The Cherry on Top

It was labor day weekend and Matt was lucky enough to have the weekend off. We were invited to go up to a cabin with some friends and spend the weekend. Matt and I were so excited for a restful getaway with good friends. We arrived Saturday morning and wasted no time getting into the lake and swimming and canoeing around, and generally soaking up the sunshine. It seemed it was going to be a perfect weekend until I started to have really bad pain in my lower stomach. The past Wednesday I had this pain and it lasted 8 hours. I wasn't able to do anything it was such horrible pain. I couldn't stand, I couldn't walk, I could barely breathe it was so bad. At the time I just thought that it was from something I ate and after 8 hours it went away. But even the following couple of days I could tell there wasn't something right. So, back at the cabin, after feeling like the pain was returning, I went and laid down and tried to sleep it off, but it only got worse. I told Matt, after dealing with it on my own for a couple of hours, and he examined me (thanks husband, doctor :)) and insisted that we go to the emergency department to get checked out. Luckily, we already had our friends there to watch our kids. It was a relief to know they would be well taken care of. Anyway, I did not want to go to the ER. For some reason I thought for sure they were going to send me home and tell me I just had gas pains or a stomach ache or something embarrassing. It's just so hard to know if it is something serious or something trivial. The pain would go back and forth from being intolerable to being a little more than an ache, so I just didn't know what to do. We got there and the doctors did some urine and blood tests on me. They asked me if I was pregnant and I told them I didn't know. So until they knew for sure if I was or wasn't I couldn't have any pain killers.. which was killing me. After running the test the doctor came in and said "Your pregnant!!" I couldn't believe it! After Matt had his surgery we didn't know if we would be able to have children again. So for this to happen was a miracle. But now that I was pregnant it brought on a whole new level of problems that could be causing my pain. They had to call in a ultra sound tech from home, which ended up taking forever, and I got to deal with the pain for what seemed like an eternity. The doctor then decided I needed more blood work done. We got the ultra sound done and waited for the results. Then the doctor came in and said that the pregnancy was in the wrong place. I had a tubal pregnancy. I felt my heart drop. How could this be happening? I felt like I just went through two extremes. One, finding out I was pregnant and going though the thought process of what it would be like to have 3 kids. What if it was a little girl. Before finding out about the tubal pregnancy, Matt and I were talking about what names we liked and what we thought it would be. We were thinking that we would probably need to get a new car (aka mini van) cause we couldn't all fit in mine. It was so exciting thinking about another baby. Then to have that idea dashed in the very next moment was heartbreaking. They had the OB/GYN look at the ultra sound from home and said I would stay the night until he came to see me in the morning, after which he would come up with a game plan. They wheeled me up to the next floor where I would sleep. They gave Matt a chair that turned into a bed to sleep on. Poor guy. It was as hard as a rock. That night sucked! First of all I was starving. I hadn't eaten anything since 2pm and I was so thirsty. I took a drink of old warm water that was in the car before we went into the ER at around 5 and once I was there they wouldn't let me drink anything just in case I went in for a emergency operation. So I just had to suffer. Then to top it all off they gave me morphine for the pain, which was great for the pain but for some reason it was making my mind race. So all night long even though my body was dead I could not sleep. I asked the nurse if she would give me something to help me sleep and she said no because they wanted me to be awake when the doctor came in in the morning... ah, really, so instead of getting a few hours of sleep, to be rested and coherent when the doctor cam, I was to be sleep deprived? So the doctor could talk to a woman falling asleep on him?! Morning came and this is what I looked like..

My eyes were so swollen I could barely open them. Sorry, pictures are from Matt's phone so there not the best.

The OB/GYN doctor came in and told us our options with a tubal pregnancy but he highly recommended going to the OR for a diagnostic laparoscopy. The plan was for him to go through my belly button with a camera. Depending on what he found he said he might have to remove my ovary and fallopian tube along with the pregnancy. We scheduled the surgery for 10:30 that day (Sunday). I was so nervous. I had never had surgery before and the thought of the unknown scared me so bad.
Before the surgery.

After the surgery Matt saw the pictures of what they found and he said that my fallopian tube was the size of a mans thumb and was a purple, clotted, angry mass. The doctor removed all of the affected part of the tube and was able to spare most of my ovary. I had a hard time coming out of the anesthesia. Apparently I was screaming, crying, itching all over and trying to pull out all of my cords. Over time I calmed down. They took me back to my room and let me rest, but I was in so much pain. Later the OB/GYN came to check up on me. When I asked him about fertility, he said it would not be diminished, since I had a fully functioning right half.

Anyway, Matt and I were up throughout Saturday night, had surgery Sunday, stayed overnight Sunday because of severe post op pain, and were finally discharged Monday around 12:30p.m.. Poor Matt with his Mono infection was right with me taking care of me despite being exhausted the whole time. And my sweet friends, Syleisa and Kate, what would I do without them!? They ended their vacation early to take care of my family. They packed up all of our stuff, cleaned the cabin and went back to their homes where Syleisa watched my kids for two more days while I was in the hospital. They let our close friends know what happened and took care of meals. I have learned so much from them and from other friends that have been so caring and loving. I received so many phone calls from loved ones that sat there and cried with me. Little visits with cards, flowers, candy, crafts, and fingernail polish to keep me busy while I was down. My mom flew here to help me out this week even though she is very busy. Everything that everyone has done for my family has been so perfect and such a good example of how I should help other while they are going through trials. I really don't know what I would do without them. I pray that one day I can return the love that everyone has shown me. Thank you thank you!

I think I can truly say that the summer of 2011 just hasn't been our summer. We started off with having a herniated disc in my back in the beginning of June that was incapacitating for days. Then, Matt found out he had cancer last week in June and had surgery in July. He then was terrified that his cancer was making a comeback because he was so tired and exhausted again. He had Mono, diagnosed in August. My tubal pregnancy and surgery in September were like the cherry on top of a great few months. Hopefully, since I started the bad luck, I can end it. But we are both still living, our kids are doing well and we are stronger as a family. We love each other more than ever before:).