Tuesday, October 25, 2011

10/25/11--2-Week Post-Op Follow-up Appointment

Monday, 10/24/11, MK had her 2-week post-op appointment. Her plans were to go in and get a timeline/game plan on what our next chapter would be. Oh, yeah, she also needed to get a medical release to return to a full work schedule.  

She recounts her first "real" question for her doctor to be "was is as bad as you thought?" referring to the surgery. His response, "it was horrible." MK said she kind of laughed thinking he was being slightly sarcastic. "No, really, it was horrible" again states her doctor. We had known it was bad from her very first surgery but none of the previous doctors had quite taken this descriptive approach.
 
He then goes on to tell her that he had a recent medical conference in Las Vegas (of course I Googled and think he was referring to the "International Pelvic Pain Society's Annual Fall Meeting" last weekend). He said different doctors submitted cases and pictures of surgeries, etc., to be used in the meetings and presentations. He said he was watching a presentation when pictures came up on the screen that seemed familiar. He kept looking at them and approached the presenter afterwards. His thoughts were correct...the slides were from MK's surgery! Best part is that the discussion was basically looking at "worst case scenario" of Endometriosis. As I stated in my closing sentence from the last paragraph, we have known her case was severe but, oh my, MK has been diagnosed with one of the worst cases of Endometriosis in America. Now MK being a pageant girl, she is all about titles, but not this one!!

 Let's look to our future. MK's doctor has said that we need to quickly go back to our fertility specialist and devise our new game plan. So that said, MK has made an appointment next week to discuss with our fertility doctor our options. We have a preliminary belief that we will be limited to IVF and egg donor. The IVF won't have great odds and we are still developing our opinions on whether we believe egg donor would be a proper fit for us.  Of course, we will discuss and consider all options available to us.

I was unable to attend this follow-up visit. I really didn't think that much about it. When MK called me after she left the doctor's office and was telling me about everything, I was shocked. She was being very strong and collected on the phone, but I can only imagine how this news was affecting her. I even had to step out the back door at work to have the conversation.  Now, MK is the strongest woman I know. Not many people, men included, could go through the daily pain and discomfort she is faced with.  I can't imagine my life without her and I am blessed to be by her side through all of this.  As I have said before, this is my disease just as much as it is hers.  She is not alone in this.  I would give anything to help alleviate her pain but I have to stay focused that this is working through God's plan. All I can really do is stay positive, support her, and maybe do the dishes, vacuum, wash clothes, etc., to help her out! We will get through all this through our Faith and support from our wonderful friends and family. As MK has quoted from one her favorite books recently, I firmly believe everything will be worth it when we can look at our "little one" and say "If our journey had been easy, we wouldn't have you".

Thanks for listening,

 --Bradley


Monday, October 10, 2011

10/10/11--Surgery is Over

MK came out of surgery doing pretty well. It was around a 3hr surgery. Herdoctor is very optimistic that the work he performed will help her with her daily pain. We had entered this day thinking he might remove her left ovary and left tube, instead he was able to leave them both in place. He did however remove her right tube. He said it was so swollen with infection he consulted with our fertility doctors and they agreed it needed to come out. He was able to remove several "nodules" of endo throughout her pelvic area. The doctor also found several small cuts in her bladder caused by the endo that is certainly causing her additional discomfort.

I think he was shocked to see first hand how rough MK has had it. He even referred to her aggressive case as to the way cancer might "attack" the pelvic area.

We will wait for now to learn about the impact the success from this surgery will have and our fertility. Until then, we place MK's healing and recover in the hands of our Lord.

For those who have expressed and interest in stopping by the hospital, we are still here overnight and MK will be discharged sometime Tuesday. If you would like the room number, it should be available on patient directory or you can email, text, or call either my phone or MK's (I will answer)

Thank you to everyone who has been thinking of us and praying for us.

