Really? May has already passed? Is it seriously June, 2014? This reality fills me with emotions - excitement, anxiety, fear, anticipation, disbelief, sadness, happiness, giddiness, nervousness, regret, and so many more I can't think of right now. I'll try to explain them all a bit...
Things have been very busy at work, as well. We had visitors from North America, my new team, actually, come to help train the new Chennai team and get them ready for some transition of work so Savannah and I played hostesses on the weekends and showed them all around the area. We had a great time and even fit in a couple senior portrait sessions for my girl. Oh! Big news is that the SAT results came back Friday and Savannah will be a high school graduate THIS FRIDAY, June 6. Amazing how all the stress and nerves around this graduation process wound up just as we knew it should... it was just getting to this point and going through the mud and the muck of it all to get confirmation and approval and so on that was such a headache. So very thankful that is behind us and in about 45 hours my kiddo will be walking across the stage with her entire class. All four of them. Haha Regardless, I am super proud of Savannah. She put in a lot of hard work this year and over the summer to make sure she had good grades and enough credits to make this early graduation happen. Hard work pays off!
One last significant event in May... my parents came to see us one more time! This was completely unplanned and unexpected, but wound up being necessary and I cannot begin to put into words the gratitude for my wonderful parents dropping everything to fly around the world when we needed them. Is this a long blog? Oops, it's about to get longer.
Since about February or March my lap band port (you might or might now know I had gastric-banding surgery about 6 years ago) has moved a little bit and been uncomfortable at times and visible as a protrusion in my abdomen, but not an issue. I was waiting until I got back to the US to address the issue and likely have it moved back into place. About a week before I went to Copenhagen, though, it was red and causing a little bit of pain. I sent a couple photos to Danielle's dad, and he said I needed to get into the doctor and it was likely infected. Sure enough, I had an abscess that required draining (gross and painful!!) and some antibiotics. No problem, though, travel still OK, so off I went. Redness subsided within a few days, but then came back. I went back to the doctor and he cleaned again and gave a stronger, longer round of antibiotics this time and advised to come back in 7-10 days for a follow up. I went in 10 days later, still with a red spot in the area, for another cleaning, draining and discussion. The discussion included two further treatment options: Option 1 - conservative approach that would be IV antibiotics to start with an exploration procedure to see if the port area and connector between port and band at the stomach both have infection around them. With treatment, the infection would (should) go away and all would be well, but the likelihood of a subsequent infection in 3-6 months is high. There was a high possibility I would need the lab band removed or the infection will keep coming back. Option 2 - Aggressive approach - go ahead and surgically remove the lap band to avoid further complications. Either way, the doctor would have to do a CT scan with some dye through an IV and ingestion of some sort to look around and see if there is inflammation all around the areas where the lap band, connection and that could show requirement for removal right away or possibility to treat the conservative manner. Since I am a wimp, I don't want to do the IV unnecessarily. I decided to go ahead with the band removal but worried about the possibility to gain the weight I had lost back and all the unhealthy things that come with that. He suggested replacing the band with a newer surgery, called gastric sleeve. He could do it at the same time so it's one surgery as opposed to one now to remove the band and then possibly another later... So, I did some research and scheduled the for last Tuesday. I was admitted Monday for the IV/CT stuff, blood work and other pre-op testing with surgery Tuesday late morning. Obviously all went well, as I am writing this blog now. But I won't lie. This past week was HELL. Lots of pain, lack of sleep due to pain, difficulty moving due to the pain, and not enough medicine to kill the pain. The first night I was vomiting from the anesthesia wearing off, which hurt because my stomach was all inflamed from the surgery. I got zero sleep. During the day, the IV pain meds helped and I slept off and on. The next night they were trying to wean me off the IV nutrition so I could being sipping liquids, but I could not get enough, so I was thirsty all night. Another zero sleep night. About 4 AM they hooked me back up and I slept for an hour or two. Then they took the IV and pain meds away as they prepped me for hospital release. The pain was brutal. Mom stayed with me at the hospital while Dad stayed with Savannah so she could go to school and complete her exams. Gideon helped coordinate every aspect, of course... and checked in often. Friends from church stopped by and messaged Mom, although I don't remember a lot of that. Savannah and Danielle gave lots of updates here and stateside. I am thankful for such loving family and friends. And I am thankful that a week and a day later the pain is less and the sleep is more, although I have seriously low energy and a mini-walk around the flat almost requires a nap. A shower definitely requires a nap. Hoping that changes quickly. I am going back to the doctor Saturday and crossing my fingers for enough energy and progress for a release back to work on Monday. I would appreciate your prayers for continued lessening pain and increased energy along with patience of those around me (ahem, Savannah nearby and Danielle, Michael, Mom via text/phone/chat) to put up with my whiny-ness, as there is a lot of it. I am a pretty bad patient. But surviving.
So all in all, a busy May. With a busy June catapulting us into JULY. Countdowns are going on... emotions are high... we yearn for July while we want to drag out June. Irony at its finest. Here's hoping your June is filled with laughs and love and blessings. Thanks for your prayers and love!
- excitement - looking forward to the move back to Houston with a new role in the organization, a wedding in the not-so-distant future, and being around old friends and family again
- anxiety - only one month left here in Chennai and I feel like there is so much to do to prepare for the big move
- fear - what if reverse culture shock is worse than the original for Savannah? or me? or both!?
