There have been times in my life when nothing testing or trying has occurred for a long time. The past couple of years have not been like that.
Just this past month, my daughter Elizabeth just turned 2. Her little life has been eventful. It all started with her. While I was still pregnant with her, the doctor discovered a mysterious cyst growing in her abdomen. He did not know what it was--he gave me 3 possibilities. He sent me to a maternal-fetal medicine specialist who also gave me the same 3 possibilities. So after ultrasounds every 2 weeks, the cyst continued to grow to be about 10 cm (yes, that's 4 inches--softball size). At 37 1/2 weeks, my doctor decided that she needed to be delivered by section because he just didn't want to take chances with the cyst. Seh was delivered fine and seemed to be completely fine, except for a bigger than normal belly. After we were released from the hospital, we went straight (and I do mean straight) to the Children's Hospital in Jackson. They did an ultrasound on her belly and saw the cyst but did not know exactly what it was. The surgeon that examined her said that we should watch her carefully for the next couple of weeks and then come back for a follow-up ultrasound to see if the cyst had shrunk. It didn't. We scheduled surgery for 2 days later. He went in laproscopically to drain the cyst, find where it was connected, and remove it. It turned out to be ovarian, but all her little parts are fine. She's been just fine ever since. But still strange and scary.
Four months later, I develop weird pains that I thought were back spasms. After 3 days of not sleeping and in an increading amount of pain, I went to the ER at River Oaks. They admitted me because my liver enzymes were very high. That meant nothing to me. All I wanted was something to help me be able to straighten my body out and not hurt for a little while. It turns out that I had a nasty case of pancreatitis and was a lot worse off than they let me know. I ate nothing for 5 days, lost 15 pounds, and was given about half a gallon of demerol. On day 6, they took out my gallbladder. Later that day, I felt like a new woman. We should all have our gallbladders removed. Did I mention that I got out of the hospital on December 22? There were not a lot of Christmas gifts.
Last September, Dave was in a horrible accident. He got hit by a car while riding his bicycle. I don't really feel like rehashing all the details of it right now. But to let you know, he ended up having 5 broken ribs, a broken collar bone, and a broken shoulder blade, all on his left side. He also had a lot of scrapes and cuts all over him. He had to have surgery on his collarbone to put it back together. He's fine now.
It's been an interesting couple of years. I know there are people that have had it much worse and I don't claim to be overloaded. It's just been interesting to think back through it all and see how God has used it all to make me a stronger person. I've always been an honest person who doesn't usually have a problem expressing my feelings. But over the past year or so, I've noticed that I am more straight-forward than before. I don't particularly like confrontation, but I haven't backed down from it. Like last week, a young girl at church came to me to ask what I thought she should do about a boyfriend. I told her she should dump him and not look back. I explained to her exactly why and what was likely to happen to her if she didn't. I hope she took my advise, because she certainly didn't leave that conversation wondering what I thought. Things like this have happened quite a bit recently. Maybe good, maybe not.
There'a always stuff to happen. I just am ready for a few years of normalcy. Nothing big, please!
Just this past month, my daughter Elizabeth just turned 2. Her little life has been eventful. It all started with her. While I was still pregnant with her, the doctor discovered a mysterious cyst growing in her abdomen. He did not know what it was--he gave me 3 possibilities. He sent me to a maternal-fetal medicine specialist who also gave me the same 3 possibilities. So after ultrasounds every 2 weeks, the cyst continued to grow to be about 10 cm (yes, that's 4 inches--softball size). At 37 1/2 weeks, my doctor decided that she needed to be delivered by section because he just didn't want to take chances with the cyst. Seh was delivered fine and seemed to be completely fine, except for a bigger than normal belly. After we were released from the hospital, we went straight (and I do mean straight) to the Children's Hospital in Jackson. They did an ultrasound on her belly and saw the cyst but did not know exactly what it was. The surgeon that examined her said that we should watch her carefully for the next couple of weeks and then come back for a follow-up ultrasound to see if the cyst had shrunk. It didn't. We scheduled surgery for 2 days later. He went in laproscopically to drain the cyst, find where it was connected, and remove it. It turned out to be ovarian, but all her little parts are fine. She's been just fine ever since. But still strange and scary.
Four months later, I develop weird pains that I thought were back spasms. After 3 days of not sleeping and in an increading amount of pain, I went to the ER at River Oaks. They admitted me because my liver enzymes were very high. That meant nothing to me. All I wanted was something to help me be able to straighten my body out and not hurt for a little while. It turns out that I had a nasty case of pancreatitis and was a lot worse off than they let me know. I ate nothing for 5 days, lost 15 pounds, and was given about half a gallon of demerol. On day 6, they took out my gallbladder. Later that day, I felt like a new woman. We should all have our gallbladders removed. Did I mention that I got out of the hospital on December 22? There were not a lot of Christmas gifts.
Last September, Dave was in a horrible accident. He got hit by a car while riding his bicycle. I don't really feel like rehashing all the details of it right now. But to let you know, he ended up having 5 broken ribs, a broken collar bone, and a broken shoulder blade, all on his left side. He also had a lot of scrapes and cuts all over him. He had to have surgery on his collarbone to put it back together. He's fine now.
It's been an interesting couple of years. I know there are people that have had it much worse and I don't claim to be overloaded. It's just been interesting to think back through it all and see how God has used it all to make me a stronger person. I've always been an honest person who doesn't usually have a problem expressing my feelings. But over the past year or so, I've noticed that I am more straight-forward than before. I don't particularly like confrontation, but I haven't backed down from it. Like last week, a young girl at church came to me to ask what I thought she should do about a boyfriend. I told her she should dump him and not look back. I explained to her exactly why and what was likely to happen to her if she didn't. I hope she took my advise, because she certainly didn't leave that conversation wondering what I thought. Things like this have happened quite a bit recently. Maybe good, maybe not.
There'a always stuff to happen. I just am ready for a few years of normalcy. Nothing big, please!
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