The Lord gives us Blessings and the Lord gives us Trials (life in our world)

The Lord gives us Trials 

Last Thursday, while in Utah, I started to get a gradual ache in my abdomen.  Over a couple hours it got worse and worse until I was crippled over in bed and couldn’t get up.  We couldn’t figure out what was wrong.  We thought maybe I was just dehydrated and needed to drink more water.  I drank 3 glasses of water, took some Ibuprofen, and went to sit in the hot tub.  Forty-five minutes I felt perfectly fine.  Four days later on Monday I started feeling the same pain coming on.  Before it got too bad I took some Ibuprofen grabbed a bottle of water and headed for the hot tub.  Thirty minutes later I was fine.  I didn’t feel it again until three days later on Thursday.  It was my second day back to work after our trip to Utah.  We were getting certified in First Aid.  I had been there about two hours and felt completely fine, then all of a sudden while watching videos of people getting sick and others administering first aid I started to feel the pain.  I couldn’t stay in that room watching those videos.  I walked out and collapsed in the next room.  I was blacking out, sweating like crazy, and I felt like I was going to throw up just from the pain.  I’ve never been in that much pain in my life.  I lied there on the ground for half an hour with a coworker looking after me.  Finally, when the pain wasn’t subsiding, I called Danny to come pick me up from work because I knew I wouldn’t be able to drive.  I tried hot baths and heating pads when I got home trying to recreate the hot tub feeling, but I was still in extreme pain.  Danny’s friends were driving through town to go to DC from Columbus and they wanted to go to lunch with us.  I knew I wouldn’t be able to do lunch but Danny and Justin were able to give me a blessing when they came by.  I was able to go to sleep for a couple hours and when I woke up the extreme pain was gone, but I could still feel the pressure.  I think the 4 ibuprofen I took had kicked in.  We decided to go see a doctor thinking I might have an ovarian cyst.  We called 8 different doctors’ offices but no one could get us in that day.  We considered setting up an appointment for the following Tuesday because I wasn’t in extreme pain anymore but I was scared that the pain hadn’t gone away completely yet.  I knew if it was the third time it was happening it probably would happen again, and I couldn’t imagine it getting even worse the next time.  We decided to go to the ER. 

 

I’ve never been to the doctor for anything other than a check-up, routine shots, or a broken limb, and definitely never to the ER.  I felt dumb going to the ER when I wasn’t in very much pain, but I’m glad I did.  I checked in to the ER at 4pm, was told I was 5 weeks pregnant at 5pm(we had no idea I was pregnant), found out it was a ruptured ectopic pregnancy in my left fallopian tube and I was bleeding internally and that I would have to have an emergency surgery at 7pm, and by 10pm the baby and my left fallopian tube were gone and I was in the recovery room with a sizeable cut across my abdomen.  That was a lot of information to process in such a short amount of time. I still don’t think I fully comprehend the situation that there was a baby inside of me and now it’s gone.  I didn’t think it was a very major surgery and was planning on shooting a wedding Saturday and going back to work on Tuesday.  My doctor basically said “I don’t think so.”  He said I shouldn’t think about doing anything for 2 weeks.  He said after 2 weeks  I could consider going to the grocery store and running little errands, but it will be 3-4 weeks before I’m completely functional.

I had to spend several hours yesterday morning calling around to anyone I know in Pittsburgh who is interested in Photography to cover the wedding for me tomorrow.  Most people were out of town or busy tomorrow, but I found one person who would cancel her camping trip and take over the wedding for me.  The bride didn’t sound very happy about the photographer change the day before her wedding, but she wasn’t very sympathetic about my situation so I don’t really care.  

I’ve spent all day yesterday recovering at the hospital and working on slowly getting off the morphine, folly catheter (Which is amazing by the way.  I want one 24/7), SCDs (calf wraps that reduced blood clots from forming in my legs), liters and liters of saline, pulse oximeter, and antibiotics.  I’m still in a lot of pain, but the doctor let us decide and we chose to go home last night instead of this morning.  My amazing husband wanted to sleep in my room with me after the surgery so I didn’t have to be alone, but he had to sleep in a chair while I got the comfy bed.  At least this way we could both sleep in a bed last night. 

Even through the Trials, the Lord gives us Blessings 

We were blessed in many ways through this trial.  We are blessed that even though I started feeling pain in Utah, I didn’t have to have the surgery in Utah and get stuck there for several weeks before I could come home.  I was blessed that the intense pain that did me in didn’t start during our 7 hour flight home.  There’s nothing I would have been able to do and the situation could have potentially escalated if it would have gone too long without being treated.  We are blessed that this happened during Danny’s only time off school all year and that he’ll be able to spend 5 whole days looking after me before he has to start his rotations again.  We are blessed that they caught it when they did and no more serious damage was caused.  I can still get pregnant through my right fallopian tube and my left ovary will still produce eggs, but my chances of having another ectopic pregnancy have increased.

That is all the information we have now.  We are open to answering any questions you may have.  For those who don’t know what an ectopic pregnancy is (like me 48 hours ago):

 Ectopic Pregnancy 

An ectopic pregnancy occurs when the embryo implants in one of the fallopian tubes instead of the uterus. Ectopic pregnancies can be life-threatening due to severe blood loss or rupturing if not treated. Ectopic pregnancy is the leading cause of pregnancy-related death in the first trimester and needs to be treated to avoid future fertility problems.

If there is a rupture in the fallopian tube, the bleeding could cause fainting. It is important to go to the emergency room right away if these symptoms are present to avoid hemorrhaging and safeguard future fertility.

Ectopic Pregnancy Treatment

Because a fertilized egg cannot develop outside the uterus, the ectopic tissue must be discarded. Some ectopic pregnancies do not require emergency care, but if they do, the most common treatment is surgery. In a laparatomy(this is what I had), an incision is made across the lower abdomen. A laparoscopy involves tiny incisions in the skin and usually offers a quicker recovery(not what I had). In some cases where there has been heavy damage, part of the fallopian tube, the ovary and even the uterus may need to be removed.

Here is a web album with some pictures from Utah and from the hospital.