The Last 11 Weeks

Where to start?  11 weeks ago ~ Feb. 20 to be exact, I went in for a scheduled hysterectomy.  It was a Da Vinci (robotic) which was to take about 2 hours.  I would stay overnight, go home, and be back to normal in about 2 weeks.

Well ~ my dr. was about 90% done with about 15 minutes to go when something seriously went wrong.  The assisting dr. hit and cut my inferior vena cava.  In a matter of seconds, it went from routine to life-threatening.  My dr. basically put his finger in the cut and waited until the general surgeon could get in the OR.  Thankfully, the best general surgeon was there and within a few more seconds, he had the vein sutured up.  My dr.'s nurse told me when I was back in a week later to have the staples removed that the room went from having 4-5 people in to being jammed packed.

I ended up in the ICU for 2.5 days and in the hospital for 6,  had to have 7 units of blood transfused, and instead of 4 small incisions, came home with those 4 plus a vertical abdominal incision that is about 9 inches long, all held together with staples.  I also had 30 pounds of fluid weight from all the ivs and transfusions.  To say I was sore would be an understatement.

Two weeks after surgery, I began running a temperature of 102.5 and knew something was wrong.  I ended up having a CT scan.  It showed that everything appeared to look good and that the vein was healing properly.  So my dr. diagnosed it as an infection somewhere and I found myself back in the hospital ~ thankfully just overnight ~ to pump antibiotics into my system.  Went back home and was on meds for 7 days.

In the middle of all this, we accepted an offer on our acreage and moved! A bit crazy?  I blame it on my pain meds, DH doesn't know what to blame it on :)

Both drs. told me that had I been older or not in good health, I won't have made it.  I still get a little emotional when I think about that.  I can't put into words how my heart feels knowing God was there holding me and guiding their hands to save me.  The pain is getting less every day and I'm learning to live with the scar.  I have good days and bad days ~ but am so thankful to still be here.

So, please forgive the lapse in posts ~ I'm going to try to get back at it again.  I've got lots to share about Disney and a whole house full of new rooms to decorate!