and here's why. Let me try and condense a week and a half into just a short explanation. And yes, those who know me are free to go ahead and laugh at the idea of me condensing anything, let alone a long story. Wait, instead of rewriting it, I will just c&p an email I sent this morning.
Dear family and friends who have been "out of the loop" and had their emails sitting in my in box for a week with no reply...sorry and here's the rest of the story.
Jeff has been very ill, but I'm so elated to say that as of last night about 6 PM he is home!!!
A timeline of what has happened:
-Last week on Wednesday (April 23), he was headed home from a business trip in Central Va, and called to tell me he was too sick to drive. I told him to try and make it to his mom's house in Richmond and rest for a while, then try to come on home. He did that and then did make it home but was pretty sick.
- Thursday, I took him to the doctor and he had strep throat, so we thought that was it. He got medicine and went to bed.
-Friday, he was worse, with tons of pain in his abdomen and all over his body, and even though it wasn't normal strep throat type pain, we assumed it was from being sick. Friday night was awful with abdominal pain, but I thought perhaps the antibiotics from the strep throat were upsetting his IBS.
-Saturday he was even worse, so I decided to take him the hospital ER. They determined that it was intestinal and told us to go to a GI specialist as soon as possible. Gave him medicine and sent him home. At this time he was having very bad chills, sweats, and fevers, but that was explained as being caused by the pain.
-Sunday, still very bad, even getting worse.
-Monday, Even worse pain, fever chills and sweats, also at this point could not pass urine without physically pushing on his belly to force it out. I called our family Doctor and they told me to take him straight to the ER. I did take him Monday afternoon and by late Monday night after various IV antibiotics, CT scan and chest xray, they admitted him with dehydration, infection, reduced kidney function, and fluid around his heart.
-Tuesday- We spent the day in the hospital with him on fluids and antibiotics, and seeing doctors. By late Tuesday afternoon, we still had no answers. We had seen infectious disease, internal medicine, and urology. They all agreed he was very sick but no one took his case. Throughout this time, even with all the IV antibiotics, he still continued with his cycle of sweats and chills and fever. Finally, one of the doctors called a colo-rectal surgeon who came in last thing of the day, right at 5 pm. He talked to us for a long time, reviewed the tests and CT scans, and finally decided that he would take Jeff and wanted to do surgery the next morning. He said he would have to go exploring and that he knew what he was looking for, just wasn't sure where he would find it. He was looking for a cyst or abscess in the colon. - Apparently this is because they didn't use the contrast dye stuff when they did the CT scan in the ER.
-Wednesday, surgery was a bit more complicated than expected given that he didn't know exactly what he was looking for, or where. They did find a source of all the infection, a cyst/abscess/not sure what to call it, (the Dr. used a big word), was wrapped around his intestine, almost completely encircling it. It had apparently burst at some point, and spread. By Wednesday day, his kidney function was back and all the fluid was going so the heart was no longer a concern. They said if his fever went down he could come home on Thursday. I was very hopeful because by Wednesday afternoon and evening his fever had broken.
-Thursday- A roller coaster day. The doctor said that since his fever came back during the night Wednesday night/early Thursday, he would probably not let him come home. Then the surgeon said that yes he could come home... then the other doctor said no he couldn't. I should explain. The "other doctor" is one who we don't know at all, he is simply the cooperating Dr. for our family Dr. at this hospital. I was not impressed with him and had to refuse some tests on Wednesday as well, so him saying that Jeff couldn't come home made me upset. The surgeon who actually WORKED on Jeff said that his white count was down and doing great, he looked great, the chills and fever were gone, yes he can come home.
So...I was about ready to ask the nurse manager how I could go about firing "other doctor" and having the surgeon be our physician of record and let him discharge Jeff, when apparently the surgeon called "other doctor" and told him to let Jeff come home.
I went and got him last evening.
Friday (today, May 2)- we are all home together, it is wonderful. The poor kids have been bounced all week. Between my very dear MOPS (Mothers Of PreSchoolers) group and my father-in-law, the kids have had excellent care all week, but they still really missed being home and of course mommy and daddy. We do still have some recovery to go through, due to the nature of this surgery, they do not close the incisions, they want them to drain, so I have to gaping holes (about the size of my thumb!) to keep clean and dry and dressed.
Jeff is still of course on very strong antibiotics, and pain medication. We do not know how long he will be out of work, at this point he has missed 7 days, and I doubt he will be back next week either. So still a lot to be praying for. I am utterly exhausted as I was not feeling great even while he was out of town last week and was looking forward to him coming home so I could get some rest. As I am sure you can tell, that rest never happened!
