Tags: Ovaries

My oophorectomy went well today.

Isn’t that a great word, oophorectomy?

It’s so fun to say.  Try it.

It makes me think of the Oompa Loompas from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and that makes me smile. 🙂

My check-in went very fast as I “know the routine”.  All the usual questions and review of my meds took about 45 minutes.  The list of medications that are prescribed to me is very long.  All of them are just sitting in the cupboard though, except my current pain medication.

During that time, another nurse came in to start my IV.  She had trouble finding a good vein.  After 2 attempts, she went and got another nurse who is known as the “IV Whisperer”.  She was able to get the IV in, in a vein near my wrist.  I’m thankful they used lidocaine before putting it in each time!

Next it was time to be wheeled in to the operating room.  I am totally blind when they wheel me in there, since my glasses are off, so I have no idea what anyone looked like or even what sort of machines and tools were all around me.  That’s probably a good thing. 🙂  I enjoyed some oxygen and the next thing I knew I was waking up in recovery.

I was in some pain, so they gave me some Vicodin (a pill) and some IV pain meds as well.  That helped quite a bit.  I also requested some Benadryl so my face would stop itching.  I hate that feeling!

After monitoring all that, we left the hospital around 2:45 to come home. Since then, I’ve been resting in bed, drinking lots of water, going to the bathroom because I drank a lot of water and sucking on Strawberry Mentos, my favorite candy right now.

We have a very low key evening planned. Our oldest is spending the night at a friend’s house.  The younger two are having a water fight outside with the neighbor kids and pizza will be delivered shortly.

My thoughts and prayers are with a friend and her family who are having a memorial service this evening for their sweet baby girl who went home to be with Jesus after just a short time with them.  I would much rather be there, supporting them, rejoicing with them in what God did though her short little life, than sitting on my bed, half asleep from pain meds.

I am also missing a performance of the song “Sisters” from White Christmas, performed by the daughter of another friend.  What fun that would have been to see!!  Maybe I’ll request a private showing at a future time as I’m not sure I can live without seeing it.  I’m pretty sure my girls can’t live without seeing it either. (Hint hint, Kim and Tony.)

Too many things to do tonight, but yet here I sit, looking about 5 months pregnant from all the air they pumped in me during surgery, hoping the pain doesn’t get worse.  I’m not complaining.  I’m just very sad to be missing those two things tonight.  🙁

I am so thankful for God’s peace before surgery.  I had no worry or anxiety.  Although there were some tears last night and this morning as I’m just weary of having so many procedures and surgeries.

I know all of these things are being done to prolong my life, but what was it like when my life did not revolve around Dr. appointments?  It’s hard to remember.  My quality of life is definitely not the same.

Today, I had just sat down on the bed at home when my phone rang with a call from the radiation oncologist’s office. How can I not laugh at that?  I just finished up one thing and we’re already on to the next!  Lovely!

A new friend sent me an encouraging text this afternoon.  Included in the text was Exodus 14:13-14.  “Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”

What an encouragement to be reminded of how God delivers His people. He fought for them and just asked them to be still.  How amazing would it have been to trust God and see Him wipe out my enemies by dumping the red sea back on them?  Who is working on a time machine so I can go back and see that????

I’m not very good at being still and resting in the promises of God.  I tend to look ahead and try to figure things out on my own.   Surgery and recovery forces me to stop, rest and gives me extra time to spend with the Lord.  I am thankful for that.

I’m so thankful that God that is with me every step of the way…when I’m crying in bed because I’m weary, when I’m driving to the hospital this morning because my poor sweet husband’s eye was causing so much pain, when I’m waking up from surgery wondering how it went, when I’m sitting in bed deciding on whether or not I need to use the restroom bad enough to get up…seriously…He’s with me as I fight this battle, and for that I am thankful.

I don’t deserve it.

Any of it.

So I’m thankful for grace

During one of the tearful times this morning at the hospital with Tom I told him that I don’t know how anyone goes through this fight without knowing Jesus as their Savior.  He is my rock (and my friend Marcia reminds me of that often).

If that all sounds foreign to you, I would love to talk more, even tonight as I’m recovering, even at 1:30 am when I will be waking up to take pain meds, and then again at 7:30…

One last thing before I go eat pizza, will you please pray for Tom’s eye?  It has been really hurting him the past few days.  He was able to get in to see an eye Dr. at 11 am today while I was in surgery (on the same campus as the hospital).  Praise God for a new Dr. squeezing him in!!  His eye has been damaged from wearing his contacts for too long at a time, so it’s nothing permanent.  He will just be wearing glasses for a while.  The drops he was given have helped a little, but the pain has been really bad the past few days.  So bad that I drove to the hospital this morning and we had a backup plan to get home (which we didn’t end up needing, but thank you Aunt Patti).  He has a very high tolerance for pain and it was very obvious he was hurting.  It was so hard to see him walk out the door before surgery knowing he was hurting.

There’s so much going on besides just this fight with cancer.  Often it’s those things that are harder and more difficult to handle than the cancer.  But that sounds like a topic for another blog post.

Thank you for the support that so many of you continue to give our family.  We have so much to be thankful for, even while recovering from surgery.