Rocky Few Days

11 Jun Rocky Few Days

The last few days have been a bit rocky. In short, after a painful episode at 2:00 am on Memorial Day that lasted 2 hours, another at 1:00 am last Monday that ended with a visit to the ER, and a THIRD episode that began Wednesday night at 10:30 pm, I am writing this update from the hospital!

Now, I am very used to being in the hospital, but in a very different way. I am the person standing at the side of the bed, visiting folks who are in the hospital. I am NOT used to being the person in the bed! Talk about an education! The last time I had an overnight stay as a patient was many moons ago as a child, when I had my tonsils removed.

After fighting the pain and waiting for it to subside for about three hours on Wednesday night, I finally had Colleen take me to the ER again at 2:00 am. The pain was getting worse, not better.

Come to find out, my gall bladder needs to be removed, along with a few stones that have developed in it. So, around 5:00 am Thursday morning, they admitted me and have kept me on pain medication and antibiotics to prepare for surgery today. It’s scheduled for 4:00 pm, though anyone having any experience in these things can tell you that the later in the day your surgery is scheduled, the later your surgery is apt to begin. Surgery schedules flex through the day depending on how the earlier surgeries go.

Depending on how this goes, the surgeon anticipates my returning home sometime between Saturday afternoon and Tuesday. The determining factor is whether he is able to do the surgery laparoscopically (small incisions and applicable tools) or not. He will start laparoscopically, but says that with the infection of the gall bladder, he may find he can’t finish that way. If he has to go with a larger incision, that lengthens the recovery and hospital stay a bit.

The biggest question in all this is how and whether or not it is connected to my overall health situation of the last several months. What I gather from the doctors when I ask the question is that it’s hard to say how much it plays into it all. We very well may not know how much it has until I get through the recovery from this surgery over the next week or two.

In answer to your question (because I know you’re asking it!), on the one hand I would love for you to come visit. On the other hand, honestly, I know I am very tired and need to rest through this. Please check here for updates, continue praying, but please hold off on visits for now.

I’ll try to keep you as posted as I can, and I really appreciate your prayers through this.