1.6, Winterfest, Steroids

This post is so random, just so you know.
As you know, I started a steroid pack to clear up my hives around my incisions. That didn't go so well. All weekend, I was angry and upset with everything and everyone. But I honestly couldn't control it. Saturday night I broke down because I was so frustrated that I was so angry and I couldn't control it. I also couldn't handle pain. I have a very high pain tolerance, so even though my abdomen where I had surgery still hurts, I'm mostly off pain medicine. I do have to take Ibuprofen and Tramadol sometimes. But on Saturday, I could not handle it. So I took some medicine and that helped. My mom told me to stop taking the steroids.  Thankfully, my rash is mostly better, and I can continue using the steroid cream. I continued to have the steroid side effects Sunday, but I think now they have stopped. My body just can't handle steroids for whatever reason.
I just walked 1.6 miles in 10 minutes! Yesterday I walked 1.7 miles. Have you all used the Wii Fit? It's really fun and helpful! Everyday, it weighs you, tells you your BMI, and shows you how your balance is. Then, you can do exercises to help accomplish different things.
I've lost a lot of strength during recovery from surgery, and from the past 2-3 years since I got sick. I really need to build it back up. For such a long time, I wasn't allowed to do any physical activity because of my heart problems. I haven't done anything since then.
I'm starting slow, since I am still recovering from surgery. I've been working on my balance, and walking everyday. I didn't do anything on Saturday and Sunday because my abdomen, where I had surgery, was hurting a lot.
One of the reasons I started building up my strength this week is because Winterfest is this weekend! If you don't know what that is, you can read my post about last years Winterfest here. I am planning to go, and can't wait!!
This weekend I got to sleep in my room again!! Although the stairs are still a mountain that stabs me with knives in my stomach, it's been great.
I also got to go to church on Sunday! I didn't go to class Sunday morning, just worship, but I did get to go to our prayer meeting and church Sunday night!
This week I am going to rest and not really go anywhere so that I can be ready for Winterfest!
Tonight, we have a phone conference with my Lyme doctor. We have lots of things to discuss. I'll update tonight or tomorrow with everything we talk about and find out.
Hope you are having a great day!

Update after appointment

We just got back from my appointment with the surgeon. We actually didn't see the surgeon because he is out of town, but we saw one of the other doctors who was in my surgery too. She was very nice!
She looked at my incisions and hives and said that the incisions are healing well! They don't look infected or anything so that's really good! She said I could be allergic to the stitches so that's what could be causing the hives. So she put me on a steroid pack to clear it up and gave me some steroid cream. Hopefully it will help soon.
To get the cysts and endometriosis under control, we are going to having to shut everything down. She said that I had lots of internal bleeding in my pelvis and abdomen from the endometriosis and cysts, so we really need to stop that. To shut it down, I will get a series of injections.
But, before we start that, they want us to check with my Lyme doctor to make sure that is okay. You mean they actually believe I have Lyme and want us to consult with my doctor?! Yes! We love them there! They have never, ever questioned us. So my mom is talking to my Lyme doctor next week. If he approves of it, we'll go back in to my surgeon and go over everything that will happen and then start it. They said that the side effects (hot flashes, irritability, hard time sleeping) are what's hardest for young girls my age. It will be a hard adjustment, but it will be worth it. We don't want anymore surgeries.
The concerning thing has to do with my blood work. Ever since last May, my platelet count has been low. We haven't really done anything about it, thinking it would resolve itself. Today the doctor said that my platelets are still low. They did blood work again today and if they are still low, I will need to see a hematologist/oncologist. Apparently they are the same doctor. She said not to freak out about going there, they just need to make sure everything is okay. We are also going to talk to my Lyme doctor about this.
My red blood cells are also low, so I don't know what's going on. There were several things on my blood work that were not right. I'm sure it's something simple and will be easy to fix.
For now, I'm doing the Wii fit everyday to try and build my strength back up. For a month I've done nothing but lay on the couch, so I've lost a lot of strength! I need to build it back up.