Again my MOPS group and other church friends are coming through, I just had a large portion of groceries delivered to my house for us to use for lunches, and we will have hot meals delivered to the house every night for the next few days too. Hopefully this will be enough time for me to get good and rested and able to handle everything again. I am now 23 weeks pregnant and the baby seems to be doing great. Lots of kicking and movement, feeling fine, just easily tired.
Even though we would never choose to have this happen, I would be remiss if I didn't share how blessed we have been with support through this. My father in law kept the kids for me on Saturday and then again Monday when I took Jeff to the ER. I actually had to leave him (Jeff) in the ER on Monday night because as you may have seen on the news, we had Tornadoes through the area on Monday evening, and they were hitting all around my in-laws house and my mother in law was home alone by herself. By ten PM, I assumed (but couldn't get confirmed because the ER doctor was busy with incoming ambulances carrying tornado victims) that they would admit him, so I went ahead home to let my father-in-law get home and check out any damage. Thank God they were fine; many, many people lost everything. The ER doctor called me about 10:45pm to tell me that yes, he was admitting him.
By this time it was too late to plan anything for childcare the next day, but I knew that we had a MOPS meeting scheduled. I simply showed up on Tuesday morning at the church, told the first lady I saw what was going on and everything was instantly taken care of. They took the car-seats and I headed for the hospital. If you are a mother you know what a blessing it is to have a circle of friends who love and care for your children as much as their very own. For the next three days, my MOPS friends took complete care of the kids, picking them up, dropping them off, feeding them, they even got Joy down for her nap, which is a major achievement. The kids were brought home to me each night once I got back home from being with Jeff. As I already shared, my "meals on wheels" will start today, and I even had offers to let me put my laundry in a bag on the porch and someone would pick it up and bring it back the next day clean. God is so very, very, good and we are so very, very blessed.
It was very scary for a few days, I have honestly never seen anyone that sick. The chills and sweats were like nothing I've ever seen (and remember I've worked in the medical field!). Then on Monday when the ER doctor said that his kidney function was low and that he had fluid around his heart... that was also scary to say the least. He looks so much better now, and even though he's sore from the surgery, he actually feels much better too.
I am so sorry that you all are hearing this after the fact, but I just wasn't home except for to sleep pretty much all week. My own mom had to wait until 10pm the night of his surgery (Wednesday) to get her update since I couldn't make long distance calls out of the hospital.
Love to all,
Jody.
So anyway, I'm busy here helping Jeff get around and doing wound care several times a day, taking care of the kids, and trying to get caught up on a week of nothing getting done.
Jeff is feeling well enough now that I can begin my merciless teasing and asking what is SO special about me being pregnant thay he has to compete with me? You see, he did this when I was pregnant with Joyana too! That time he got appendicitis and had surgery which was an ER trip and a hospital stay too, although not nearly this long or complicated! I am almost afraid to even think about having another baby... not for my sake but because who knows what kind of sickness he'll come up with next time!
Friday, May 2, 2008
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Great Sermon
You know how sometimes you hear a message and it is just such good meat? That is what we had this morning. One of the ministers from our church oversight committee spoke today. I of course can't transcribe the message but I would like to share his main thoughts.
He started by asking two questions:
-What were your initial expectations when you got saved and began your christian walk?
-Which is more important to you today; Christ's agenda for your life, or your agenda for you life?
He spoke about the fact that our plans for our life often don't come true and referred to the old song, "I never promised you a rose garden" and how sometimes people get saved with the expectation that from here on out, they will be sitting pretty. Then when this doesn't happen, they take their marbles and go home. Once a man asked him, "what is God's plan for my life?" and he answered him, "He wants to kill you." Of course this is a little extreme, but his point was, God's plan is to get us out of the way so he can use us and work through our lives. Often this involves things that were NOT our expectation when we got saved. We tend to have a very "American Christianity" that involves few trials and lots of prosperity...they may or may not be God's plan for us.
Then he talked about our agenda vs. Christ's agenda. Of course we would all say that of course we want Christ's agenda for our lives! But really... how are we living? Do we seek to avoid pain and hardship or do we seek God's will? He spoke about Paul and how on the way to one journey to Jerusalem it was prophesied to him several times that if he went, he would be bound and jailed. Think about it, we feel God telling us to do something, but we get actual prophesy that if we do, we will be jailed, beat up, lose our health, or our family, or some other catastrophe. Our interpretation of that would of course be, "Oh, I misunderstood God's plan! I must not be supposed to go after all" and in our spirit of self-preservation, we do not go. Paul's response to this was, "Yes, you are undoubtedly correct, but God's will is that I should go, regardless." Well, of course Paul went and not only was he arrested in Jerusalem, but he was shipwrecked on Malta and to add insult to injury, he was bitten by a snake. However, from this came a whole ministry and the beginning of the christian church on the island of Malta.
