It all started on June 14, 2011. I had a pretty normal day at moms
helping with Nanny. At 5:00 P.M. I left her house to visit
with Allen before going to a Bible study with my teachers lounge friends. After bible study I met with Allen and Christian at a Mexican restaurant and we shared a Mexican dinner ( Fajita Quesidillas) . After dinner, I went back to moms to
continue helping with Nanny. At about 1:00 A.M. in he morning I
asked mom if she wanted to split some bread pudding with me (Not a good idea). About 15 min. after eating the bread pudding, I began having excruciating pain in my stomach. The pain continued for over an hour. At this time I thought... I have to go home and be in my own bed and I need Allen with me if I'm going to be in this much pain. So I woke Savannah up (she was staying at moms with me) and I told her we were going home. She was not happy about that. I managed somehow to drive home with the horrible pain I was having. I got home and tried everything from soaking in a tub of hot water for over an hour, lying on my stomach and in all different positions, and walking the floors and stairs. After six hours of continuous pain I decided that I needed to go to the hospital. We arrived at the hospital around 6:30 AM and the doctors got to me immediately because there wasn't a wait at all in the emergency room. We had prayed on the way to the hospital that there wouldn't be a long wait because I couldn't wait in the condition I was in, so needless to say we were very happy about that. The doctor, after hearing my symptoms, immediately thought it was a gallbladder attack . They gave me some pain medicine (morphine) to help comfort me while I waited for an ultrasound. I was so happy to get pain medicine. As I waited for the medicine to kick in I kept thanking the Lord that we have modern-day medicine to help in circumstances like this. After about 30 min. I thought surely the pain medicine should be working by now it's morphine for crying out loud. So I told nurse but it wasn't working very well and they quickly gave me another dose. Soon, a nurse that came to take me up to the ultrasound room where I would hold my breath for about 30 seconds every other minute, while the technician performed the
ultrasound. The ultrasound showed that I had many gallstones and the next step was to talk to the surgeon. When the surgeon arrived he gave me all the education I needed to know about gallbladders and I've then decided to go ahead and have the surgery that day since he was free to do the surgery that day. After the surgery, while in the recovery room, I was in so much pain. I couldn't believe that in this day and age, after surgery, you could be in that much pain with all the drugs available. I told the anesthesiologist about my pain and he quickly gave me some more medicine and I began feeling much better. After about 20 min. of being in recovery, Allen was able to come back and visit with me for a few minutes. It was such a great thing to see his smiling face, he made me feel at ease immediately. The next thing I remember was being transported to my hospital room and my brother and his wife being there visiting, and cracking some jokes to make me laugh. I so appreciated them being there and visiting with them. After they left I remember telling Allen that I had to have some rest and I couldn't have any visitors. Please tell everybody that I really appreciate all the kindness, but I just need to be left alone. That is so not like me because I love visitors and I love people coming and talking to me, but I was in so much pain and just felt very ill. I didn't want anyone to see me that way.
Well... to make a long story even longer the night of my surgery was the longest night of my life. At around 6:00 PM. I started throwing up every 20 min. for the next 10 hours. That is not something you want to do after having surgery. It was horrible. As soon as I would get laid down in the bed and all the wires and everything attached to me, I would feel the feeling of having to throw up again and then have to rush to unhook everything, wake Allen up, and try to get to the bathroom again. The nurses would come in and ask me if I needed more pain medicine or more anti-nausea medicine and I kept taking it thinking, this might make it better. Bad Idea! Finally at six o'clock in the morning I decided no more medicine I think that's what's making me sick so I told the doctors please no more pain medicine and no more anti-nausea medicine. That day was so long and I felt like the doctor was never going to come in and check on me. Finally he came in at three o'clock and I begged him to go home. He said, "Didn't you throw up all last night?"," The nurses said you had a horrible night" and I said, "Yes, but I promise I can eat some food and if you just let me eat food and keep it down... can I please go home? I know it's because of the pain medicine that I was throwing up, I promise you the only way I'm going to get better is if I go home and get in my own bed.
So… Allen proceeded to order what he wanted for dinner and I ate a few bites and told Allen to eat the rest in a hurry and he did...haha. The nurse came in and said you did a good job with your food and I said, "thank you, can I go home now?" and she said, "well yes I guess you can. I will get the paper work"
So I was able to go home after Allen got all of our stuff together, and the nurse gathered all the paper work and unhooked my I.V. Now I can rest in my own bed. I'm at home recovering and it was so nice to get in my own bed. It felt so good, it was like heaven. I'm still in a little pain. Not much, and I'm just eating very bland food for now, but I am so thankful to be alive and home sweet home with my family.
I don't know what I would have done without my dear friend Vicki, who kept the kids, and my wonderful Mother In Law who kept and fed the kids. My precious mom and dad who helped feed us and transport the kids everywhere. My sweet friends and family who are still bringing food and praying for me while I recover.
Last but certainly not least I want to thank my wonderful husband who never left my side in the hospital and helped me to bathroom all night when I looked like a drunk sailor. He kissed me, petted me, brought me cold rags and prayed with me. I love you more than words can express and I will never forget how you cared for me. I thank the Lord for you everyday! Now on to the next chapter in the Barnes life. I wonder what's in store for us next?
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