Hives, Acts, Spiritual Disciplines

I'm doing pretty good right now! It's been 4 weeks since surgery. I'm just taking it slow. A week and a half ago, I developed hives all over my stomach and incisions. Ever since they started, I've taken Benedryl as often as I can, and I've put cream on them. Nothing is helping! I wake up in the middle of the night to find them bleeding because I scratch them in my sleep. I have tried epson salt baths. I even took steroids for a couple of days to see if that would clear it up, but it didn't. I've gotten bad hives after another one of my surgeries before, but they only lasted a few days and they were right after surgery. We have no idea why the hives would pop up 3 weeks after surgery and last this long with no signs of improving. It's crazy! If anyone has any ideas for us, we would love to hear them! They are so miserable and make my stomach hurt. Hopefully they will get better soon.
We've had problems with my home health group for a while now. They charge us for things that we didn't even order. It's a huge mess. Now, they decided that our contract is over so they showed up last week and took my IV pole away. I was kinda freaking out because I've had that IV pole for almost 2 years. And I still need it! With my port, you have to access it and flush it out at least every 6 weeks so that it doesn't get a blood clot. The only way we can do this is if the home health brings the supplies. My mom is the one who actually accesses it. So now we are trying to find a new home health group who will accept me. We need to find one fast!
I've gotten to get out of the house a couple of times in the past week! On New Years Eve, we went to our friends house with a couple families. They live a mile from us so we didn't have to go far. We had a great time!
I also got to go to church on Sunday morning. I'm so glad I was there! It was such a great time of worship. This year as a church, we are striving to practice more spiritual disciplines. One of my youth ministers preached on Sunday and it was fantastic! It was about training. He started out with this verse.
"Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever." 1 Corinthians 9:25
When you sign up to run a marathon, what do you automatically know you have to do? You have to train. There is no one who would EVER run a marathon without training. That would just be stupid.
When you have a test, you can not perform at your highest unless you study.
So why do we think that as Christians, that we are going to be able to do anything for God without training? Why do we think that we can just go out and do everything without going under strict training?
On Sunday we looked at the miracles in the book of Acts done by the disciples. They performed so many miracles! They did so much for God! We always look at the big things that happen in the Bible. As Phil showed us on Sunday, we fail to look at what happened right before each of the miracles.
Before the disciples performed each miracle, they spent time praying and seeking. Before God used them to do something great, they prayed.
What does that mean to us? We look around wondering why we aren't being used, but we haven't done anything to prepare us to be used. We think that we can go run a marathon for God, but we don't want to train.
On Sunday, we were all given a book for this year. Each month at church, we are going to focus on a different spiritual discipline. Each month we will add to our book. We need to start training so that we can really be ready to be used by God. We need to start training.
We were encouraged to sit in silence before God and just listen. You can learn so much from simply just being quiet before God.
When God told Elijah to go wait for Him on the mountain, He came in a whisper. God didn't come in the earthquake, wind, or fire. He came in a whisper. (1 King 19:10-18)
I pray that we will seek God and get a little bit closer to Him each day.
I'm still sleeping downstairs because climbing stairs is still painful. It's been almost 5 weeks since I've slept in my room. I'm also still wearing sweats all the time since other pants still rub my incisions. I did wear a dress and leggings to church though! That was exciting!
Tomorrow I have a follow up appointment with my surgeon. Hopefully he'll have a plan to help my hives!
I hope you all are having a great week!!

Details about what all happened before and after surgery...

 Now here's the more detailed story, mostly so that I can remember what all happened. You all are probably tired of hearing it.

