Recovery Trials (from Ray)

In case some of you haven't heard, Missy's surgery went fine, but the days since have been difficult. It turns out that she didn't have an infection at all, but rather a granuloma (a pocket of white blood cells). Blood cultures take several days to grow anything, so her surgeon put her on two heavy duty antibiotics last Saturday. Sunday she expected to go to surgery, so she wasn't allowed to eat or drink all day (termed NPO) until about 6:00pm. Same thing on Monday, NPO until dinner.

Needless to say, her body did not like the lack of fluids. Her key kidney health measurement (creatinine) was 0.9 when she was admitted, but this afternoon it was nearly 5.0. Because of this high level, she's experiencing a lot of pain, so much so that she can't sleep comfortably (not that you really can in the hospital anyway).

Another trial she's faced has been the wound vac. That's right, she has a small vacuum hose connected to the surgery wound in order to aid healing and drainage. Today was her first dressing change. They encouraged her to pre-medicate, so she took not one, but two Percocets. Even with the narcotics on board, it proved to be a terribly excruciating experience.

To top it all off, she hasn't been taking her blood pressure medication (an ARB) because of its effects on kidney function, so she's had a progressively worsening headache all week. Needless to say, it doesn't look like she'll be going home soon.

Prior to this hospital stay, she was doing wonderful. She was finally able to drive again, she was able to take extended walks with her walking buddy, and she's gotten to enjoy spending time with our nieces and nephews. Now it feels like we've taken two giant steps backward. When we're going through these trials, it's incredibly difficult to remember that this will only last for a little while because the little while is so intensely bad. It's tough to remember that the Lord has a plan for all of this, but we know it will be realized someday.