Please be praying...

Well, I promised Brian I wouldn't write for a long time since I need to get to bed; however, it has been an eventful day, and we would appreciate your prayers for tomorrow! As many of you know, I have been doing IV treatment for Lyme Disease. I actually stopped towards the beginning of February, but we weren't planning on getting the IV port catheter out until this summer when things slowed down a bit for Brian and I. Well, God had a different plan! I have been going every 2 to 3 weeks to have my IV port flushed and refilled with Heparin so it doesn't clot off. Actually you can go a month, but I am always super cautious as I don't want to risk developing any blood clots. Unfortunately, even with my caution, Mr. IV port decided to misbehave.

Today, when I went to have my port flushed by the doctor, she couldn't get any blood out on the first 3 tries. Then, when she finally did get something, it was brown and the line was filled with clots. Talk about panic! Okay, anyone who knows me knows that I am not a naturally calm "take it as it comes" person. I tend to freak out a bit. :) I am sure Brian could expand on this, but I am going to keep the pc away from him. Ha! My doctor immediately tells me I need to go to the ER. She said to go to UMC which is actually the best hospital in Tucson and the one that Gabby Giffords went to when she was wounded. Brian was at work, so I had to drive the 25 minutes to the hospital by myself. This may seem like a small amount of time, but when you knowingly have blood clots in your line less than six inches from your heart, it's a bit unnerving!

Anyways, I made it there and so did Brian. They were extremely busy today, so Brian and I had to wait a LONG time. In the meantime, I had been in contact with my local doctor (who I use for only regular ailments) and my Lyme doctor in San Francisco, CA. What we decided was to get my port removed as we were getting the feeling that the ER would be unwilling to do it. We ended up getting an emergency appt. tomorrow to have the port removed at the same hospital that put the port in. Yay God!

After about 4 hours, we finally met two amazing doctors. I now know why the hospital is rated so high. They were incredible. The top supervising physician came and spoke to us and said that he thought I would be okay and that no clots would dislodge from the port as long as I didn't try to flush it. Brian, being the jokester he is, informed the doctor that we don't say "think, thought, maybe, slight risk" in front of me. Ha...Ha...Mr. funny man. He is kind of right though. I know they can't say for certain that you will be okay, but blood clots are kind of one of my worst fears if I am to be totally honest. I like reassurance; however, then that doesn't let me practice the art of trusting. I know I need lots of practice trusting, and God obviously knows too! :)

So, we are home now. I have an appointment at Shea Medical Center in Scottsdale, AZ (outside of Phoenix) at 11:30am. My procedure will be at 1:30pm. If you could please be praying for us, we would appreciate it. Please pray that no clots would dislodge. Also, please pray that God would protect my body, and that I wouldn't react to anything I am exposed to. Hospital environments are always a challenge, but God has and is always faithful. I know He will be faithful tomorrow! Finally, please pray for a quick recovery. I have two very large projects for school do on Sunday, and these events have caused me to fall behind. Also, Brian is supposed to take the third section of the CPA exam on Friday and in addition he has a lot of work pressure. So, if you could be praying for both of us, we would appreciate it!!!!

All in all, I think this was the Lord's timing. We knew we needed to get this port out. It costs us monthly maintenance and it's kind of useless to be paying for it when you don't need it. Also, since this is an emergency procedure because I have blood clots, we are praying desperately that my insurance will cover it. They have been horrible lately about covering anything related to my port, but we are hoping this will be an exception. God opened up a way to have it removed quickly. It will be nice to have it gone!

Thanks for praying friends! I'll update as soon as I am up to it!