Where I've been

My faithful readers (haha!) will have noticed a huge absence from posting over the past couple of months. I had plans to write a post about my summer and I actually started to write it, but it didn't really come together the way I had hoped, so I scratched it. I do feel that some explanation is needed, so here is the short version. I spent the entire night of July 23 puking my guts out. When I say "the entire night", I mean the ALL NIGHT LONG. I slept on the bathroom floor in between meetings with the toilet. By morning I was exhausted (so was Husband who stayed up all night with me) and I knew something wasn't right, so we headed to the doctor. The doc gave me a shot to stop me from throwing up (the bill for that shot was $33...best $33 I've ever spent!), and sent us to the ER. After blood tests, CT scans, and hours of waiting, it was determined that my bowels had fused to my uterus and were kinked (like a kink in a garden hose). The course of action to correct the problem: surgery. The next morning (July 24), I was wheeled into the operating room and opened up. After surgery, I spent 9 days in the hospital recovering. I was home for 10 days when I spiked a fever and headed back to the ER for another round of blood tests and CT scans. The problem this time? An abscess deep in my pelvis. The course of action to correct the problem: insert a drain and put me on some heavy duty IV antibiotics. I proceeded to spend the next 6 days in the hospital as we waited for the drain and drugs to work their magic. Thanks to modern medicine and the prayers of many, many friends and family, the abscess completely disappeared in a matter of days. The doctors expressed surprise that it was gone so quickly--there had been some discussion about sending me home with IV antibiotics, but that wasn't necessary. Instead they sent me home with some STRONG oral antibiotics to kill off any lingering infection.

That pretty much sums up my summer and explains where I've been the past couple of months. It took me a long time to recover. I was exhausted all the time for weeks. I couldn't eat very much and only a few things appealed to me. I pretty much lived off of McDonald's cheeseburgers and Walmart deli potato salad for a couple of weeks. Everything else would turn my stomach. Thankfully my appetite picked up and the pain and exhaustion subsided. I went back to work the middle of September and except for the occasional pain, I am all better, although I still play the "I had surgery" card if Husband tries to get me to do something I don't want to do!

We are so blessed to have great people who were a tremendous help during the summer. From the best visiting teacher in the world who brought us  many meals and vacuumed for us and cleaned our toilets, to our great neighbours who brought in our trash can on trash day, to everyone who sent cards and dropped off meals and goodies, to those who prayed. We felt the love and support of so many people. We were truly overwhelmed by the support. Thank you.