Surprise Surgery

As stated in an earlier post, life never turns out like you think it will. Joe gave you all a quick update on my surprise surgery, but I thought I might add a little from my perspective. I will try to give the brief version.

I went to bed Saturday night with no idea what was about to transpire later that night. At 1:00 am, I awoke feeling very uncomfortable. The pain was different than anything I had felt before, and after trying a trip to the bathroom, some Tylenol, and multiple different positions, I decided to check out webmd. My search yielded absolutely nothing helpful. The pain continued to increase and within an hour I woke Joe up and we decided a trip to the ER was necessary. Normally I would have waited longer, but didn’t want to take a chance with the baby. So we loaded Grace into the car and drove the mile or so to the hospital. Being pregnant gave me a free pass right into triage in labor and delivery. They quickly ruled out kidney stones and kidney or bladder infection. At this point the pain was getting worse and I was now nauseous and unable to even stand/sit/lie still. The nurses and my midwife decided to look at my appendix, and an ultrasound was ordered. They never did find my appendix (due to the fact that everything moves around so much when you are pregnant), but they did see something on my right ovary. The midwife reviewed the ultrasound and within three hours of arriving at the hospital I was told I may have to have surgery.

I had a condition called ovarian torsion. There was a cyst on my ovary, the weight of which had caused my fallopian tube to twist cutting off all blood flow to my ovary. The only way to fix it was surgery. Normally they would go in orthoscopically through my bellybutton; but since Owen was in the way, they would have to make an incision and move my uterus in order to get to the ovary. The worst-case scenario was that we could lose the baby. Another possibility was that I could go into early labor and deliver a 25 week-old baby. However, the chances were slim, and there wasn’t really an option about having surgery or not (the ovary would die and rot). So about 3:00 pm Sunday, I went into the operating room. I woke up about 40 minutes later to the wonderful words, “Your baby is fine.” I remember such relief and joy hearing Owen was fine, and my first thoughts were, “Thank you God! Thank you God!”

Joe was by my side through the whole thing and I honestly don’t know what I would have done without him. It was so comforting to have him there. I can’t even tell you how blessed I feel to have such an incredible husband.

God’s hand was also so clearly in every little aspect of the whole ordeal. My midwife just happened to be there delivering another baby and the best doctor in hospital for my condition just happened to be on shift for the critical 24 hours before and after my surgery. They also found out what was wrong very quickly. I did a little research after going home on ovarian torsion, and it is common for this condition to go undiagnosed for days because it is so rare. I had great nurses and was in the new part of the hospital, so we had our own room with a bed for Joe and plenty of room for visitors. He protected my baby boy who seemed unaffected by the whole ordeal, judging by all the kicks and somersaults going on.

I am also so thankful for our church and Joe’s school. They took such good care of us, and we didn’t have to make a single meal for over a week. Several good friends and family members also took care of Grace during our hospital stay. Thank you so much Bethany and fellow teachers at Willamette Christian. We feel so loved.

And I can’t forget to mention our awesome families. Pam, Joe’s sister, took care of arranging childcare for Grace during our entire hospital stay. I didn’t even have to give it a thought. My sister took Grace at 5:00 am from the ER and watched her again the next night. My mom came up Tuesday night and stayed till Friday to take care of Grace and me so Joe could go back to work.

While recovery has been slower than I would like, I have so much to be thankful for. God is so faithful and good.