24 Jul Cannot Believe It!
Cannot believe we are on the last full weekend of July! Cannot believe it has been 6 weeks since my gall bladder was removed! Cannot believe I am still having symptoms I had prior to the surgery, meaning that the gall bladder was not the problem! Cannot believe we are only 1 month away from the school year starting! Cannot believe it is only 154 days til Christmas!
In some ways , this year has flown by, yet in other ways, it seems to be crawling slowly. Do you feel that, or is it just me?
Last weekend, we drove up to Bradley, CA on Friday to attend Josh’s Sea Cadets Boot Camp on Saturday morning. We missed him a ton over the two weeks and were very excited to be there for this big day. We were just as excited to bring him home!
If you’d like to read more about his experience, one of his fellows shipmates in his company has published a website. Click here to see it.
Here are a couple of pics of the event:
It was a full weekend as we drove home after the graduation, arriving around 6:00 pm. On Sunday, I spoke at church for the first time since my gall bladder surgery 6 weeks ago. It went well and was very refreshing.
Honestly, one of the hardest things about the last 6 months with my health issues has been feeling like I am not doing my job or pulling my weight with my inconsistent preaching schedule. Sometimes, the nausea and abdominal pain has been disruptive enough that it’s been hard to concentrate or focus enough to put my message together. Other times, I’ve literally had to have someone else step in almost last minute because a Saturday or Sunday will be that disruptive for me physically.
I do feel some strength slowly returning in the last couple of weeks, so that’s good and encouraging. I also haven’t lost weight in three weeks. Another hopeful sign. I’m definitely not where I want to be, but some progress is always hopeful.
Looking back on the last 2-3 months now, I can say that even though I am still struggling with the nausea and abdominal pain (as well as some other symptoms) daily, it is not as intense as before the gall bladder was removed. Now, I can look back and see how the gall bladder would have been complicating and exacerbating the symptoms.
I had good days on Monday and Tuesday, and even made it to our weekly Pastor’s Prayer Meeting on Wednesday for the first time this year! However, Wednesday afternoon, Thursday and today (Friday) have each been progressively bummer days physically. I’ve had worst days though, and there’s much to be said for that!
On Tuesday, I have my appointment at Cedars-Sinai in L.A. at 12:30 pm. I hope to have more info after that appointment. I also see my regular doc on Wednesday morning for results of some additional testing he had run to try and chase down more possible causes of some of the continued symptoms.
On Thursday, we’re taking Josh to Pasadena to meet a bus at 7:00 am that will take candidates to Camp Pendleton for a 10 day Marines Devil Pups Boot Camp. He doesn’t have a secured spot, but is hoping there will be enough no-shows to allow him to go.
If he gets a spot, we’ll be attending another Boot Camp graduation on August 7 down at Camp Pendleton. We hope to make that weekend a mini-vacation down in the area with some friends. We’ll see what happens!
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