Saturday, May 23, 2009

Chad's surgery

Wednesday Chad came home from work not feeling well. He had really bad back pains. We got him an appointment the next day for the chiropractor. Later that night his stomach started hurting, but we just figured it was two separate things. Well, Thursday when it was time for his appointment his stomach was hurting so bad he said there was no way he could go to the chiropractor and decided to go to the walk in clinic. Well, it's a good thing he did!

It ended up that he had appendicitis and needed to have surgery really soon. So the poor guy ended up driving himself to the hospital. I was stuck at home because we only have one car and of course I had the two boys. Lucky for me, that evening my friend Michelle drove me down to the hospital to bring Chad some things and get the car. Poor Chad was in alot of pain and to make matters worse he had to wait until Friday to get surgery. They put him on antibiotics until then to keep it from rupturing.

Friday, Michelle came to the rescue once again and watched my boys for me so I could go up to the hospital to be with Chad. I was planning to get there just towards the end of surgery so I could help him, but they ended up delaying it for another couple hours and I got there right as they were bringing him down to surgery. Right as I stepped out of the elevator, he was being wheeled into it! At least I got to say hi, good luck, and love you! So I sat around in his hospital room for the next few hours worrying and having crazy thoughts go through my head. The logical side kept saying, "it's a common surgery, everything will go just fine" but the crazy side was saying, "this could go wrong and that could go wrong..."

A few hours later, a nurse came in and told me they needed to talk to me on the 23rd floor...Yikes! What's the 23rd floor, and why do they need to talk to me? This got my head whirling! I was seriously shaking going up the elevator. So I go up there with all sorts of things going through my head, well, turns out the surgeon just wanted to tell me things went well! That was good to hear, but geesh, couldn't the nurse have told me everything was alright and that's what I was going up there for!! It was a good relief though.

After the surgery, Chad was bound and determined to get the heck out of the hospital. He had to pass a couple tests before they would release him.
1. He had to hold down a meal
2. He had to go pee
The nurse ordered him a meal and handed him a jug to pee in. She said, "I need to see your pee.", but Chad heard, "I need to see you pee." Chad's eyes got wide and he replied, "You have to watch me pee??!!" That gave us a pretty good laugh. He was able to hold down the food, which from the looks of it, I don't think I could have, but he said it was good (Probably due to the fact that he hadn't ate for two days).

We made it home about 10:30 and then I went back out to pick up the boys and get Chad's pain medication. The boys must have played hard because they were zonked when I got them. I can't thank Michelle and Paul enough for all they did!! The closest 24 hour pharmacy was a ways away so we didn't get home until 12:30, but thank goodness for 24 hour pharmacy's!! I can't imagine Chad not having anything for the pain last night.

It's so nice to be at home as a family again. It sure makes you grateful for your health after something like that happens. It's also made Chad and I want to be healthier to prevent things from happening in the future. It was great for Chad that he had been living a healthy lifestyle or things could have been a lot worse. This whole experience has made me realize I need to get my life ALOT more organized. I really need to get an emergency plan put together. And just the little things like keeping cash on me, having my phone charged, and keeping my house tidy, would really help in future emergencies. Oh, AND I'm going to go shopping for a 2nd car! If there was an emergency with one of the boys and I was stuck without a car... THAT would be scary! We also both agreed that for the most part we handle being away from our families (although we miss them VERY much) pretty well, but there's certain circumstances (like this one) where, man oh man, it would be nice to be by family! We are very fortunate to have good friends here in San Antonio who have offered lots of help.

So this was an unfortunate event, but really alot was learned from it. Chad is still in pain from it, but things are looking good. Thanks everyone for your prayers, get well wishes, and for those who offered help. It has all been greatly appreciated!

7 comments:

tphillips said...

WOW! I had the same thing happen to me but my appendix ruptured and they had to rush me into surgery...SCARY stuff.It was the worst pain I have ever felt and I was in the hospital for a month!!! I am glad to hear that Chad is doing well and that he is already home with you and the boys!!! Traumatic experience like that definetly make you realize that anything could happen at any given moment. Love ya!

David and Melissa Belnap said...

I am so glad that things turned out OK and that Chad is doing well!! Surgery is always stressfull, no matter what kind!

Mike & Traci said...

I'm glad things went well. Surgery can always be scary, but it looks like chad did A.O.K :)...and so did you ;)!

Bree said...

Wish we could be there to help out, but so glad you have good friends helping take care of things! We were happy to hear things went well and wish Chad a speedy recovery!! Love and miss you guys!!

Michelle said...

Yeah, it stinks not having close family around, so I'm glad we can all be a little supportive family together down here! Glad he's doing well and excited to hear about your car shopping!

Leslie said...

Wow, I had no idea you guys just went through all that. Really glad to hear everything turned out ok, but wish I was closer so I could be there for you. Glad you have good friends close by! Big hugs from Norway. Love you guys!

Jessica said...

I probably would have vomited from nervousness in the elevator up the 23rd floor! You are so strong to go through all of that with such calmness! Hope things are going better!
BTW, I LOVE all of your pics of your boys, they're adorable!