- anticipation - so much to be getting ready for back in Texas
- disbelief - have we really come to the end of our two-year term here?
- sadness - we have THE most amazing church and church family here. I have some awesome co-workers turned friends, too. It will be very difficult to tell them goodbye.
- happiness - did I mention I get to be on the same continent as my fiancee?
- giddiness - did I also mention I am marrying said fiancee in October?
- nervousness - what if life back in Texas hasn't changed a bit? And we have?
- regret - So much more to do and see over here in India and southeast Asia. We began our travels so late...
Things have been very busy at work, as well. We had visitors from North America, my new team, actually, come to help train the new Chennai team and get them ready for some transition of work so Savannah and I played hostesses on the weekends and showed them all around the area. We had a great time and even fit in a couple senior portrait sessions for my girl. Oh! Big news is that the SAT results came back Friday and Savannah will be a high school graduate THIS FRIDAY, June 6. Amazing how all the stress and nerves around this graduation process wound up just as we knew it should... it was just getting to this point and going through the mud and the muck of it all to get confirmation and approval and so on that was such a headache. So very thankful that is behind us and in about 45 hours my kiddo will be walking across the stage with her entire class. All four of them. Haha Regardless, I am super proud of Savannah. She put in a lot of hard work this year and over the summer to make sure she had good grades and enough credits to make this early graduation happen. Hard work pays off!
One last significant event in May... my parents came to see us one more time! This was completely unplanned and unexpected, but wound up being necessary and I cannot begin to put into words the gratitude for my wonderful parents dropping everything to fly around the world when we needed them. Is this a long blog? Oops, it's about to get longer.
Since about February or March my lap band port (you might or might now know I had gastric-banding surgery about 6 years ago) has moved a little bit and been uncomfortable at times and visible as a protrusion in my abdomen, but not an issue. I was waiting until I got back to the US to address the issue and likely have it moved back into place. About a week before I went to Copenhagen, though, it was red and causing a little bit of pain. I sent a couple photos to Danielle's dad, and he said I needed to get into the doctor and it was likely infected. Sure enough, I had an abscess that required draining (gross and painful!!) and some antibiotics. No problem, though, travel still OK, so off I went. Redness subsided within a few days, but then came back. I went back to the doctor and he cleaned again and gave a stronger, longer round of antibiotics this time and advised to come back in 7-10 days for a follow up. I went in 10 days later, still with a red spot in the area, for another cleaning, draining and discussion. The discussion included two further treatment options: Option 1 - conservative approach that would be IV antibiotics to start with an exploration procedure to see if the port area and connector between port and band at the stomach both have infection around them. With treatment, the infection would (should) go away and all would be well, but the likelihood of a subsequent infection in 3-6 months is high. There was a high possibility I would need the lab band removed or the infection will keep coming back. Option 2 - Aggressive approach - go ahead and surgically remove the lap band to avoid further complications. Either way, the doctor would have to do a CT scan with some dye through an IV and ingestion of some sort to look around and see if there is inflammation all around the areas where the lap band, connection and that could show requirement for removal right away or possibility to treat the conservative manner. Since I am a wimp, I don't want to do the IV unnecessarily. I decided to go ahead with the band removal but worried about the possibility to gain the weight I had lost back and all the unhealthy things that come with that. He suggested replacing the band with a newer surgery, called gastric sleeve. He could do it at the same time so it's one surgery as opposed to one now to remove the band and then possibly another later... So, I did some research and scheduled the for last Tuesday. I was admitted Monday for the IV/CT stuff, blood work and other pre-op testing with surgery Tuesday late morning. Obviously all went well, as I am writing this blog now. But I won't lie. This past week was HELL. Lots of pain, lack of sleep due to pain, difficulty moving due to the pain, and not enough medicine to kill the pain. The first night I was vomiting from the anesthesia wearing off, which hurt because my stomach was all inflamed from the surgery. I got zero sleep. During the day, the IV pain meds helped and I slept off and on. The next night they were trying to wean me off the IV nutrition so I could being sipping liquids, but I could not get enough, so I was thirsty all night. Another zero sleep night. About 4 AM they hooked me back up and I slept for an hour or two. Then they took the IV and pain meds away as they prepped me for hospital release. The pain was brutal. Mom stayed with me at the hospital while Dad stayed with Savannah so she could go to school and complete her exams. Gideon helped coordinate every aspect, of course... and checked in often. Friends from church stopped by and messaged Mom, although I don't remember a lot of that. Savannah and Danielle gave lots of updates here and stateside. I am thankful for such loving family and friends. And I am thankful that a week and a day later the pain is less and the sleep is more, although I have seriously low energy and a mini-walk around the flat almost requires a nap. A shower definitely requires a nap. Hoping that changes quickly. I am going back to the doctor Saturday and crossing my fingers for enough energy and progress for a release back to work on Monday. I would appreciate your prayers for continued lessening pain and increased energy along with patience of those around me (ahem, Savannah nearby and Danielle, Michael, Mom via text/phone/chat) to put up with my whiny-ness, as there is a lot of it. I am a pretty bad patient. But surviving.
So all in all, a busy May. With a busy June catapulting us into JULY. Countdowns are going on... emotions are high... we yearn for July while we want to drag out June. Irony at its finest. Here's hoping your June is filled with laughs and love and blessings. Thanks for your prayers and love!
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