I went to the ER on Saturday, December 4th because I was in so much pain and the on call doctor said we needed to go. He called the ER and told them I was coming. Once we arrived in the ER, they took me up to the CT scan where I was lucky enough to get to change into a hospital gown. I had dye injected into a couple different places in me. Trust me on this one, you're lucky you don't know the details. When the CT scan was done, they finally had a room in the ER ready for me so we were taken there. The doctor came in and said that he had been talking back and forth with the on call gynecologist. My dad actually knew the ER doctor. He was so nice and helpful! They did blood work, started giving me fluids, and gave me some pain medicine. As the pain medicine kicked in, I could finally unclench my jaw and relax a little. The CT scan came back normal, except that everything was not at all normal. Several doctors talked again and decided they needed to admit me to figure out what was wrong. While we were waiting for the transport people to take me to my room, we got to listen to the nurses and patients in the ER. I love eavesdropping. My room in the ER was right by the nurses station so we got to overhear everything. We watched them eat jars of homemade pickles. I'm not joking. It was entertaining to listen to all the calls from ambulances and the nurses talking about the patients. We for sure violated the privacy rules but how could we not hear them?!
Transport came pretty quickly and took me to my room on the 5th floor; the pediatric floor. I won't lie, I loved it there! Not loved it like, "let's go back", but they were so good there. I defiantly didn't like actually being in the hospital, but I'm glad I was on that floor.

To control my pain, they had me on Dilauded which is actually so much stronger than morphine. I was on this around the clock and I still was in pain.
Once I got to my room, I didn't have any more tests besides blood work every few hours. I was on a liquid diet to prepare for surgery. On Sunday night, I had to take a whole bottle of Miralax to also prepare for surgery.
My night nurse was great! She was there Saturday night and Sunday night. Since I was the only one on the floor for most of my stay, she would come hang out in my room and just talk.
I had several people come visit me once I got to my room on Saturday night, so that helped pass time. Once everyone left and it was time to attempt to sleep, it really sunk it about what was going on and where we were. My mom stayed with me while my dad and brother went home. Sleep was no where to be found. I think we slept for an hour before it was time for 2am vitals and medicine. Vitals were at 6am again, but in between then, people were in and out of my room. I wasn't scheduled to get pain and nausea medicine at certain times, so when I asked for it, the nurse would have to come see what I needed, go get the medicine from Narnia, come back and scan my bracelet and give it to me. It just took forever in the middle of the night. I would get medicine every couple hours so it was a crazy night.
My IV was in the crease of my arm, and everytime I bent my arm, the alarms would go off. This happened all night long. The alarms wouldn't shut up until the nurse came in and re-set it. We were up every few minutes because I would bend my arm in my sleep.
On Sunday morning rounds, the doctor came in and said they wanted to do exploratory surgery in the next few days. Until then, I just hung out. I was kept on a liquid diet, fluids, and pain meds. The day nurse on Sunday was fantastic! She was so funny. Early in her shift, she was bringing some medicine to me and she dropped the whole cart of supplies outside of my room. She started laughing so hard and said, "well this will be a fun day"! It really was hilarious. She made us fresh iced tea, none of that cafeteria fake iced tea. We told her about my IV setting off alarms all night so she switched it to my hand which was so much better.
Sunday was full of visitors for me which was really good! They prayed for me several times during church that day, so we had lots of people asking about me and praying. My aunt came and stayed with me and my brother on Sunday night so my parents could go out to eat. I think we watched Elf which is my favorite movie! The youth group Christmas dinner was also that night. I was so sad to miss that.

The doctor couldn't do the surgery on Monday, so insurance kicked me out of the hospital. The doctors didn't want me to go home either, but insurance wouldn't let me stay. To make it to where I could even try to make it home, they had to give me so much medicine. I remember Monday morning, but I don't remember Monday afternoon until Tuesday. We got home on Monday night I think.

They scheduled an appointment with the doctor for Tuesday morning at 8. We got there and he said how would you feel about surgery today? We said that would be great! Surgery was scheduled for 5 on Tuesday.

When we arrived at the hospital (a different one than I was admitted to) at 3 to get ready for surgery, we were told that insurance wouldn't cover anything. The hospital called the doctor and anesthesiologist and they all talked back and forth. We were so close to canceling the surgery. Like, so so close. But, God knew I needed it because he worked everything out. We decided to continue with the surgery an hour before surgery. They didn't have much time to prep me, so they rushed us around. It was crazy. They drew blood, got me in my gown, socks, and leggings so I wouldn't get blood clots, started my IVs, and got all 3 of my hospital bracelets ready. They brought in lots of IV antibiotics and started me on them before surgery. I continued to get them while I was there.
The surgeon came running in the room and said, "let's go"! And off I went to surgery. The surgeon wears high top red converse shoes with his surgical outfit. It's really funny!

