4 days and counting

I didn't forget to post I just haven't been feeling the greatest. But the surgery is scheduled for next Monday, so that is wonderful news! I am praying that they find something and can treat it. The procedure is actually called a laparoscopy. It doesn't sound bad at all. The doctor will make an incision inside my belly-button (sweet!) and possibly one or two more if he needs to. It will be done in a surgery center and I get to go home that day.

I miss everything about ACU and I am so bummed that I didn't get to see Myland and Quay last night and all of the other kids from the Tuesday night class. Poor Jules is stuck by herself, but at least Bret taught us the power of cereal/crackers as bribery.

Staying at home has been nice though. My parents have been spoiling me so much. My mom reads to me quite a bit and makes sure I take my Vicodin four times a day. My dad is working from home on the days my mom works. He is so cute. He still dresses up in his Dockers and button-up shirts even though he is working on a card table in the family room. He made the couch bed for me today so I wasn't stuck upstairs all by myself for the whole day.

I had my pre-op appointment today. I met the doctor that's going to be doing the surgery and I like him a lot. He seems to know quite a bit about endometriosis and answered a lot of questions that my mom and I had.

I'm so afraid of missing this much school. I still don't know if I'm going to be able to make up some or all of my classes or if I am missing way too much class for that to even be a possibility. Dean Barnard called me today and he is going to contact all of my professors for me which is amazing.

Thank you everyone for your support, phone calls, e-mails, and prayers! If I find out anything about school I'll try to post. The plan right now is to come back as soon as I recover, but my post-op appointment isn't scheduled until April 6th which adds even more time away. There still is a possibility of having the post-op changed or even seeing a doctor in Abilene, which would mean coming back a little bit sooner. I can't wait to see everyone again :)

Endo....plasmic Reticulum?

Wait, that's not it. So anyways, the doctor I saw yesterday thinks that there is a good chance that it is endometriosis. They want to do a minor surgery to see if they can remove the tissue that's causing the pain. That's really all I know for now. We haven't heard back from them yet so I'm not sure what day the procedure will be. Since it's Friday I guess we won't hear until Monday by the earliest about when they can get me in.

Headin' to the Fort

Well this has been a crazy month. Most of you know that I have been having severe abdominal and back pains. I've been going from doctor to doctor trying to figure out what's wrong. So far, I've had x-rays, bloodwork (it turns out that I am not pregnant...hmm...), and a gall bladder ultra sound.

I also had a CT scan which was quite the ordeal. They make you drink a bunch of this Crystal Light raspberry tea with saccharin that is mixed with the medicine. It turns out tasting like black licorice-grape-cough syrup-tea. Mmm! Then, they give you a shot with iodine which makes your insides glow and makes you feel very very warm.

After that, I had an MRI done in case there was an injury done to pinch one of my nerves. And then I had a colonoscopy! Yay! Everything has been negative so far. The doctors are stumped.

My family and I have been thinking this might be endometriosis because of the symptoms and the fact that my cousin had it and possibly my grandmother as well. The first person to diagnose me with this was my roommate Becca. She guessed this in mid January one night when I was on the floor doubled over in pain with a mix of yelling loudly and then laughing at myself for yelling so loudly. So if that's what it is, Becca is a genius and should seriously consider changing her major from "Speech Pathology" to, "Becca, Mad Skills at Diagnosing People Pro 5000". Okay, so she is graduating this May. But still.

My parents and I just decided a few hours ago to head back to Fort Collins. If I didn't, I'd have to wait about 2 weeks to get in to see a pain management specialist or a gynecologist. We got in to see a doctor in Fort Collins this Thursday, so that sounded much better to me.

Please be praying for our safety as we travel, my pain (owwwwwwwwwwww), and for the doctors. I'll try to keep everyone somewhat updated but I just am not sure how I will feel.

Thankfully, heating pads help the pain. I have a contraption that plugs into the cigarette lighter in the car so that I can use them on the way home.