This picture pretty adequately shows where I have been for the past three weeks. I had another unexpected surgery a few weeks ago and it was quite a difficult recovery.
I went to the doctor about a month ago for a check up from my surgery in June. To check my healing he has to stick this scope thing up my nose (attractive and fun let me tell you!)... well I have a deviated septum from my first set up pollups that were so strong they bend my bone inside my nose! It hasn't been a problem and it isn't noticeable like some people's so we left it be. Well, it has continued to bend itself and my nose was having to do some pretty weird things to compensate.. long story. Anyways, he couldn't get the scope up the left side without a lot of pain and bleeding and thus he said he thought it might be a good idea to go ahead and fix the septum. My first reaction was, ummm did I mention (and I know I did) that I am a NEWLY WED STUDENT...we are not made of money!
However, thanks to a very lovely lady that works in his office, I discovered that we had already met all our deductibles and this magical thing called "out of pocket". So the surgery was going to be completely FREE!! All we had to pay was co-pays and prescriptions! So, we agreed to have it done. He assured me the recovery would be comprable to my last surgery... this would have meant that I would come home and snoozed the day away on pain meds and then taken another day or two to fully get the meds and stuff out of my head and then back to life... no big deal.
So, I scheduled the surgery for two weeks later, so that it would be enough time that I could catch back up in school before all my papers and finals hit me hard. So, about three weeks ago I had the surgery. I even had some of the same nurses as last time! I am becoming a hospital pro!
Well, I woke up from the surgery and felt about the same as last time, except this time I wasn't terrified and panicked about all the stuf suffocating me. I knew I had tampons up my nose and a mask for oxygen and an icepack on my eyes. The first time this happened I freaked out b/c I didn't know what all this stuff was on my face and I could hear the nurses close by but couldn't show them I was awake and needed something to drink!! So this time I knew and was much calmer.
So they wheeled me in this recliner wheel chair to the recovery room where my sweet hubby fed me sprite and graham crackers. As I ate the crackers there was this strange thing happening... they weren't dissolving and going down... they were turning into gum balls in my moth and grit in my teeth...weird. Well after many attempts we realized I had NO SPIT.. zero, none. But the nurse would not give me any pain medicine until I ate that cracker... but it would not be eaten... So Drew had to give me a bite of cracker with a piece of ice so I could process it in my mouth... it was kind of terrifying to realize how much you need your spit and not being able to get it. I didn't have dry mouth I had no spit!
Well we got home and I felt a lot more awake than before so we just lounged around and Drew made me chicken broth since I couldn't have anything not liquid b/c I couldn't process it. I began to panic hours later that I wouldn't ever have spit again! The pharmacist assured us it would return and until then Drew searched all over Louisville for potato soup for his bride.
Well, that night the pain hit and it hit hard! I didn't have to take a single pain pill with the other surgery and with this one I had to take one every 4 hours or sooner... and the meds made me like a drunk. The room would spin and I would either laugh or cry depending on the pain and conk out completely. I was out for a week with severe head aches, vomiting and insomnia. Once I got off the prescripts I went to ibprofen and didn't sleep for 3 days... and then the headaches came with a vengeance. As of last Sunday I was jack-hammer free but I am still having regular headaches and some vision problems... blurry-ness etc... but work and school must go on!
Please pray that I will be diligent through out head aches and all because I have two HUGE papers due in the next week or two! seriously, I need help!
Now my wonderful caretaker has come down with a cold. It's funny because we have the exact same symptoms yet I am not sick and he is. Weird. My symptoms are from surgery and his are from icky germs (probably from Bethan germs, she is always nice to share!!). So pray for him because he is such a champ and never complains even when I yell "BLOW not SNIFF" from every room of the house...hehe. He is full of zicam and airborne and so hopefully he'll get over this quick! His job is still going very well. He sold 8 or so cars last month, which is his record so far... hurray! He is such a great provider. He has also gotten to do some marketing and discovered that he really enjoys that aspect of sales, so who knows where he will end up next! He is also meeting with a couple of other men about starting up a camp, which has always been a tiny dream in the back of our heads. We dont know where it will all lead but we are open to the Lord's leading and all possibilities. I think it is good for him to talk camp again because he does have such a love for that area of ministry... even if they don't start their own.
We are still leading a college community group and are constantly humbled and reminded of how much we cannot do anything but how Christ has to move through us and move them... he is all knowledge, love and passion... with out him we are just a really disfunctional group of humans talking!
We are really passionate about the gospel and sharing it. We are convicted about giving to the church sacrificially and not just our 10%. We are convinced humans play so many games and are committed to being real with each other, ourselves and others as much as possible. We are still growing and learning to love each other... but it's a fun adventure.
We'd love to hear from you if you are reading!!