I had surgery at a little surgery center and they were so great and fun to be around!

Me before surgery

Landon, me, and one of my nurses before surgery

On the way to surgery. Cute, huh?

I went to surgery at 5:10pm.

When the surgeon came out to talk to my family after surgery, he had a shocked look on his face. He could not believe what he found. He said that women come to him complaining of pain with just one of the problems I had and he would have done surgery on them. I had four problems.

My appendix was huge. My abdomen will filled with blood. There was a cyst the size of an orange. I had endometriosis. They had to make 3 good sized incisions to get everything out.

My family got to come see me in the recovery room almost immediately after surgery because I woke up fast. I was wide awake and was so ready to go home. Everyone was surprised at how fast I went home after surgery. I was sent home wearing white leggings that I had to wear for a few days to help with circulation.

Because of all the internal bleeding, I am very anemic. I'm taking iron pills to help with that. It's interesting because on all of my blood work that was done a week before my surgery (we didn't know what was wrong) I was so anemic. We should have known something was wrong just from that.

These two pictures are of me right after surgery. I'm looking good for sure! Cute hair do and outfit.                                                                                                    

Going home!!!

A week or two after surgery, we got the pathology report from my appendix and I did have acute appendicitis. That means that my appendix could have ruptured at anytime. We're so thankful that the doctors decided to do exploratory surgery. It's very strange how my CT scan and blood work showed nothing, even though I was a mess. But, God took care of everything!

"But now, this is what the LORD says-

he who created you,
he who formed you,
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned;
the flames will not set you ablaze.
For I am the LORD your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior" Isaiah 43:1-3

Christmas 2010

We had a very good Christmas! On Christmas Eve day we went to my dad's parents house with his side of the family. All of his side of the family lives either in our neighborhood, or the neighborhood next to ours. It's great to be so close! There are 7 grandchildren, of which I am the oldest. We ate, opened presents, and spent time together. The best present I got? Well, I love everything I got, this is just my favorite right now. Some sweat pants and a sweatshirt! Oh it was the best thing ever! I was wearing jeans and a nice shirt for pictures and everything but when I got those sweats I ran, okay not really- and put them on. I no longer had to stuff Kleenex's in my pants to try and reduce the pain from surgery.
Around 7:30 we came back to our house to have Christmas with just us (me, mom, dad, brother, and dog. Can't forget the dog!). We opened presents and ate some more food! We always fix appetizers on Christmas Eve at our house. I headed to bed earlier than normal on Christmas Eve because I was exhausted and hurting! We woke up on Christmas morning and went to my moms parents with my aunt! After eating and opening presents, we played Apples to Apples and some other card games. Let me tell you, the competition got pretty intense! By dinner time, I was really worn out. Usually we stay there really late and watch a movie, but this year was different.
Actually, it's been different since I got sick, but especially this year. I didn't plan on being admitted to the hospital on December 4th, the exact time when all the Christmas festivities began. I had no idea that I would have to have emergency surgery on the evening of December 7th.
Diseases don't give you the holidays off. Yes, I might have had the cysts, endometriosis, and internal bleeding if I didn't have Lyme, but the appendicitis was from Lyme. The surgeon (who isn't a Lyme doctor) even said so. So this emergency surgery was mostly, if not all, because of Lyme. Lyme causes major hormone problems, so it's likely that the cysts and endometriosis are from Lyme too. When we were told I would need surgery, I didn't even realize how close it was to Christmas. I didn't have time to think about how I would be recovering over Christmas. Even if I had realized it, it wouldn't have mattered because surgery had to happen. Lyme gives you no choices. It takes over everything and leaves you to sit back and watch because you have no control.
I know Christmas is not about feeling well. It's not about the festivities. It's not about what I physically have or don't have. But the world says it is about all that and it's hard not to think about those things. It's so hard to just be in the world, not of the world like this verse talks about. I put 2 versions of this verse just to have different wording.
"Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect." Romans 12:2 (NLT)

"Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." Romans 12:2 (NIV)

So while Christmas is a hard time of year because of Lyme from a worldly view, I will try and not conform to the pattern of the world. I will try and keep my mind focused on heavenly things.

