We started out early Thursday morning on the 12th. I had actually been having abdominal pain for about 4 days before we left and it was worse that morning. We weighed the pros and cons of going to the ER in Tucson before we left for our trip, but decided against it. Unfortunately, we only made it 2 hours down the road before we had to stop in a small town ER to get me checked out. It was ghetto lol, and no, they weren't sure what was causing it. We wasted a good 5 hours which really put us behind in our trip.
We had scheduled an appointment with my LA doctor at 1:30pm that day, but obviously weren't going to make it at that time. She was nice enough to reschedule for 6:30pm. Overall the appointment went very good. She said all of my infections (Lyme, Bartonella etc.) had drastically improved and that it seemed like my immune system was fighting the infections on it's own for the first time in FOREVER! Yay God and acupuncture!!! I was still in quite a bit of pain, and she was a big concerned that it could be an ectopic pregnancy (no, that would have not been planned), but it was NOT. So, praise the Lord for that! Since our LA appointment was so late, we didn't arrive at our San Francisco hotel until 3:00am early Friday morning. This trip was serious the trip without sleep!
The next day, my pain was still there, but I believe with all my heart that God held off the pain so that we could spend some time with our dear friends Melody and Spencer. They are an amazing Christian couple who have also struggled with Lyme Disease. Their faith and testimony are such an encouragement to us. They drove down from Northern California to spend the day with us on Friday. It was such a precious time! Thank you to both of you! You blessed us more than words can say!!! :)
We had my Lyme doctor appointment on Friday afternoon. It went really well. He was happy with the progress I was making without antibiotics. He encouraged us to stay the path, but to keep him posted if anything changes. It was fun to start dreaming about our future again since I have taken such a turn for the better. I don't really have too much to say about the appointment. It was actually pretty quick. He did examine the cause of my abodomen pain and was a little concerned it was appendicitis. Every doctor has an opinion. :) However, we trust my San Francisco's opinion a ton more than the LA doc's.
After we got done hanging out with Melody and Spencer that evening, we went to bed only to have to wake up and hour later because I was in excruciating pain once again. We headed to the ER. Fun times! Another night with no sleep!!! It's difficult to completely rule out appendicitis with me because I am allergic to the contrast IV dye for Cat scans. The surgeons were convinced it was appendicitis when they examined me, but were hesitant to do a laproscopy procedure without absolute proof because of my horrible allergies and chemical sensitivities (which have markedly improved...another yay God!). So, we ended up going through a battery of tests, and I was admitted there for 4 days.
Most of our stay in the hospital was good except when Brian kicked one of the doctors out of the room, lol. It was actually our last day there, and they had a general medicine doctor come in to start the full body work-up because their tests for appendicitis and gallbladder were inconclusive. This young doctor comes in and basically gives us a lecture about how we are not going to have surgery (I did NOT want surgery so I have know idea where he got that). Then, when Brian asked him what other causes could this pain be from, he proceeded to only give us one option which was "psychological trauma manifesting itself in pain"...REALLY???!!!! I started crying because I was exhausted and I knew I wasn't making it up. He looks at Brian and says, "see, that further proves my point". It was appauling and Brian threw him out of the room! After he left, the rest of the day the hospital did damage control. We saw about every high powered official in the hospital. They came to apologize and basically bend over backwards for whatever we needed. We ended up leaving that day with pain meds in tow because we were getting no where. They said we would mostly likely be safe to make it back to Tucson, so we trusted God and we made it just fine. I don't really remember most of it. Dilauded will do that to ya! :P
Once we were back, life hasn't slowed down. I had an appointment with my primary care physician and she said I needed to see a surgeon asap because of my pain. She suspects it is my gallbladder but we need to rule out the appendix too. I had my surgeon appointment yesterday, and she said I have to do one more test that involves the gallbladder before I have surgery. I should have that towards the beginning of next week and HOPEFULLY I will be able to have surgery on Friday. Please be praying for this! I am not sure how far she books out, but I am in a lot of pain and Friday would work out best with our work schedules since we both have missed so much work! Brian's work has been awesome, but my work is more difficult because my students tend to freak out when they have a substitute. It directly impacts our income which is not what we need right now with all of the upcoming astronomical hospital bills!
The pain got bad again last night and we ended up in the ER AGAIN. Another night without sleep. Brian and I are absolutely exhausted. Thankfully, my mom is coming today to help out. I can't mention enough what a gift this will be. We are so behind in life and are so exhausted that Brian and I didn't even ask the surgeon any important questions when we had my appointment. We walked out and probably only said two words to her since we were in shock from the past week. We should have grilled her about the procedure, talked to her about my chemical sensitivities and allergies etc. We did nothing. We just sat there as she told us we needed a scan first, and then walked out. Duh!! I am glad we will have my Mom here to think of those things for awhile. :)
It's crazy how life ebbs and flows. God has been doing some miraculously things with my health, and we definitely don't want to discount that! We have seen my symptoms from my infections pretty much disappear with God's power and acupuncture. My chemical sensitivities have improved too! I am definitely not as sensitive as I used to be. Perfume actually smells good to me instead of being a major threat to my body. I am still reactive to stuff especially after the events of the past week, but I am improving! During the past week, we have both been challenged to not look at the past and wonder if we are going backwards. That is something that our pastor has talked a lot about recently. I won't say that we have been totally successful (Brian is so much better at it than I am), but we are trying to hard even in the midst of these circumstances to believe God for my healing and trust that I am still moving forward even with these little bumps in the road.
So, here are a few prayer requests:
1. Please pray that I do not react to the Gallbladder test that I will have this next week. New things are always scary, but God has definitely been faithful every step of the way!
2. Please pray that we can schedule surgery on Friday of next week. This would be a miracle and would work out perfectly with our work schedules. Also, please pray that the surgery would be successful, and that they would locate the source of the pain with an easy resolution!
3. Please pray for the pain and my sensitivities. It seems like the more pain meds I have to take, the more it sets off my histamine system. So, if I can stay off of them, it would be so much more beneficial!
4. Please pray for our finances. Our bills from the past two weeks (extra hotel nights, hospital visits etc) and the upcoming surgery are really going to drain the finances. Please pray for God's provision!
5. Finally, please keep praying for healing! Please pray that we would keep our focus where where it needs to be - on Jesus! We believe that he is doing to miracle in my body and maybe, this is all part of the process of up-righting my system to it's full capacity. :)
We will try to keep you posted! Thanks for praying friends! :)
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