Back at it.......

The Nordlanders just can't stay away from the hospital, can we??? I started having stomach pains on Monday and thought nothing of them at the time. Over the next two days they continued to get worse. I woke up in the middle of the night on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning with pains so bad that I couldn't sleep. The pains went all the way from my c-section incision to up under my ribs and around to my back. When my ob's office opened for the day, I called to see if it might be a complication from the c-section. The nurse told me that it sounded like really bad constipation and that I should take milk of magnesia and I'd feel better soon. So I took her advice....and nothing happened! I had a doctor's appointment for Ryan at 3:45 that afternoon, so I headed out. When I walked in with him one of the nurses saw me and said that I didn't look good. She said that she wouldn't let me drive home, and asked if Rob could meet me there. Rob came up and on our way home he dropped me off at the urgent care center. They checked me over and the doctor said that it looked like I had some crazy stomach bug that is going around. This isn't your typical 24-hour bug, he said that this one lasts a week. He told me to take a prescription for the cramping, and to see my doctor in a week if I wasn't feeling better. By Friday afternoon I was in worse shape than before. So that evening, my mom brought me to the CyFair Hospital ER. They did a CT scan of my tummy (after drinking 4 cups of the world's nastiest "berry smoothie" flavored barium). The tech said she saw something funny on my right side and she would have the doctor take a look. He came back with the results...a ruptured appendix. He told me that, for some reason, instead of the infection going all through my abdominal cavity, it had contained itself on my right side. (I know that "some reason" was God's hands inside me, keeping everything under control.) They informed me that I wouldn't be going home, but I'd be heading to surgery to remove my appendix. I finally got into a room around 3 am Friday morning. The doctor that was set to perform the surgery had a super-busy morning, with several operations in line ahead of me, so mine wouldn't be until sometime in the afternoon. At 2:30 pm they wheeled me down to get prepped for surgery. I had a chance to meet all of the doctors that would be present during the surgery...everyone from the actual surgeon, to the anesthesiologist, to the nurse. I was totally impressed with each one of them. God definitely hand-picked these doctors just for me! (The old-man anesthesiologist did a little dance to distract me while I got my third IV line inserted! It was pretty funny to watch.) They started some meds in my IV, and off I went! I don't remember anything until later that night. The doctor told Rob that everything went well, but that there was a lot of infection. (It was supposed to take 20-30 minutes, but ended up taking them an hour to get it all out!) So, now I'm in my room and starting the healing process. I am really sore, so getting up out of bed to go to the bathroom hurts like crazy. The doctors brought me a "potty chair" to put right next to the bed so that I don't have to walk far. I call it my "latrine"...since it starts to get a bit funky smelling if they take too long to empty it. I also have a drain coming out of my lower abdomen that drains any infection and fluid that is still trapped inside. It looks like a ball attached to a tube that goes into my belly. I have nicknamed my drain "Clifford" because it's almost like walking a dog on a leash...only it's with me at ALL times. And Clifford is the appropriate name because the fluid coming out of me is red. So, I have Clifford the Little Red Dog!

This whole thing has been quite an experience, and I thank everyone for their continued prayers. I was supposed to get discharged today, but because of the large amount of infection they found, they say that I will be here for a couple more days. Please pray for me, as this is the longest I have ever been away from my kids. Pray for my kids as they are missing having Mommy at home. (When I left for the ER, I kissed them like I would be back in a few hours. If I'd have known I would be admitted to the hospital, I would've taken a little longer to love on them before walking out of the door!) Rob is at home with Ryan and Drew, so pray for him to have the energy it takes to be "Mr. Mom." Also, continue to pray for my milk supply...not being able to nurse is doing some damage on my production. Thank you, thank you, thank you for all of your prayers. I am blessed to have so many people who care about me and are supporting me (in all different kinds of ways) through my healing process.