Summer of Surgeries

Sheehan and I both had surgery this summer which made it a little difficult to do anything fun but we had a lot of time to just spend as a family and I'm pretty sure we have watched every single episode of the shows Burn Notice and Everybody Loves Raymond.

Next in line at the Dr. waiting room

      Sheehan decided he was done with glasses for many reasons (being able to wrestle with Lincoln, play church basketball, do home inspections in the rain without water dripping on his glasses, etc.) and has been talking about getting LASIK surgery ever since we met. I wrote about this previously and so $3,600 later we are still happy with the decision.

Sheehan moved his eye while they were prepping him for surgery and it gave him a temporary blood spot on his eye. It was great when he went to his concealed weapons course and his instructor suspiciously wanted to know why his eye was red. Kiley asked what happened to him and he said he got stung by a bee and now she runs from bees and covers hers eyes. 

 On to my surgery; I go into quite a bit of detail below so don't continue on if queasy. Just know I had my gallbladder removed, end of story.

     I had been dealing with gall stones and gallbladder attacks since about March 2013. I landed myself in the emergency room in April at 1 am where they did tests and an ultrasound to confirm that I did indeed have gall stones causing abnormal liver function. The attacks were the most horrible pain I have ever experienced. I was having about 1 attack every 2 weeks until about mid-May then I didn't have one until about July; the same month I found out I was pregnant (woohoo!). I finally decided it was time to have surgery and I couldn't live with the attacks anymore. I was barely taking care of myself let alone home my husband and Lincoln.

     If the details of the attacks are too gruesome then skip this paragraph: In the beginning, if I ate anything creamy, spicy, or fatty I would get a pain that felt like a rock stabbing into my upper right abdomen which pain would make it difficult to breath and never stopped. It was a constant pain that walking, laying down, sitting, NOTHING would make it stop. It would then make my stomach hurt which would give me acid reflux, which made me throw up everything in my stomach. The pain would also be felt in my shoulders which would become very tense and incredibly sore for days after an attack.

     The best relief I found kneeling in the shower letting the water hit my shoulders to help my muscles relax while I just continually threw up for hours. Attacks mostly came on in the evening, although I did have a handful during the day (one in particular I was stuck in the Layton mall bathroom with Lincoln). In the evening they would keep me up easily until 4:00 or 6:00 am when they would finally fizzle out but I would be physically drained for several days recovering. It was like recovering from severe food poisoning over and over.

     By July the attacks that had subsided through managing my diet went away for 2 months and I had lost about 35 pounds getting down to my pre-marriage weight. Then the attacks started happening 2-3 times a week and that is when I lost a lot of energy and my body was getting very depleted and I was in the beginning stages of pregnancy. I dealt with it for about 2 weeks like that and decided it was time to see a surgeon. I hesitated so much to have surgery because it would cost us thousands of dollars being that we have a $7,500 deductible with about $9,000 max out of pocket health plan. It kind of like, why even have insurance? I hate spending money on things like doctors, dentists, car repairs, you know responsible stuff. It's more fun to save it for vacations and fixing up the house, but I couldn't live with the attacks anymore.

     I met with a surgeon, William Peugh, on Thursday August 1st. He said that despite the fact that I was 7 weeks pregnant he felt very good about moving forward with the surgery. He talked about miscarriage, birth defects, and settled my worries about that. He was going out of town on Saturday for a week so he said we can get you in surgery as early as tomorrow or you'll have to wait until I get back from vacation. I talked to Lyssa to watch Lincoln and Sheehan for reassurance and we decided to have surgery the next day, Friday August 2nd in the morning.

     They did the surgery laparoscopically where they blow up your stomach with carbon dioxide, puncture three little holes for surgical tools in your abdomen and pull the gallbladder out through your belly button. The whole procedure took about 45 minutes. Prior to surgery the anesthesiologist came in to introduce himself, have me sign the waiver forms, and once again discuss the added risk of being pregnant. He was an older man who was shaky and clearly uncomfortable with the fact that I was pregnant. About ten minutes later as my nurse Matt was prepping me for surgery, the anesthesiologist came back in with a new anesthesiologist that would be taking over the surgery for him. I am so grateful they switched and have a suspicion that the old anesthesiologist opted out of being a part of my surgery.

