After the excitement of my birthday, grad parties, saying farewell to residents, and having my parents out, things calmed down in May for a while. Or, it was supposed to.
We went back on duty for our first stint of summer time.
Campus opened up slightly, which allowed a few residents to go off campus for visits for the first time in months. They were incredibly excited.
We had to do some rearranging in the house for social distancing purposes. To convince DCS to allow resident's on passes we had to agree to social distancing in the houses... I'm not sure it's realistic and it's definitely not practical. But, you do what you gotta do.
So, Saturday to give the residents who couldn't go on passes a pick-me-up we went to Metea Park. It's a pretty little wooded area with hiking trails.
All was well with the world....
Until Sunday morning early, I woke up with stomach cramps. I ended up puking my guts out the rest of the day Sunday. I couldn't get out of bed and I couldn't keep water down.
Thankfully, Chelsea came in for a few hours to help Nathan out. I really have no idea what was going on most of the day.
We went off duty that night. Monday, the puking had stopped, but I couldn't get out of bed. My stomach cramping had gotten worse. By afternoon I was getting worried. Nathan was having to practically carry me to and from the bathroom. Around 5:00, It got so bad I was screaming. That's when we decided I should probably go to the ER.
But, by the time we got it figured out who could watch the kids, Nathan got them supper, and everyone was loaded up, it was almost 8:00.
Nathan dropped the kid's off at Rita's and then he dropped me off at the ER. Because, you know, it's always fun to have a medical emergency during a pandemic.
A quick digression to give a bit of a background. I'm weird. For some reason my first tendency is to downplay my pain. Which is odd since I'm also naturally dramatic. Normally when asked to rate my pain I go with low numbers. I went in to the ER for a blood clot, which in retrospect was comparable to child birth, I told them a 7 or 8. My mom who was with me at the time, had to encourage me to tell them a higher number. I went in to the ER for chest pain that had me concerned about a possible pulmonary embolism, I said a 2-3...
This time I decided to be a bit more assertive/realistic. I was dying and didn't want to do so in the waiting room. So, when the poor ladies at the check in asked me my pain I said "10, it's worse than labor." (Honestly, not an exaggeration.) They wisked me off to a room in no time.
However, somewhere in there, messages got crossed and the nurse was convinced I was nauseous and ordered me anti-nausea meds instead of pain meds, so it was 1:30am until I got something for the pain. It may have been when she heard me crying and moaning that she finally decided I was really in pain.
This whole time I had been convinced it was just food poisoning and they couldn't figure anything out. So, they ordered an ultrasound. They saw what they thought was blood covering my ovary and labeled it a burst ovarian cyst. They thought the blood must be causing the pain, so they scheduled surgery to go in, clean it up, and I'd be heading home in no time. Ha.
I went in to surgery around 5:00am. When they went in, it turned out, it wasn't blood, it was puss. My abdomen was filled with puss from a burst appendix. So after switching off from the OB that started the surgery to another surgeon, they fixed me up.
I spent Tuesday and Wednesday in the hospital, mostly sleeping and resting.
Let me tell you. Hospitals are humbling. To do the appendectomy they filled me up with tons of air. And then I was only allowed a liquid diet, after not having eaten for two days... things got fun.
That is all.
I'm so thankful for the many prayers. I felt peaceful the entire time even though I was alone.
My mom came out Tuesday and was able to be with the kids. I was discharged Wednesday afternoon. My mom left Thursday afternoon. Kayla and Kyle came to visit Friday evening through the weekend. They helped keep the kids occupied which was wonderful. We had so much help and people sent us meals. It was wonderful.
And we got to watch the rocket! Gideon LOVED it. He has been talking about Bob and Doug, the astronauts, ever since.
Each day I improved slightly.
Then, Sunday night, we went back on duty. It actually went really well. By Monday, a week post-burst I was in barely any pain at all.
Chelsea made a fantastic chocolate cake...
But, yeah, the first week of recovery went quickly and being on duty went well.
And, that brings us to the end of a very eventful May.
In Christ
~Michelle
messes...
We went back on duty for our first stint of summer time.
when the kids are quiet...
