Hallelujah, I'm Back!!!

The past 8 days have been the most physically challenging days of my life, but God is bringing me through all of this victoriously. Just in case you haven't kept yourself updated through Tess' blog, here a looooong rundown of what's been going on since Monday before last.

The schedule for scheduled for 7:30 A.M. on Monday, Feb. 8th. We got to the hospital at rougly 6:30 AM. Filled out all the paperwork and shelled out a bunch of cash to cover the surgery. Not long after I was getting prepped for surgery. You know, getting IV's put in and signing a bunch of forms. I said my final goodbyes to my family and just for a split second wondered if I would ever see them again. That thought was quickly wiped away with God's reassurance that I would. The anasthesia finally kicked in and just as I had planned, tried to fight it as long as I could, but that doesn't work at all. It's like someone pulling the power level down on a big generator. BOOM!!!, Lights Out!! The procedure was estimated at about 5 hours to complete.

The nurses were impressed with the neatness of the stitches....and so was I.

Come to find out, I awoke 7 1/2 hours later in a dimly lit room that I would come to find out was ICU. I was so happy to see Tess standing by my bedside. Next thing I know, I was faced with a pretty scary challenge. I started to feel my throat closing up. I informed the nurse of what I was feeling and she replied with, "What do you mean your throat's closing up?". Uh, lady I can't breath!!! Help. I then looked aboved my head because I kept hearing this beeping. My heart rate was beginning to rise and I started to panick. The nurse thought that I was just having a panic attack instead of an allergic reaction to the antibiotic that they just gave me because my other vital signs appeared to be stable. They gave me a quick shot of benadryl in my IV and I felt sweet relief from then on.....or at least until I remembered waking up again.

I remember asking to see my parents and they came out the next day. Once they arrived, my worst fears were confirmed. I finally realized that I had a urinary catheter hooked up to my BODY. "You have got to be kidding me". I visited with them for about an hour as I went back and forth from reality to "la la land". Somewhere between day 1 and day 2, Tess informed me that the surgery was longer than they expected, that the tumor was much larger than expected, the surgery was much more major than expected, but the results were excellent. They removed all of the tumor which was the size of an orange. The tumor was completely benign (non cancerous). They had to cut away one of my nerves because it had grown into the tumor. As a result I have lost sensation to the bottom of my left foot and my four smaller toes. But, I haven't lost any strength at all. The tumor had also eaten it's way through my sacrum and attached itself to my colon. It had also attached itself to my spinal cord. As a result they had to stitch up my colon as well as my spinal canal.

The spinal canal repair resulted in me having to lay dizzily on my back for 72 hours staight. Not fun at all. At least I had that little morphine button that they give you to keep you company to chase away the pain. I would later come to find out that the intermittent chills that I had was a symptom of the blood transfusion the I would have to received. I lost about 4 soda cans of blood during surgery.

Thursday morning rolls around and I've been in my room for 2 days now and my Dr. comes into my room and asks me how I'm doing. He also informs me that I'm going to get up out of bed today and meet with the physical therapist. I'm like, you have got to be kidding me. So he reaches down and helps sit me upright in my bed. Oh, the pain that I felt and the world spun around in a way that it never had before. Honestely, I didn't even know what day it was. He tells me how well I've done since the surgery and that he would send the nurse in to have my catheter removed.

Instantly, my hands begin to sweat and I have flashbacks of the pain I experienced when I was three that resulted in my first trip to the restroom with a shock of burning PAIN. So the LADY nurse comes into my room and I politely ask her what she's getting ready to do. I let her know that this was my first time with one of these things and I need to know that it does not hurt. She assures me that noone she has pulled the catheter out of has experienced any pain. I didn't believe her. So she removes the water from the contraption that keeps it locked inside my bladder. She then begins to remove it from my body and it literally felt like someone was ripping my insides out. Either this hurts no matter what or I tensed up entirely too much. Please hear this!!!!I would much rather go through this surgery again that have another catheter put in me. That crap hurt for like 15 minutes afterward. And because I didn't want it to burn, I limited my fluid intake for the rest of the day. And when it was time to go, it took me about 45 minutes to do my job. Torture I tell you. There just has to be a better way.

Over the next couple of days, I layed in bed, tossed and turned throughout the night in pain, learned to walk again and politely used whatever assistance I truly needed from the nurses. I began to wonder if I was the floor bugaboo.


I remember the days that I wasn't allowed to get off my, back people coming into my room to tell me what an awesome view I had. The last few days were filled with clouds and snowflurries. I couldn't see anything but a grey sky. I had a corner room on the eight floor with a view of the Tollway and to the south. Really nice though.

Thanks to everyone who kept us in your thoughts and prayers. Thanks to my coworkers for the beautiul get well flowers that you sent. God is real and miracles really do happen. Thanks to everyone who reached out to Tess and helped keep her spirits up. Thanks to all of our family and friends who have dedicated time to help us through this time. We couldn't keep our sanity without you. I'll be sure to keep you in the loop in regards to the process of my healing along with any other crazy things that I think of.