--Bradley

10/10/11--Let the Surgery Begin

MK was rolled back to surgery around 8:45am. If all goes as planned, she should be out sometime around noon. MK's final request prior to going back was to listen to the Auburn Fight Song on her iPhone. 

--Bradley

Thursday, October 6, 2011

10/06/11 Surgery Rescheduled!


Sorry, that it has been awhile since our last post, but it has been a lot of waiting to see what our next step will be. Hopefully we haven't posted too much in one day. We have a lot to be thankful for and a lot of catching up to do!  It has been very emotional because it is like riding a rollercoaster. One minute you are up and the next you are down. 
My surgery has been rescheduled for this coming Monday (Oct. 10th). We are hopeful that this surgery will improve my quality of life as well as provide us some answers on how to pursue having a family. They will keep me overnight and then release me sometime on Tuesday. After that I am hoping for a speedy recovery.
Until then - Bradley and I are looking forward to a wonderful weekend. Tomorrow, I’m so excited that I get to keep my good friend, Mary Catherine’s, little baby Anna Scott. This will help to take my mind off of my surgery. Then Saturday hopefully we will cheer Auburn to a victory.
-Mary Kathryn

10/06/11--Friends and Motherhood

On a happy note – I am truly blessed to have such wonderful friends in my life and I love every minute of  watching them become mothers. I love watching Anna Scott (Mary Catherine’s little girl) grow, I was so excited this week when I found out that Anna is having a little girl (Lucy Reeves Beam) and I can’t wait to find out what Maggie is having. These girls will never know how much their continued love and support have meant to me.

I read something yesterday that really gave me peace and I wanted to share it –
“We know we’ll have a baby. And we’re going to have the baby we’re supposed to have. Whatever baby we end up having will be the right baby. Our baby. And we know that we’ll hold that child and think, “If our journey had been easy, we wouldn’t have you.”
                                                                                       Baby Proof by Emily Giffin
                                                                                      (May 15, 2007)
                                                                                   

-Mary Kathryn

10/06/11--MK's Experience in the ER


When things are hard we tend to focus on the negative instead of the positive. A week ago, I ran into a full length mirror and severely cut my toe. I had to go to the emergency room at 5:30 in the morning and get 15 stitches. When this first happened I asked God, “Have I not been through enough?” However, on that day, God showed me that I have so much to be thankful for. I have a wonderful husband who came to my rescue and took care of me. He took care of me all weekend. I have wonderful parents who, when I called to tell them I was going to the emergency room, my dad dropped everything and came to the ER to be with us. My mother brought me my favorite “chocolate covered pecans” and a pair of house shoes because I couldn’t wear regular shoes.

I also focus on the negative at work a lot of times, but yesterday when I was in an award ceremony sitting by my dad and I saw him give a thumbs up to one of his employees, who had just received an award, my first thought was “Why can’t I have a supervisor like that?” and then I realized that I might not have a supervisor like that, but I have a dad like that and that is worth so much more.
--Mary Kathryn

I would like to add that MK is all the time bumping into things around the house.  She has plenty of bruises to prove it.  When she started screaming last Friday morning, I thought nothing of it.  But when she started to cry, I sprung into action because I knew it wasn't a simple bruise.  When I turned the lights on in the bedroom, I was horrified at the amount of blood all over the carpet.  This is when all my years of Boy Scouts kicked in (I am proud to say that I am an Eagle Scout!) and I was able to handle the medical emergency very well.  I think I shocked MK at how calm but demanding I was during the ordeal.  I have to give a shamless shout out to my parents for being so heavily involved with Scouts, especially since it isn't the "cool thing" for kids to do today.  As proof on this day, it really pays off. 

I love posting pictures but I think I will refrain of posting one of MK's toe.  I don't want anyone to loose their meal.  Who knew that her little toe had enough room for 15 stitches?  On a football related note, her ER physican at RMC in Anniston was a former team doctor for Alabama during the Bear Bryant days.  All I could say about his professionalism, bedside manner, ability to stitch, and the stories he shared, is RTR.

-Bradley