He is so patient with her.
He was working on a pretty intricate model tank.
this child.
We had to do some rearranging in the house for social distancing purposes. To convince DCS to allow resident's on passes we had to agree to social distancing in the houses... I'm not sure it's realistic and it's definitely not practical. But, you do what you gotta do.
So, Saturday to give the residents who couldn't go on passes a pick-me-up we went to Metea Park. It's a pretty little wooded area with hiking trails.
I just love this
This little stinker was so proud that she snuck three suckers...
After dinner, Nathan and the resident's ran out and picked up ice cream. 
seriously the best ice cream
All was well with the world....
Until Sunday morning early, I woke up with stomach cramps. I ended up puking my guts out the rest of the day Sunday. I couldn't get out of bed and I couldn't keep water down.
Thankfully, Chelsea came in for a few hours to help Nathan out. I really have no idea what was going on most of the day.
We went off duty that night. Monday, the puking had stopped, but I couldn't get out of bed. My stomach cramping had gotten worse. By afternoon I was getting worried. Nathan was having to practically carry me to and from the bathroom. Around 5:00, It got so bad I was screaming. That's when we decided I should probably go to the ER.
But, by the time we got it figured out who could watch the kids, Nathan got them supper, and everyone was loaded up, it was almost 8:00.
Nathan dropped the kid's off at Rita's and then he dropped me off at the ER. Because, you know, it's always fun to have a medical emergency during a pandemic.
A quick digression to give a bit of a background. I'm weird. For some reason my first tendency is to downplay my pain. Which is odd since I'm also naturally dramatic. Normally when asked to rate my pain I go with low numbers. I went in to the ER for a blood clot, which in retrospect was comparable to child birth, I told them a 7 or 8. My mom who was with me at the time, had to encourage me to tell them a higher number. I went in to the ER for chest pain that had me concerned about a possible pulmonary embolism, I said a 2-3...
This time I decided to be a bit more assertive/realistic. I was dying and didn't want to do so in the waiting room. So, when the poor ladies at the check in asked me my pain I said "10, it's worse than labor." (Honestly, not an exaggeration.) They wisked me off to a room in no time.
However, somewhere in there, messages got crossed and the nurse was convinced I was nauseous and ordered me anti-nausea meds instead of pain meds, so it was 1:30am until I got something for the pain. It may have been when she heard me crying and moaning that she finally decided I was really in pain.
This whole time I had been convinced it was just food poisoning and they couldn't figure anything out. So, they ordered an ultrasound. They saw what they thought was blood covering my ovary and labeled it a burst ovarian cyst. They thought the blood must be causing the pain, so they scheduled surgery to go in, clean it up, and I'd be heading home in no time. Ha.
I went in to surgery around 5:00am. When they went in, it turned out, it wasn't blood, it was puss. My abdomen was filled with puss from a burst appendix. So after switching off from the OB that started the surgery to another surgeon, they fixed me up.
I spent Tuesday and Wednesday in the hospital, mostly sleeping and resting.
Let me tell you. Hospitals are humbling. To do the appendectomy they filled me up with tons of air. And then I was only allowed a liquid diet, after not having eaten for two days... things got fun.
That is all.
I'm so thankful for the many prayers. I felt peaceful the entire time even though I was alone.
My mom came out Tuesday and was able to be with the kids. I was discharged Wednesday afternoon. My mom left Thursday afternoon. Kayla and Kyle came to visit Friday evening through the weekend. They helped keep the kids occupied which was wonderful. We had so much help and people sent us meals. It was wonderful.
And we got to watch the rocket! Gideon LOVED it. He has been talking about Bob and Doug, the astronauts, ever since.
He was in awe
:)
Then, Sunday night, we went back on duty. It actually went really well. By Monday, a week post-burst I was in barely any pain at all.
Eating watermelon with Chelsea's parents
coloring chalk with volunteers
:)
crazy little child
Chelsea made a fantastic chocolate cake...
Aurelia snuck on to the counter to help herself.
Crazy child.
But, yeah, the first week of recovery went quickly and being on duty went well.
And, that brings us to the end of a very eventful May.
In Christ
~Michelle
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