The Atkinsons

And so it goes.

     Hello All, I've had quite the Valentine's weekend... and not in the way you would expect. 
      I generally like to do over-the-top celebrations and presents for events like birthdays, Christmas presents, Valentines or whatever. Sometimes I'll spend months working on something really special. This Valentine's I debated a lot of things, and on the day of- I finally decided I would try for a big home made meal with some of my newly acquired cooking gear (Thanks to my Mama.) 

     I am not an over-achiever in general, but when it comes to meals for some reason I ALWAYS try to do too much. (somewhere Stephanie is sighing and shaking her head) So, I thought I would make handmade beet noodles with my new pasta machine and homemade meat sause to go with it. On top of that I made some homemade bread, roasted some butternut squash, and baked dark chocolate souffles. I planned to have dinner ready when Kc got home- comical I know. Really I didn't finish it all till around 7 or 8. The pasta didn't really turn out how it should have, but I had never made pasta before. A normal person wouldn't have attempted to make something new they have never made on a special occasion with so many other things. But, you know, I'm not normal.
      Aside from letting the bread rise a little to much (and the issues with the pasta), everything else turned out really well and Kc and I were finally able to sit down and have our romantic dinner together. We talked about our relationship, our future together, and exchanged cards. (which by the way were pretty much the exact same card!) Kc treated me to a massage, cause that's the kind of a man he is- and then we went to bed together. A luxury that rarely happens around here due to our polar opposite schedules. And then came the exciting part of the weekend.
     I woke up around 2 am with some pains in my side. I thought I had trapped gas. I was frustrated and tried to go back to bed because often if you can sleep then it relaxes the body- which is good to get gas out. I had to work at 4 am, and when 3:30 rolled around (the time I get up) I was not feeling any better. I called my co-worker and told her I might be a little late, since it's hard to get a replacement in at that hour, and it's really hard for someone to do the morning workload alone- I knew she needed me. 
     I picked up some Gas-X at a gas station on the way to work along with some perrier. Carbonation is supposed to help. I got to work and I was just in a lot of pain, I was so frustrated and kept googling HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE GAS-X TO WORK!!!! At this point I really felt like it should have been gone, I hadn't really originally eaten anything that would have triggered it, but as a precaution I abstained from eating anything else since I had started to feel sick. Another co-worker showed up to the lab, and after some debate I decided I would leave.     
       I crawled into bed and thought for SURE when I woke up it would be gone. I heard my little girl wake up and cry for her mama, so I stood up to walk to her crib. A wave of extreme dizziness and nausea rushed over me. I hobbled to the crib, grabbed Olive, and carried her back to bed with me. I woke up KC and said I feel really sick, I need you to take Olive- I knew she was going to panic because she expected to get fed by her mama, but I didn't know what else to do. I went into the bathroom and tried to throw up, but mostly ended up laying on the bathroom floor because I felt so overcome with dizziness.
     At this point it crossed my mind that something else must be wrong- but still I thought, well maybe I got sick from taking Gas-x on an empty stomach? I rarely take any medications because I just don't like the way they make me feel, and at times I can have a very low tolerance to their potency. I had Kc make me some toast and oatmeal- thinking that would help. I debated going to the ER, but if anyone knows me they know I HATE going to the doctor more than anything, and will only go if it is seriously a last resort. I was a little concerned that it could possibly be my appendix  and I was trying to remember some of the symptoms my sister had when hers had ruptured. KC and i were looking up youtube videos. The pain was localized to my right side, which is where your appendix is, so it was a little disconcerting. Still (being the person that I am) I had KC feed Olive a bottle and then I crawled back into bed. 
     When I woke up again, I shifted and I felt sharp stabs of pain. I knew something was wrong and I had to go in. I was really dragging my feet, but Kc took me to the ER. Once there I was regretting it the whole time. They hook you up to an IV, which I hate, and they ask you all these questions, they touch you. Ugh. Because of my symptoms they decided to give me a CAT scan. After the scan, they brought me back to the room and I called Kc and I told him that they would be back with my results soon and I could go home. He said ok, let me know and I will pick you up. I was sure they would come back and say, we didn't see anything. But they didn't.
      They came back and said, now we want to do an ultrasound. Oh no. After an extremely uncomfortable ultrasound, I was pretty anxious to hear what they saw. The ER doctor came in and said they saw a mass, but were not sure what it was. They thought it was most likely a ovarian cyst. (but they had a list of other possible options -none of which sounded good) They called a gynecologist, but he was performing a surgery and wasn't supposed to be out for another 45 minutes. (Any amount of time they give you at a hospital, double it.)
      So an hour and a half later the doctor showed up. (I had been in the ER all day at this point.) He said I had a large cyst which had hemorrhaged and bled heavily into my abdominal cavities. That is what was causing all the pain. (It was my right ovary-hence more severe right side pain.) He said I needed surgery, and if I hadn't been such a little sneak who was chowing down on granola bars hidden in my purse, then they would have done the surgery then. So I had strict instructions not to take another bite of anything. Ugh, saying you can't eat is the worst thing you could tell this girl. I had to turn the tv off because every food commercial was killing me. Then KC came in munching on sonic. Real cool Kimo, real cool. 
    They performed the surgery at 7:30 am the next morning. They were able to do it successfully through laparoscopy (surgery performed through the use of a camera) and without the removal of my ovary. Whew. The  cyst they removed was larger than my ovary, and had bled around 450 ml into my cavity. That is more than a unit of blood we give to bleeding patients. Luckily I've always had a really high hematocrit (lots of red blood cells in my body), and was able to go without getting any blood. 
     I was able to leave the hospital that evening with 3 small incisions on my  belly and an order not to lift anything more than 15 pounds. But, we all know that's not going to happen- I mean have you seen my baby?? 

  Overall this experience just reenforced what I already knew. That I have an amazing family and husband. It was the first night I've had to be away from my little girl, and it was really hard on me. Especially because they had given me some things and told me I couldn't nurse her for a period of time. Kc brought Olive in and she would just get really upset when she saw me because she wanted me to hold her and feed her, and I couldn't. The only thing that made this ok was knowing that I had a husband who I fully trusted and was completely capable of taking care of all of her needs. Seriously, I love this man so much. He took all my worries away. 
    On top of that I had my sisters and In-laws who I can count on for anything. Anytime my sister Melissa, who lives in WA, hears about anything that happens to me she is ready drop everything and drive down on a moments notice. And she is pregnant with 4 kids. My sister Bethany who just had a baby days ago also was willing to drive up at any moment. I had assure them over and over again that I was fine. They would do anything for me and I am SO grateful for them. More than I can express. My other sister Ellen was coming up with idea after idea of things she could do to help. She brought us these delicious tacos that night, we so appreciated it. Thanks Ellen, you are so thoughtful. 
   I got texts from my husbands family wishing me well, and my mother-in-law came to our aid multiple times to watch Olive at moments when I felt like I needed KC to be with me. Thank you so much Mary, you do so much for us. We are so grateful to you. Looking back, in a way I am grateful that this happend because it's moments like this that you see how great you really have it. To be surrounded by such loving family and friends. I am so blessed. Thanks again to everyone. It's through our trials that we learn who we really are, and are able to build strong relationships and connections with others. And although this turned out to be something relatively small, I still feel like I learned so much from it.

    I Hope you all had a little less exciting Valentines than mine. Happy Heart Day.