Landon and I (and Tucker) on Christmas Eve. Notice I'm wearing my new sweats!

My bracelet with new charms! I didn't notice that this picture looks like a smiley face until someone pointed it out to me!

New duffel and makeup bag! My brother got me a journal and pen and pencil that matches these bags. How sweet!!

Dr. Appointment, Caroling, Dad's Birthday

On Tuesday morning I had an appointment with my surgeon. I walked in and the nurse said, "you're back again?" I just smiled and quietly laughed and said, "yes. Yes I am". I've been to see them 3 times in 3 weeks and of course they remember me because most teenagers don't have Lyme, okay pretty much none. They also don't have as many problems as I do, like internal bleeding, blood filled cysts the sizes of oranges, endometriosis, and their appendixes out all in one whack. 

The surgeon started me on antibiotics for this cough stuff I have going on. He also said that the pain I'm experiencing is still surgery pain, along with pain from coughing and sneezing. I pulled a muscle in my back from coughing. How embarrassing. But he said that it would all get better, it will just take some time. Praise God that he doesn't think anything else is wrong!

I've been feeling pretty cruddy to be honest. And grumpy. I'm blaming it on the meds, since I am on meds, so why not. For information purposes, the youth ministers send out mass texts reminding us of youth group things going on. So Tuesday morning while I was at my doctors appointment, I got a text from the youth ministers saying that they were going caroling that night. I was so disappointed that I couldn't go. I haven't gotten to do anything "Christmasy" this year because of being in the hospital and having surgery. So I tried to forgot that they were going caroling, which is impossible since I am the youth group nerd, so I wouldn't feel left out. Once I came home from the doctor, I layed down on the couch for the whole rest of the day because I felt terrible. I also spent a majority of the day hanging out in the bathroom, but I won't go into details. I think the pain medicine was what was making me sick.

Several of my friends were acting weird on Tuesday, asking if I would be home that night. I didn't know what was going on because they didn't ask if they could come over. Why would they care if I was home if they didn't even want to come over? Then that night, one of my youth ministers texted and asked for my neighborhood gate code. I knew something was up. I fell asleep on the couch and was woken up by my brother yelling, "they're here, I have to get my gun!". Of course it's just a fake gun, don't worry. Thank goodness my brother protects us from everything. The door bell rang, and we were flooded with the sound of Christmas carols. I slowly made my way to the door, overwhelmed with what was happening. Good overwhelmed of course. There were probably over 20 people from the youth group on my front porch singing to us. Tears fell from my face as I listened to them sing. They probably wondered what was wrong with me and why I was crying. Blame it on the meds again. Seriously, pain medicine even makes you cry during commercials that aren't really sad. It's kind of humorous. Not at the time, but a few days later. I was so touched that they came to sing to ME! I love them all so much!! I haven't been to church in over 3 weeks, so it was so wonderful to see them all again! They sang 3 or 4 songs and stayed and chatted for a few minutes before moving onto their next destination. I hope they know how much they blessed us.
"Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing." 1 Thessalonians 5:11

