit me for an ERCP where they put me under and sent a scope down my throat into my small intestine to find the bile duct and hopefully remove the stone. Well, surprise surprise the stone was gone so now I just got to stay in the hospital for a day of monitoring. But on the bright side a surgeon came to visit me during my stay and we got the surgery scheduled for Friday.
Kevin is my hero. He had the kids and everyone survived. In fact, everyone was even bathed and happy. His new preceptor was also kind and let him come in late Monday as we waited for me to be discharged. I got home just in time to scoop the kids up and go see Paige's surgeon. It was a crazy day, but at least everything checked out well at the surgeons and Paige was up to a whopping 6 pounds. That was the YAY of the day!
I wish that was the end of the story... this post is getting much to long, and so was our week.
Well, Tuesday I went in for my postpartum checkup (and the plot thickens)... turns out I need a D&C too. My surgeon said it was simple and it could be combined with the cholecystectomy the problem was that he could only do it at the downtown hospital and I was scheduled at the one closer to us. Well thank goodness for an amazing doctor who treated me like his own daughter and immediately got on the phone to find another surgeon and a time when they could both do the surgery. There is a lot more to be said about that, but truly I am grateful for him and the surgeon that will be doing the gallbladder surgery. The Lord watches over us and they found a time and the one slot that was open for surgery Friday.
This post is way too long, so I won't go into any more detail, but I just want to record here how grateful I am that we don't live somewhere rural, that I have an amazing husband that can handle a 4 year old, 2 year old and new baby (even through the night), a ward that is VERY on top of our needs and doctors that are really fantastic. The situation may be less than ideal, but truly God is watching over our family. That may sound strange, but with all the details and from my perspective I really do feel blessed and protected.
Now I need to head to bed and try to rest before surgery in the morning. Oh, one more thing...
Don't feel like you need to say the right thing now, we really are okay. Rough patch, but this experience has been empowering for our family and really brought Kevin and I closer than ever. I'm grateful for the priesthood, an amazing husband and a Creator who knows my needs, my mind, my family and even my body. No need to get too personal here, just wanted you all to know we are alive and this is why I haven't been returning phone calls :o) Chaos will be under control soon... maybe :o)
Thanks for enduring the length of this post. That just saved me a lot of time explaining it to everyone individually on the phone!
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