     The new guy was friendly, smiling, and positive and I couldn't have been happier with him and my whole surgical team. They gave me the fentanyl and other pain killers which felt so nice and dream like, then they put me out. I woke up mad because the sleep felt so nice. I was already exhausted from getting a poor nights sleep from anticipating surgery day and welcomed being passed out. Then they tried to get me to eat some crackers but my mouth was so dry; which was a problem for several days. I drank some apple juice and water and promptly threw up about 10 minutes later. They gave me some lovely phenergan meds which subsided my nausea. I then slept for about 2 hours in post-op while Sheehan sat with me and then I finally felt good enough to be wheeled to our car and sent home.

     I had my surgery at American Fork Hospital same day surgery center so it was not at the hospital that I work at in Provo. The recovery was difficult emotionally because I couldn't take care of Lincoln like hold him when he cried, give him baths, or put him to sleep. I could barely sit up or down on my own and walking was a killer. Not from the incisions, those were nothing. The pain was from the trapped carbon dioxide in my abdomen. The carbon dioxide gas cannot be passed in your normal gassy fashion. It just has to dissipate over time.

     It took about a full week to not feel any pain from the gas. A strange but normal side effect is the pain from the gas is felt in your shoulders. My poor shoulders from the attacks and surgery recovery have had their fair share of trials...referred pain is a killer. For the first week after surgery I was very careful about what I ate and didn't have much of an appetite anyway. Every week I pushed the food boundaries a little more and have had hardly any problems since those first two weeks after surgery. I feel like night and day.

     It feels so nice to be able to go out and eat with everyone. Social eating is really hard to not be a part of. It feels nice to be able to make a batch of cookies with Lincoln or make Sheehan his favorite meal and join in rather than just eat a small bowl of steamed veggies on the side. I still haven't quite forgiven squash but did get over my potato aversion. Steamed veggies, potatoes, and fruit was about all I ate for a large majority of my gallbladder saga. While on recovery Alyssa, Julianne, and Grandma all took care of us by taking Lincoln, visiting with me, bringing meals, etc. The relief society also coordinated meals to be brought to me. Deven Perry helped out with Lincoln boy and is the reigning champ at getting Lincoln to nap in broad daylight.

     Before surgery and even before deciding to go the traditional medicine route, I asked Devin to give me a healing and sickness blessing as to what to do. In the blessing, he said that no matter what I chose, whether it was to heal naturally or through traditional medicine, that the baby would be healthy and safe. Once we decided to have surgery, Sheehan gave me a blessing of comfort and in that was repeated the sentiment to calm my worries and that the baby would be fine. There were times that my worries would begin to creep in and I would question my faith in these blessings. I knew that faith could not be where I had fear so I continually reassured myself that if I had the faith that everything would and will be okay.

     I had my first Doctor appointment with the OB on September 10th at 12 weeks. The nurse had a difficult time hearing the heart beat. Sheehan got really nervous and was getting ready to be prepared for possible bad news. The doctor came in with an ultrasound machine and we were able to see that the baby was moving around all over. During this whole situation, I would have normally been near hysterical but I had a calm comfort knowing that I had been blessed and assured that the baby would be healthy and the Lord was watching over us.

By the end of the first week after surgery, we would walk as a family to help me feel better. I barely trudged along and our walk lasted about 15 minutes but Lincoln was good to hold my hand while we snail-paced along. 

     Sheehan was really great through it ALL and took care of everything while I couldn't. The surgery went really well. So we are excited about having our second baby and that everything has gone well since surgery. I would make the decision again in an instant despite the monetary setback. It has been a night and day difference. It's nice to be well enough to take care of myself, family, home, and church responsibilities again.