Today is my dad's birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!!! Thanks for being the best dad EVER!!! It's kind of funny where we spend a lot of our time together; in the hospital. When I go to the ER late at night, he is usually the one who takes me. We've spent at least over 25 nights in the hospital together since I've been sick. For several months, we were going once a week. We find things to make it as fun as can be. Like my last ER visit this past Sunday night. We jumped in the car, okay not literally because that would be extremely painful for me, and drove the familiar route to the hospital. The ER was full because it was Sunday night, and a full moon. At least that's what the nurse said as to why it was so full. As you can imagine, there were many interesting people there. People watching is the best at the ER. Our best entertainment was watching a drunk lady and how she interacted with people. We watch people and make up stories about them and why they're there. When the triage nurse was starting my IV she asked, "have you had an IV before"? We quietly laughed. If only she knew. On Sunday night, we were in the ER waiting room for 2 hours. That is a lot of people watching and ease dropping. We saw at least 3 pregnant women come to the ER in labor in a span of an hour and a half. Then we were taken upstairs to the CT scan room. Of course we knew the way to the CT rooms, but the hallways were dark and abandoned at midnight. A person would pass through the halls every once in a while and we came up with pretty good stories as to what they were doing! After we were up in CT for 20 or 30 minutes, I was taken to my room back in the ER. We stayed there from about midnight until 3am. We ask the ER nurses a million questions about life in the ER and get them to tell us crazy stories. My dad tries to convince me that I just told him all my secrets after I am given each dose of pain medicine. I tell him that I have no secrets because I'm always home with them, which is true. When they call different codes over the speakers, we make up stories for those too. We got to spend about 6 hours in the ER on Sunday night. I think we've had our ER fix for a while. We have to make the most of each night in the hospital, or it would be much worse than it already is! It's always an adventure!!

Tonight we are actually going out to eat for his birthday! My first real time to get out!! I'm so excited. This afternoon I think my brother and I are making ginger bread houses!

Merry Christmas to you all!!!!
"For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor,Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace" Isaiah 9:6

Another night in the ER

This is a quick update because I don't feel well. My family and I have terrible colds/bronchitis so we feel pretty bad. But I was doing well until Saturday night. By last night, I was in so much pain. The pain medicine wasn't helping my stomach and I just felt worse. We called the on call surgeon and they told us to go to the ER because they didn't know what was wrong. I had a ct scan and bloodwork done. Those both looked pretty good so they felt comfortable sending me home. I had several doses of Dilauded and Zofran while I was there and that helped a lot. Before I left they also gave me IV ativan to help me sleep. I slept well last night. Today my cough and congestion are so much worse and I've spent a lot of time feeling like Im going to be sick. We called the surgeon and Im going to see him tomorrow morning. The nurses and doctors at the hospital aren't sure why Im hurting so much but they said that coughing along with other things could be irritating it. We'll see what the surgeon says tomorrow. We got home from the hospital at 3 this morning. It's been a hard couple days. Thank you for your prayers!!

Update- 6 Weeks Post Surgery and colon infection

I was supposed to go talk at the girls bonfire this weekend, but I was still too sick. I was very disappointed that I couldn't go. I had my talk all ready and then I didn't even get to go.

So on Saturday night we had a fire in our fire pit at our house and made smores! It was very chilly that night so the fire felt great.

On Sunday morning I got to go to worship! It was great! By that night I was exhausted.

Yesterday I had another appointment with the surgeon. It went well! He released me from his care so that was my last appointment with him. I know he said that recovery would be long, but I didn't know it would take 6 weeks. I finally stopped taking pain medicine last week. It's so nice not to feel so out of it. It's crazy how much Lyme can slow down recovery. Most people who have this surgery are back to normal in a week or two. It's hard for people to understand why it's taken me so much longer.

We are waiting for stool sample results to make sure it was a colon infection that I had last week. I'm mostly over it, still a little nauseous at times.

Last night my mom and I went to visit some friends in the hospital who just had a baby! It was so fun to go and hold him!

I'm hoping to start getting out more. I need to remember to take it slow so that I don't overdue it. I still get worn out easily.

I hope you have a great day!

"I will praise you, O LORD, with all my heart;
I will tell of all your wonders.
I will be glad and rejoice in you;
I will sing praise to your name, O Most High." Psalm 9:1-2

Too many doctors

I had a good weekend. A couple of my friends came over and I got to go to church yesterday. I hadn't been to church is 2 weeks so it was great to get to go!

