God spoke...

I went in on November 12 and had abdominoplasty surgery to remove the excess skin from my stomach.  I also had a mastoplexy and augmentation mammaplasty done to my breasts.  When I went back in later that week for my postoperative appointment they sent me to the hospital because my stomach looked distended. I got admitted on November 16. My symptoms were different every hour, like A ROLLER COASTER RIDE. One hour I was joking around and feeling good and the next hour I would feel horrible.  My momma’s birthday was November 18 and I felt AWFUL that day.  I had the worst pain and I was in the hospital.  The surgeon that did my gastric bypass was the one who admitted me and I was his patient.  He had done X-rays and Cat scans with dye to try to figure out why I was so distended. He never got a good picture of what he should do with me.  I ended up having emergency bowel obstruction resection surgery that night. The surgeon ended up having to remove a whole foot of my small intestine that some scar tissue from my last C-section had literally choked and it was black and dead. If they had not found this I would have probably died is what I'm told so it’s a big deal.  When I woke up in the ICU after the surgery, my sweet husband was just a boo-hooing over my bed side.  He just kept telling me that I had been through so much and he was so sad.  God gave me a compassionate man. 

The next day when I saw the surgeon he was so pleased to see that I was alive (kind of in a disturbing way for me).  He explained to me that he had no good reason to open me up on the operating table by looking at my symptoms but “God told me to open you up!”.

WHOA! Goosebumps.

GOD told him to open me up and because he did he was able to save my life and give me more life on Earth.  I am floored by this.  God is not done with me.  I feel like I have some massive shoes to fill and I would love it if you would pray with me as I move forwards from this.

I begged the doctors to let me go home the day before thanksgiving but I ended up admitted back in the hospital the very next day because my intestine got aggravated and dilated and I am currently still in the hospital.  Please continue to pray for me and my healing as well as the burden on my family and I will continue to blog what God has put on my heart. 

Prayers Please

I am going in this morning to have abdominoplasty surgery to remove the excess skin from my stomach.  I am also going to have a mastoplexy and augmentation mammaplasty done to my breasts.  This will be a 9 hour surgery.  I will be so glad to not have to worry about rashes on my body where the excess skin is and feel more confident as a woman.  I am SO nervous.  Please keep me, the doctor, and staff in your prayers.

Struggles

Struggles happen for a reason.  It is when we are in our struggle that we cling to Christ the most and we glorify him when we come out of a struggle. I feel that losing weight in my life has been used to glorify God.  When I started the couch to 5K program I had a light bulb moment.  Something inside me clicked. And it was intense.  I remember thinking that this could be something great- greater than what I was making of it. I started running 30 seconds and walking 30 seconds for 20 minutes in the beginning.  That is not even week 1 on couch to 5K.  In week 1 of the program you run 60 seconds and then walk 90 seconds- that was not going to happen!  So I altered it to what I was capable of and then moved up from that. My goal was to be able to run a whole 5K and finish it without walking.

 I was trying to prove something to myself and failure was not an option.  During this exercise journey I started asking God to help me and give me strength and endurance. He did. It was the first time in my 26 years of life that I knew I could not be successful in this journey in my own strength.  In October of 2010 I ran my first 5K ever. My victory was so much more than that- I had completed a fitness goal. That was the first fitness goal that I had ever completed. I remember tears filling my eyes as I thought that a year ago from then I was not able to walk to the mailbox without feeling out of breath and now I could run 5Ks.  You can beat temptation with determination.

“Dear Lord, help us please.  Every single soul in this room needs you to fill them up. Help us to make the right choices and give us the determination to beat the temptations of this world. We will only be completely fulfilled with you and not the things of this world.  Thank you Lord for giving us options, but please give us the wisdom and clarity that we need to make wise choices. Amen.”