On the mend

Things are finally looking up, I have been able to recover from the terrible stomach bug that plagued me all last week and yesterday I went down to Littleton Adventist Hospital to see if my drain could be removed. It started hurting when my mom would flush it with saline and it would leak saline through the hole in my abdomen. It wasn't pulling any pancreatic fluid out anymore so I knew it was time to check it. The radiologist injected some dye into my drain to illuminate the area to see if there was still a cavity filling with fluid. It only took like 30 seconds and he knew that it was healed up in there and the drain was ready to be removed!!! He pulled it out without any pain to me and I was a free and happy woman! Drains are the most uncomfortable and annoying things to deal with and I love being drain free! I don't need to take pain meds routinely anymore, I can handle the discomfort without it most of the time, so that's really nice!

My Josh comes in 3 days for thanksgiving and baby Ella's blessing and then to take us home! He hasn't seen El in one month!! We are so ready to be together again, I love him so much. He is the best thing that has ever happened to me and I am so thankful for him. He called me last night to tell me that we got our first medical bill from the Mayo Clinic, over $100,000!!!! Oh my gosh, he was in shock and I couldn't stop laughing. It's so outrageous and beyond anything we can pay, but we'll try to do the best we can. I just hope these bills that I have no control over won't ruin my credit because I have worked really hard to have excellent credit. Thank you all for supporting my family and I through this difficult trial. Your prayers, thoughts, concern, and love have made it bearable and I am eternally grateful for that. :) Below is a picture of my scar and drain.

Definatly a struggle..

Well, I've been at my parents house for a week now and it has been a struggle. I still have my drain in place and it is so uncomfortable! Hopefully it will be taken out the beginning of next week because it has mostly stopped draining. I found a radiologist here in Colorado who will take it out for me. Last tuesday night I got really really sick and ended up in the hospital for a day. They did a CT scan and it looked good. They thought it might be a bladder infection or food poisoning but nope. I was discharged and felt better for a day and then got really sick again so mom took me back to the ER so I could be tested for a bacteria but it came back negative. So the doctors don't know what is wrong with me. I think it's a bad case of the stomach bug. Anyway, I love being back with my baby Ellie. She smiles and coos all the time, precious!! She has grown out of all the clothes I brought with me so I've had to buy her some new ones. Josh is coming next saturday, the 21st so I've asked him to bring some bigger clothes! I will be going home to Rexburg, Idaho with Josh on Friday, the 27th as long as I have my drain removed before then. I am so excited to be back home and moving on with life. Soon I'll be back to my old self and healthy!

Here's a picture of baby Ellie, she's 6 weeks old now!

The surgery

The surgery happened on Oct 28th 2009. All went fairly well and it took about 3 1/2 hours. My tumor was taken out with little complication, there was a small tear on a part of the pancreas but was repaired with a piece of my small intestine. My gall bladder was removed as well as my appendix. The surgeon decided to remove the appendix because it was unusually long and wrapped around my colon which he thought could lead to a future problem. Thank you surgeon!!! Recovery went okay for the first couple of days, I had an epidural and IV pain meds to keep me comfortable. I started having blood in my stool which lead to some worry that there might be internal bleeding. But after more tests, we discovered it was just old blood from the surgery and was perfectly okay. On Friday they took my epidural out and started weening me from the strong IV pain meds, this lead to disaster!!!! I was in excruciating pain in my back, abdomen and chest. They started the strong pain meds again but nothing worked. This agonizing pain lasted for 3 days. So finally monday morning the surgeon ordered for me to have another CT scan and they found old blood and a tiny bit of pancreatic fluid around the area of the incision. They inserted a needle in my abdomen and drained it out, then gave me some more pain meds. He said part of my pain is also probably from passing a leftover gallstone. This morning I had another CT scan to make sure there was no more fluid accumulated, however there was so I had another drain inserted into my abdomen. I will leave the hospital with it in. My pain is manageable now and I am starting to feel better. Yay!!! As soon as I have a good 24 hrs, I can go home to my baby, which by the way she is doing wonderfully with my sisters!