The minister said one refrain over and over, that we must grow up, learn to "shake it off" (reference to Paul shaking off the poisonous viper) and continue to follow God... without allowing our plans, expectations, or agenda get in the way.
I hope I haven't made it sound like this sermon was in any way dark or depressing, it wasn't at all, but it was really some good meat. I know that I have a great need in my own life to "grow up" and continue to trust God and follow his will, no matter what. I was also greatly challenged by the notion that we shouldn't allow predictions or even occurrences of bad situations deter us. Don't be so sure that negative (in our eyes) situations means that we shouldn't go through with God's plan. I've grown up in church circles that studiously avoided any part of a "prosperity gospel" but I know that I've heard negative situations interpreted to mean that the individual was not supposed to have taken that path or that they were mistaken in determining God's will.
He started by asking two questions:
-What were your initial expectations when you got saved and began your christian walk?
-Which is more important to you today; Christ's agenda for your life, or your agenda for you life?
He spoke about the fact that our plans for our life often don't come true and referred to the old song, "I never promised you a rose garden" and how sometimes people get saved with the expectation that from here on out, they will be sitting pretty. Then when this doesn't happen, they take their marbles and go home. Once a man asked him, "what is God's plan for my life?" and he answered him, "He wants to kill you." Of course this is a little extreme, but his point was, God's plan is to get us out of the way so he can use us and work through our lives. Often this involves things that were NOT our expectation when we got saved. We tend to have a very "American Christianity" that involves few trials and lots of prosperity...they may or may not be God's plan for us.
Then he talked about our agenda vs. Christ's agenda. Of course we would all say that of course we want Christ's agenda for our lives! But really... how are we living? Do we seek to avoid pain and hardship or do we seek God's will? He spoke about Paul and how on the way to one journey to Jerusalem it was prophesied to him several times that if he went, he would be bound and jailed. Think about it, we feel God telling us to do something, but we get actual prophesy that if we do, we will be jailed, beat up, lose our health, or our family, or some other catastrophe. Our interpretation of that would of course be, "Oh, I misunderstood God's plan! I must not be supposed to go after all" and in our spirit of self-preservation, we do not go. Paul's response to this was, "Yes, you are undoubtedly correct, but God's will is that I should go, regardless." Well, of course Paul went and not only was he arrested in Jerusalem, but he was shipwrecked on Malta and to add insult to injury, he was bitten by a snake. However, from this came a whole ministry and the beginning of the christian church on the island of Malta.
The minister said one refrain over and over, that we must grow up, learn to "shake it off" (reference to Paul shaking off the poisonous viper) and continue to follow God... without allowing our plans, expectations, or agenda get in the way.
I hope I haven't made it sound like this sermon was in any way dark or depressing, it wasn't at all, but it was really some good meat. I know that I have a great need in my own life to "grow up" and continue to trust God and follow his will, no matter what. I was also greatly challenged by the notion that we shouldn't allow predictions or even occurrences of bad situations deter us. Don't be so sure that negative (in our eyes) situations means that we shouldn't go through with God's plan. I've grown up in church circles that studiously avoided any part of a "prosperity gospel" but I know that I've heard negative situations interpreted to mean that the individual was not supposed to have taken that path or that they were mistaken in determining God's will.
meet BabyJ
We had an ultrasound on Friday, baby looks good, did lots of waving and kicking and posed really nicely for some face pictures. No, we did not find out if it's baby Jonathan or baby J'girlyname. Jeff prevailed in insisting he wants another surprise. Whoever is in there thought that holding still for boring measurements of hearts and kidneys was just not cool, so we get to go back in 4 weeks for more pictures.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
double take
yes, if you are keeping track of the baby ticker... it did change. yesterday it said 21 weeks pregnant, today it says 19 weeks pregnant. I'm taking charge.
the midwives have one date, I have another date. I bowed to their wisdom and used their date for the ticker. Well, all that has gotten me is a load of anxiety because I didn't feel the baby move, haven't had various pregnancy things happen that should have happened by now, etc.
WELL.... if I'm right, then everything is right on... viola, no more anxiety.
I'll take up the fight with them (again) officially in a week. I have my "big ultrasound" on Friday the 18th. Until then, I've changed my ticker and decided to relax.
It's my baby and I'll have it when I want to.
*I do think I got it mad enough last night to feel some "for sure" kicks. If I can get a repeat performance tonight, I'll count it as baby movement.
the midwives have one date, I have another date. I bowed to their wisdom and used their date for the ticker. Well, all that has gotten me is a load of anxiety because I didn't feel the baby move, haven't had various pregnancy things happen that should have happened by now, etc.
WELL.... if I'm right, then everything is right on... viola, no more anxiety.
I'll take up the fight with them (again) officially in a week. I have my "big ultrasound" on Friday the 18th. Until then, I've changed my ticker and decided to relax.
