Surgery

As my maternity leave is ending (BOOOOOO!!!!!) I should blog about what happened exactly in Bend, OR. I know a lot of people knew that I was having surgery & what it was all about. But for those that had no idea & want to know what really went down, here you go. I am first going to start with where we stayed. It was heaven. We stayed in these cute little cottages called: Bend Cottages. It was like staying in at home, but cozier & my mother-in-law was there & that helped out TONS. The nice thing was they give you a discount for having surgery with Dr. Redwine & it cost just as much as a hotel, but better. I feel in love with Bend. I joked with my family that if I loved it I would not return. While we where there it was in the 50's & sunny & wonderful. Oh & it was well below zero in Alaska. But I always fall back with the saying, the grass isn't always greener on the other side. But at least there is grass & NO snow or freezing temps. The people there said this is VERY unusually warm for this part of the year. Brad said it maybe Heavenly Father telling us something. Like it is time to move:) In the end we did come back. But Bend was wonderful:)

Ok, on to the surgery. I had a preop on 1/17/11 with Dr. Redwine. Side note there will be a lot of TMI in this post, so beware. We meet him & he was very nice. He started out needing to do an exam. Nothing like breaking the ice with a women's FAVORITE exam. I will tell you that would be my most painful exam in my life. I about came off the table. Brad ended up getting from his seat to do something. There was a nurse there to help hold be down & oh I screamed out. The nice thing was when he was leaving the room he said that would be the last time I would feel that. I was so excited to hear that. We then went into his office & described what he found in the exam & what his plans where going to be. He would get rid of the endometriosis, possible bowel resection, cutting this one nerve & then he had to add another procedure because he thinks that it eroded through to may vagina. Good times. That is the TMI. But it gets worse, so if you don't want to know this side of me stop reading NOW!!! After that we went to go get my meds filled. I had to have a bowel prep in case he need to do bowel surgery. I hope to NEVER have a bowel prep again. The worse thing I have ever drank, it has now topped my barium drink while in high school. It was horrible!!! The next day was my surgery. My surgery was at 1200 pm & we had to check in at 1000 am. They did all the fun stuff of IVs & a million questions & then I was ready to get wheeled back. The funny part was the anesthesiologist wheeled me back. I asked if they are trying to save money or are they short staffed. He said no that is what it is. He was the nicest man ever. I got situated on the lovely table & the doctor started giving me meds & then I was out. What felt like a minute later I was in recovery. But in reality four hours later I was in recovery. My mouth was so dry. The first thing I heard was the surgery was more in depth & that I needed to stay in the hospital over night. I was like ok. In & out of sleep. Brad would be in my room waiting for me. About an hour later I was taken to my room. I had a Foley catheter in as well as a JP drain. This is all new to me. I felt like I had a huge surgery not some little laparoscopic procedure. Anyway. The nurses that took care of me where WONDERFUL. They were so nice. Dr. Redwine ended up doing a full thickness bowel resection of my sigmoid. He says I had a hole. Nice. I was put on a full liquid diet & could advance as tolerated. I was doing well with water & soda & then I was able to have a chocolate milk shake. OH HEAVEN!!!! I had a total of three while I was there. It was the best thing I have ever eaten. My body was jumping for joy. I had no nausea issues thanks to the patch that was behind my ear for nausea. I would write it but don't know how to spell it. I was sore & had so much fun trying to switch positions. I will say being an ortho nurse helped on this because I knew so many techniques that I was able to do it by my self & no bother the nurses. The worse was my Foley. He had to do surgery to the out side of my bladder & I think with having a Foley & it moving, I would get the worse bladder spasms. I drained A LOT from my JP drain, but that is because he flushes out the abdomen so much. Over all the night went very well. The next day I got to experience the removal of a Foley AND a JP drain. I have removed dozens of these in patients but not on myself. The funny part was the nurses said the same thing that I say in the same situation. Now take a deep breath & here we go. Ya. Painful. Not fun & I am sorry for all my patients that I did that to. KARMA!!! My doctor did rounds & he said that the endometriosis was worse then he expected. I had it all the way up on my diaphragm & just basically everywhere. He says that he got it all & that I should feel a huge difference. This is what he did:

- Laparoscopy. Excision of endometriosis of lower diaphragm & electrodesiccation of superficial endometriosis of the posterior diaphragm.

- Presacral neurectomy (cutting the nerve to my uterus to help with cramps)

- Excision of extensive endometriosis

- En block resection of pelvic floor for treatment of complete obliteration of the cul-de-sac.

- Bilateral ovarian cystectomies

- Full-thickness resection of sigmoid for sigmoid nodule of endometriosis

- Bilateral ovarian suspensions

Sounds like a lot, yes it was. Here are some pictures of before & afterwards. They are graphic so be prepared.

Sorry there is a big gap between picture & the next sentence. Has to do with scanning. But anyway it looks like he put lighter fluid in there & then lit a watch. It looks worse then it feels. So the biggest question on every bodies mind is can I get pregnant. Dr. Redwine says if I still can't get pregnant I can't blame endometriosis any more. There is something else that will be causing it. Are we going to try. Yes, but not until Madilyn is a year old. The girl that referred me to him didn't get pregnant for another two years. So I don't have my hopes set up for a right away pregnancy, but also I don't have my hopes up that it will happen. I like adopting. No physical pain just emotional. Is there anything else that I am missing. Nope. It went good & I am very thankful for what he did. I have already seen a huge difference & it is wonderful. I am also VERY thankful for insurance. This surgery & hospital stay will come close to $30,000. WOW!!! That isn't even our housing, flights, car rental or food. Brad has great insurance & I am very thankful. I am extremely thankful for my mother-in-law Laurie for being there for us & especially for Madilyn. Thank you. I was put on some pretty strict limitations. I am not to lift over 20 lbs, go up & downs stairs (sparingly), house work or any really physical labor for six weeks. Good times. Over all I am following it. But the whole lifting thing when you have a baby in a car seat only last about three & half weeks. But the other stuff I have followed pretty well. The flight home went really well. We upgraded to first class. That was awesome. The church really stepped in & helped with meals & anything else that I maybe in need of. The food was awesome & an answer to so many prayers. Thank you.

To end this. I have to say thank you to my Heaven Father. He was there the whole time let alone guided us & protected us every where we went. We have been truly blessed during my maternity leave. I can't tell you how many blessing we have received. There are too many to count. We are very thankful for the blessing of paying our tithing. We know we only give 10%, but he truly gives up 110%. I know that He lives & answers our prayer. He is there when we need him & even when we don't think we do. We are a very blessed family. Madilyn did amazing the entire two weeks of vacation. Thank you again to everyone that has been there for us. We couldn't have done it without you.