Blessings Come in Small Ways

Things have been busy, like always, here in the Hall home, and I haven't had to time to write a blog post about our life. However, this last week was full of tremendous blessings and little miracles and I felt that I needed to post.

It all started on Sunday. Everyone was coming down with a cough or sickness except Dom and I (Irene). So I decided to go to church with Dom and let Tim sleep off the sickness so he wouldn't miss any work for the coming week. After church we came home, had dinner, enjoyed the evening then went to bed. Around 10:30 pm I woke up with a sharp, deep pain in my lower abdomen and groin area. It was so painful that I couldn't go back to sleep. I thought, "maybe it's Gastrointestinal Tract (GI tract) issues." So I tried to go to the bathroom and some of the pain went away but not all of it. I was able to go back to sleep but only lying on my back, not curled up.

The morning came, and to my surprise Tim decided to take a sick day because his throat was hurting worse than the day before (Blessing #1). I got up but the pain was still there. It helped when I laid down and didn't do anything, but still the pain was growing worse. At one point, while Tim was trying to nap and I was doing laundry, the pain grew much worse and went into my lower back on the left side. It was so bad that I was squirming in pain on the bed (I was in the guest bedroom, right next to our bedroom), not being able to find any comfortable position. Tim came in due to Dom's screaming and crying, he looked at me and said, "I think we need to go to the ER." I said, "No, it's okay, I'll be fine, the pain will pass." It was not passing and it made me want to throw up. Nothing came up, so we headed off to the hospital. Jerry, my brother-in-law, was able to watch Dom while we went to the hospital (Blessing #2).

We arrived around 10:50 and were admitted into the ER at 11:30 am. The nurse asked the routine questions of symptoms and pain level. After his questioning he asked me for a urine sample and to put on a hospital gown. There was blood in the sample, and that was not a good sign.  We waited for a few minutes then the doctor came in to talk to us. He thought it was a kidney stone because the pain was going from my lower back on the left side to my front, upper-groin area. He was concerned with the blood though, wondering where was it coming from. If from the kidneys it could mean an infection, but if its origin was in the reproductive system it could mean more serious problems. He ordered a catheterized urine sample to determine whether or not the blood came from the kidneys (if there was blood in the catheterized sample then we would knew it came from the kidneys). He also ordered a pelvic example and multiple blood tests. He asked if I was pregnant, and I told him I had just finished my monthly cycle three days ago. The doctor left a little puzzled, but proceeded with the tests.

My kidneys were fine, and the pelvic exam looked good (except for the bleeding which was troubling). The doctor came in later that afternoon with results from all the tests, and informed us that  I was pregnant. Tim and I were baffled, "How could I be pregnant, I just had my period." He told us that he wanted to do another blood test to determine the HCG protein levels in my blood (the amount of HCG protein in the blood will tell very roughly how far along the pregnancy is). He also ordered  an ultrasound. The pain level was remaining constant unless I changed positioned from my back to curled, or if anyone touched my lower abdomen. I was no longer feeling the pain in my lower back (Blessing #3).

Me before the Ultrasounds

I went in for the ultra sound while Tim went to pick up Dom, around 5:00 in the evening. I had to get two different ultrasounds, and after the first one the technicians asked me to use the restroom. I hadn't eaten anything since about 9:30 am, and even then I had only eaten two pieces of toast because I wasn't feeling well. As I was leaving the bathroom, I felt very light headed and weak. I opened the door and explained that I felt weak and was about to faint if I didn't lie on the ground. I laid on the ground in a curled-up position and it felt really nice. The technicians didn't know what to do with me, so they called my ER nurse. She came and took my vitals and helped finish with the second ultrasound.

As they wheeled me into my room, my nurse put me on IV fluids to help stabilize me. After about 30 minutes the doctor came in an said, "It looks like you have an ectopic pregnancy either in the Fallopian tube or uterus. The ultrasounds weren't extremely conclusive, but they showed us a little better what was happening." At that moment, I felt calm and peaceful. I knew that the Lord would bless us and that all would go well (Blessing #4). The Doctor told us that I needed to go into surgery immediately. The gynecologist was going to come in and do one more test to see if I really did have an ectopic pregnancy. She came in and started tapping on my abdomen asking if it hurt more on the left or right side. She concluded that the ectopic pregnancy was developed in the left Fallopian tube.

After signing many different consent forms, I was wheeled into the operating room, which was very cold. They gave me some medicine that instantly made me unable to focus on anything I looked at, which was weird. Then they gave me the real dose of sleep medication-once that hit my blood stream, I was out. One of the nurses commented after the surgery that I was a light-weight and didn't need much anesthesia. The operation took about 1 hour and 20 minutes, during which time Tim waited in a waiting room and Dom was taken care of by my sister Christina at home. They performed a laparoscopic surgery, meaning they were able to do everything through three little 1/2 inch-long incisions. I had one under my belly button, one just above the left hip bone, and the third in the middle of my upper groin. Through each hole he was able to put a different instrument to fix the left fallopian tube. Through one hole he placed a camera to see inside. The second hole was for his tools, and the third hole was to pump my abdominal cavity full of air. Apparently I looked like I was very pregnant after having been pumped full of air.

First, the doctor sucked out all of the blood (3 cups worth--to give you a point of reference, when you donate blood you only give a pint which is about 2 cups). Once the blood was all out, he tipped me upside down so my head was pointing towards the ground. He then added air inside my abdominal cavity and worked on the left fallopian tube. The embryo had only ruptured part of the tube and had left most of it intact. He was able to save the tube and sew the ruptured portion (Blessing #5). After fixing the tube, he took a clamp-like tool and softly pushed the pregnancy tissue and anything remaining out of the tube. He took 6 pictures with the laparascope during the process, and printed them off for us. I will add them to the post, but if you are squamish about body stuff then don't look.

Once I was done I went home and rested (Blessing #6). Tim stayed home from work--which was very helpful and reassuring (Blessing #7) --for the whole week and helped take care of Dominic (Blessing #8), who was sick and had a bad cough and fever. Even though this experience could have been scary, I felt completely at peace and calm. I know the Lord blessed my body to heal, and that He blessed me with family nearby to help. I couldn't have done this without the support of my husband. Every day I feel more blessed that I married Tim and that he takes the time from his busy schedule to make sure his family and wife are doing well. The Lord has been good to us, and I feel blessed to have had the doctors, nurses, and medical staff who treat me (Blessing #9).

---------WARNING: PHOTOS BELOW THIS POINT SHOW BLOOD AND ORGANS-----------

Pictures of surgery: Taken by a tiny laparoscopic camera

This was taken before they started removing the blood. You see the little island in the middle of the blood--that's my liver. It is almost completely submerged. 

This is after they sucked out most of the blood. My liver is back to normal--you can see the comparison between the two photos side-by-side. 

The doctor is showing the left Fallopian tube with a rod-like instrument. He is showing that it was partly ruptured. 

This is after he fixed the left Fallopian tube. 

Now he is clamping down on the tube and pushing all of the pregnancy tissue out of the tube along with anything else. 

Comparing the right and left Fallopian tubes. You can see the left side is a little irritated. The uterus is the round oval at the top-center of the picture.

A big blessing is a group of little blessing piled up. I guess I won't be running for awhile, but I feel blessed to still be healthy and alive (Blessing #10).