It's my baby and I'll have it when I want to.
*I do think I got it mad enough last night to feel some "for sure" kicks. If I can get a repeat performance tonight, I'll count it as baby movement.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Blogs of Note
Some of you have recieved emails from me about my friend Shelley... here are her blogs. If you haven't gotten emails of prayer requests, here is a super quick back story:
Shelley and Robert like to adopt kids. specifically kids with disabilities from Eastern Europe. It has been my joy to meet Shelley this year in MOPS and to get to know her and watch what amazing things God can do with a willing family. Shelley and Robert are the most regular people you would ever hope to meet. Not perfect, not "have it all together", just normal people. I laughed the last time I saw Shelley, she had just had a "midlife crisis" and dyed her hair pink! I guess that is what happens when a mom of many gets two hours free at the mall, LOL.
Anyway, here are her blogs. The first one is her life blog, it will have stories about all the kids and just daily life. http://chroniclesofhousehold6.blogspot.com/2008_03_01_archive.html
This is the blog dealing specifically with the latest adoption. They have one son from Romania, one from Hungary, and are leaving in a few days to get their son from Serbia. This will be the first international adoption of a child with Down Syndrome from Serbia. (This is in addition to their kids they aquired in the "normal way." ) http://gatheringthemfromtheeast.blogspot.com/
I encourage you to visit Shelley's blogs, be encouraged and amazed as you follow their journey of faith.
Shelley and Robert like to adopt kids. specifically kids with disabilities from Eastern Europe. It has been my joy to meet Shelley this year in MOPS and to get to know her and watch what amazing things God can do with a willing family. Shelley and Robert are the most regular people you would ever hope to meet. Not perfect, not "have it all together", just normal people. I laughed the last time I saw Shelley, she had just had a "midlife crisis" and dyed her hair pink! I guess that is what happens when a mom of many gets two hours free at the mall, LOL.
Anyway, here are her blogs. The first one is her life blog, it will have stories about all the kids and just daily life. http://chroniclesofhousehold6.blogspot.com/2008_03_01_archive.html
This is the blog dealing specifically with the latest adoption. They have one son from Romania, one from Hungary, and are leaving in a few days to get their son from Serbia. This will be the first international adoption of a child with Down Syndrome from Serbia. (This is in addition to their kids they aquired in the "normal way." ) http://gatheringthemfromtheeast.blogspot.com/
I encourage you to visit Shelley's blogs, be encouraged and amazed as you follow their journey of faith.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
The Sweetest Moments
Back Story: Jessi has been struggling with carnality, specifically hot emotions and a quick temper. I heard a marvelous teaching back at the beginning of our MOPS year and as a result, Jeff and I knew we had to do something to curb this behavior. It was certainly NOT an overnight fix, but has been amazing to witness the power of Scripture in the life of 4 year old. After much prayer I decided that she had to memorize, understand, and begin to apply several scripture verses. Her verses are:
2 Corinthians 10:5b ... we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.
Phil. 4: 8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things.
Proverbs 25:28
A person without self-control is as defenseless as a city with broken-down walls.
What has been beautiful to see is that even a four year old can begin to control themselves with Jesus' help.
So, current story. Joy is two and beginning to experiment with "having fits", we are of course intervening and training for this. (True confession: I often have to turn away and giggle before I can properly intervene. She wants a fit, but she also wants comfort. She will start on the floor, get up and lean on the wall, and finally go recline on the couch... all during the same fit.) I honestly hadn't even thought yet about teaching her any verses... she's 27 months. Apparently Jessi realizes that the earlier, the better, and has no compunctions about age or limitations. The other night I was in my room and Jessi proudly marches Joy in, tells me to listen, and then word by word, guides her through saying the Proverbs verse.
I cannot tell you how my heart melted.
Moments like that are truly life's sweetest treasures.
2 Corinthians 10:5b ... we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.
Phil. 4: 8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things.
Proverbs 25:28
A person without self-control is as defenseless as a city with broken-down walls.
What has been beautiful to see is that even a four year old can begin to control themselves with Jesus' help.
So, current story. Joy is two and beginning to experiment with "having fits", we are of course intervening and training for this. (True confession: I often have to turn away and giggle before I can properly intervene. She wants a fit, but she also wants comfort. She will start on the floor, get up and lean on the wall, and finally go recline on the couch... all during the same fit.) I honestly hadn't even thought yet about teaching her any verses... she's 27 months. Apparently Jessi realizes that the earlier, the better, and has no compunctions about age or limitations. The other night I was in my room and Jessi proudly marches Joy in, tells me to listen, and then word by word, guides her through saying the Proverbs verse.
I cannot tell you how my heart melted.
Moments like that are truly life's sweetest treasures.
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