Testimony Building Experiences

I know that I haven’t written much on our blog the last several months. Mostly it’s been because we’ve been so busy and I’ve been sick. Warning: this is long!!! Here is a summary of the last 3 months:

The middle of December I got sick and had to go on home IVs and oral antibiotics. Christmas was fun, we had both sides of the family over at our house on Christmas Day, my family was here early for breakfast and presents, and then Curtis’ family was here for presents and dinner. While Curtis’ sister & family were here for the week, we got to babysit and play with our 2 cute nephews. Lots of fun!!

I got off all antibiotics on Jan. 9th and 3 days later when I was back at the doctor’s office I was sick again and right back to where I was a month ago when we started all the antibiotics. The last day of my IVs, my port had completely stopped working. We had a bunch of tests done that week to 1) see why it wasn’t working and if we could get it to work and 2) to find out if there were other reasons why I had done a complete turn- around so fast. (FYI-a port, or Porta-Cath, is a very long lasting central line that is completely under the skin. When it’s time for IV use I just insert a needle into the drum of the catheter and we’re ready to go. This is very nice since we don’t have to find and poke my veins for IV use!) The next week (Jan 18th) I went back into the office and went straight to the hospital. My oxygen was low and my breathing test was down to 30%. I had no objections to this because I felt that bad. I was also quite depressed because of being sick for so long.

My hospital visit was long and busy. I was on oxygen 24 hrs for almost 5 days, I had surgery to remove my port (which I’d had for 9 ½ yrs….apparently a new record. Most only last 5 yrs. It sounds like it had started to fall apart because it had been inside my body for so long). I had a PICC line placed in my arm for my IVs, which I was getting every 4 hrs! I also did breathing treatments/airway clearance with respiratory 4 times a day. I was also supposed to eat all the time (kinda hard when food doesn’t taste good and I have no appetite.) And I was supposed to get rest during all of this???? (I did get lots of rest in between and it was very nice!) The last day I was in I had surgery to place a new port that is now on the opposite side of where my old one was. I was in for a total of 11 days and boy was I ready to come home!!! I felt great mentally and physically. I didn’t even feel this good at Christmas.

After my hospital stay I had to recover from the surgery to put the new port in….which was VERY painful, and try to work up to my “normal” schedule of doing things. 2 weeks after getting out of the hospital I was able to get off my IV and oral antibiotics and was starting to feel like my normal self again. Yahoo!!!! This brings us up to Fri. Feb. 12th.

Fri. night I coughed up some blood. Not too alarming since it happens at least once every couple of months. Saturday afternoon it started again. By Saturday evening I could hardly walk around without coughing up blood and doing my normal breathing treatments and airway clearance caused the same problem. Curtis called a member of the bishopric to come and help give me a blessing. In my blessing I was blessed to have peace, that I would be able to sleep, and that the Lord knew what I was going through and that he was with me every moment helping me to get through this. This helped both Curtis and I to feel better. After eating our dinner, cheese fondue with yummy dippings (which Curtis made all by himself) we went to bed. Sunday morning Curtis went to his 8 am mtg. and I got up to do a breathing treatment and was still coughing up blood. When he got home at 9, we both knew that I needed to go to the ER and be admitted.

We got right into an ER “room” and were there for 4 hrs before they admitted me as a patient. I was put on oxygen, had a chest x-ray, blood tests, a CT-scan with contrast dye, an ultrasound of my arms, neck and legs to see if I had blood clots, and an endoscopy (or tube down my nose into my lungs) to find where the bleeding was. It was then determined that I needed to have a bronchial artery embolization to stop the bleeding. Basically I had some blood vessels that were leaking in my lungs and we needed to stop it. I was finally given to ok to eat at 6:30 pm and was also given 2 bags of plasma because my levels were low. All of this made for a VERY long day. This was not how I had planned on spending my Valentine’s Day, nor was it romantic….but I was able to have Curtis with me all day, so that made it worth it.

Monday morning at 8:30 I was taken down to surgery to have my 4th embolization done. They went in through my femoral vein/artery (I can’t remember which one) on my right side and up into my lungs. While inside they found the major area that I was bleeding from and placed 6 coils inside some of my blood vessels to seal the leak and stop the bleeding. This took about 1 ½ hrs. Everything ran smoothly, but because I had started coughing really hard a couple of times during the procedure (yes I was alert and awake, but sedated) there was concern that I could pop the opening up that they had created and I could lose a lot of blood. So I had to lay flat for about 1 ½ hrs and then could have my head at a 30 degree angle for the next 7 hours and every time I coughed/sneezed I had to put pressure over my incision to make sure that didn’t happen. I was able to move around VERY slowly by Monday night and was released to come home Tuesday late afternoon with strict orders to take it easy and not over exert myself. Don’t worry, I’m not. I have absolutely no energy and am easily exhausted. My lungs are sore and my leg is sore, but it gets better a little each day.

Blessings: Even though the last couple of months have been a huge trial for me, I know that I’m being blessed. My testimony of the power of the priesthood is stronger. I know and have felt the Lord helping me through each moment. He has carried me each time I have struggled to breathe. He has carried me through each moment of the day and night. He has been with me to keep me calm through all of the various tests I’ve had done, the 3 different surgeries I’ve had in the last month, and the many long days in the hospital. He has been with me when I was scared and felt alone. He has been with Curtis and helped him to stay calm, take care of me, and to be able to keep up with work and scouts. He has helped Curtis and I to grow closer together. He has blessed me with wonderful family members and ward members who come over and clean my house, bring dinner over, and help cheer me up. To sum it up: I know that my Redeemer lives to comfort me when faint… to hear my soul’s complaint… to wipe away my tears…He lives to grant me daily breath…He lives and loves me to the end…He lives and I shall conquer death! This all has been a great testimony building experience for us.