Waiting, Waiting and Writing

This has been a whirlwind week of hurry up and wait, hurry up and wait. As I type, we are waiting for Dave to go for a GI test that will hopefully explain the pain and symptoms that brought us to the ER Tuesday night. If this test doesn't tell us anything, I understand that we'll move on to another one tomorrow.

When I brought him to the ER Tuesday, the pain was debilitating. Honestly, he looked like a woman in labor, the way he had to focus and breathe through it. He told me, "If they tell me nothing is wrong and send me home, I'm going to walk back in the door and sign in again." They were able to relieve the pain with IV narcotics and fluids. He had an ultrasound and a CT scan in the ER and was later admitted "to the surgeons" with a suspected small bowel obstruction. For a full day, he had IV fluid and nothing by mouth. The surgeon ordered a follow up x-ray yesteray (Thursday, I think?) and it showed improvement in the obstruction. Basically, the contrast he drank for the CT scan had passed all the way through the intestine but there was still inflammation. At that point, the surgeon stepped back to let the GI doctor take over to try to figure out what caused the obstruction. Surgery is still a possiblity, but hopefully it won't be necessary.

He was able to get some broth and juice yesterday, and he handled it well. He still has some pain, but not enough to take the narcotics. He's anxiously waiting for answers. He's never really been sick, ever, so this is a very new experience for him. It has definitely been an exercise in patience.

As we wait in faith, trying hard to remember the grace that God gave us and let His love show, I can see lots of little ways that He is taking care of us. Monday night, both kids slept through the night. That's only happened once before, and was much needed since I did not sleep again until 5:00 Wednesday morning. Also, the last 3.5 years of sleep deprivation? Obviously training for that hard 24 hour stretch - like a marathon runner, right? The kids have handled all of this disruption in our routine amazingly well. They've been to visit Daddy in the hospital twice and Ella wrote him a note on his white board. I am able to work from the hospital room, so I'm not just completely burning my sick time. On top of that, my boss brought me my laptop so I didn't have to drive to the office to get it. My family is taking care of the house and kids while I just try to keep it together. And most of all, Dave and I have spent tons of time just being together, which we both need. I do have a bit of struggle with Mommy Guilt about being away from the kids so much, but I know that they are well cared for so I can listen to my heart and be here with Dave. Hospitals are lonely places, and I don't want him to be lonely.