Today I had a follow up appointment with the surgeon. He said my incisions are healing well. I told him it still hurts a lot and he said since I'm in pain, from the Lyme everyday, that it will just take me longer to heal from surgery.

Tomorrow I have an appointment with a new sleep doctor. I don't know what that's for. Right now I have so many doctors. I have a Lyme doctor in Nevada, a Lyme doctor in Seminole, a pain management team at Children's Hospital, a surgeon at Edmond Hospital, my primary care, a sleep doctor, and home nurses. That's 7 different groups to keep up with. It's crazy right now.

We're trying to figure out what to do about my port because the surgeon and home care group keep telling us different things. The surgeon says that my mom can learn how to access my port at home. That's the whole reason I got the port put in. The home care group says that my mom can't do that, a nurse has to. So we're trying to figure out what to believe and do about it. I haven't been able to do an IV in 2 weeks which makes me feel worse.

School is so hard. I haven't done any since I had surgery. I learned a whole bunch of new things in algebra before my surgery and now I have forgotten it since it's been so long. It's hard to figure out when to do my school work. Between all the appointments and everything it is stressful. At home, I'm either too sick to work on school, or I feel okay and need to get out of the house.

We're supposed to go to Disney World in Florida next Friday. I'm so excited because I will get to swim since my port is under the skin. It will be great to not have to go to any doctors appointments for a while. I'll have to be in a wheelchair everywhere we go down there. I will also have to do IVs when we're back at the hotel. The good part is that if your in a wheelchair you usually get to go to the front of the lines.

Bring the Rain

Flowers are so beautiful! It's been rainy and chilly ever since I had surgery so it's great to have flowers that are so cheerful! I'm very thankful for the flowers, encouragement, and mostly prayers.

Such pretty flowers!

You can kind of see the bandage on the side of my neck. The ChloraPrep that I'm allergic to is on my face, chest, and my shoulders and the top my arms. They said they don't wash it off because it continues to fight bacteria for 48 hours.

You can see spots of the ChloraPrep on my arms and back. They also left those white stickers on me. I had them on my chest, stomach, and shoulders. They were used to monitor me.


My PICC line is out!! That arm has had a rash for 7 months from the PICC line. I'm ready for it to clear up! You can see the hole from the line in the middle of my arm. It is just a hole..very weird!

These are my incisions. Don't worry, they're covered up with bandages so you don't have to see them! The one on my chest is 2 inches long. I'm not sure about the one on my neck. I found out that the tube that runs between them is right under my skin. I can follow it with my finger. It's so weird!! It goes on top of my collar bone up to the incision in my neck. I'm still trying to get used to the port. I can feel it when I move or breathe..which is pretty much all the time since I'm usually always breathing. The port sticks up from under the skin and it is a circle.
You can also see how red and swollen my neck and chest are. Usually you can really see my collar bone and all the other bones. This was before the hives and swelling got really bad.
Thankfully the hives are getting better! My neck is still swollen from the incision though.

Bring the Rain by Mercy Me
I can count a million times
People asking me how I
Can praise You with all that I've gone through
The question just amazes me
Can circumstances possibly
Change who I forever am in You
Maybe since my life was changed
Long before these rainy days
It's never really ever crossed my mind
To turn my back on you oh Lord
My only shelter from the storms
But instead I draw closer through these times
So I pray
Bring me joy, bring me peace
Bring the chance to be free
Bring me anything that brings You glory
And I know they'll be days
When this life brings me pain
But if that's what it takes to praise You
Jesus Bring the Rain
I am Yours regardless of
The dark clouds that may loom above
Because You are much greater than my pain
You who made a way for me
By suffering Your destiny
So tell me what's a little rain
So I pray
Bring me joy, bring me peace
Bring the chance to be free
Bring me anything that brings You glory
And I know they'll be days
When this life brings me pain
But if that's what it takes to praise You
Jesus Bring the Rain
Holy, Holy, Holy
Is the Lord God Almighty"
"But as for me, I will always have hope;
I will praise you more and more." Psalm 71:14
I hope you have a great week!