Monday, June 10, 2013

A Long Road

It has been a long time since I posted because I ended up having complications with my surgery.  I was in the hospital a total of 24 days.  When I finally came home I was incredibly weak.  I have now been home for 3 weeks and day by day I have gotten stronger.  Strong enough that I feel I can finally handle posting on my blog.

The original surgery was a wonder.  I went in thinking I was going to lose bowel and came out having nothing cut out.  It was a mess in there, but he was able to untangle the mess.  I had asked the Lord before I went in if He could spare me losing bowel.  He answered my prayer.  However, after surgery was when the troubles began.  On the day that I was supposed to go home I was ill.  I stayed an extra day.  I was home 4 days before I developed a painful blockage.

Both Mark and I were scared...a repeat of what happened in 2008 with my reconnection surgery.  But nothing happens the same way twice.  In 2008, I had a NG tube for only a couple days.  This time I had an NG tube for a couple of weeks.  During this time I could not eat.  And also during this time my doctor located the blockage on the CT scan and decided to go in surgically and remove it.  However, I had developed so much scar tissue, he could not safely get to the spot and so he closed me back up.

That 2nd surgery weakened me.  A day after the surgery my blood pressure dropped to a dangerous low and I woke up with nurses around me hanging lots of stuff on my IV pole.  I had become dehydrated and I ended up with a PIC line so that I could be fed through my artery.  I also received 2 units of blood which helped me come back to life.  After all that I developed an infection in my incision and developed abscesses.  One became so large that I had to get a wound vac.  At one point I became so depressed I had to be given a sedative and put to bed.

It was after that when my pastor showed up one afternoon and he brought another pastor with him and they laid hands on me and prayed.  It was after that I began to get better.  Finally they told me they could take the NG tube out and I could eat and drink again.  After a few days I was told it was time to go home.  I came home with a portable wound vac.  A nurse come twice a week to take care of my wounds which are healing great!  Soon I will be losing the vac and have more freedom.

During my hospital stay I had terrific nurses.  Many friends from church came to visit and support me.  My son, Brandon, called me from California and Eric came to visit me at the hospital.  We may not always understand why we have to go through such trials, but often times these trials not only affect us, they affect others.  God uses us to draw others closer to himself through our suffering...its just what He did with Jesus.

2 comments:

Chaos Cottage said...

Oh my goodness the things you have had to go through lately. My mother had to have a wound vac after developing sepsis after hernia surgery. My dad became very good at taking care of her and operating the wound vac. She had just finished chemo for cancer and it took her a long time to bounce back. You are in my prayers. Get well friend.

sherry said...

{{{. lifting you in prayer .}}}