After

The procedure went well yesterday.  I was quite nervous about it.  I wasn’t completely under, I was awake, but I couldn’t feel anything.  I remember a few things but for the most part I was out of it.  It didn’t start hurting until I got home.  I have kept ice packs on, which I’m sure has helped.  But the thing that has hurt the most is swallowing.  It’s so much worse than I expected.  Hopefully I’ll heal up quickly.  I have been trying to drink lots today, water and vitamin waters and juices.  The only things I was able to eat were apple sauce, yogurt, and broth.  I tried to eat some mashed up potato but couldn’t do it.  So far this whole wisdom teeth removal hasn’t been too much fun.  At least it’s no where near as bad as the pilonidal cyst or staph infections and all that came with those.  I know this too will pass, it will just take time.  I just hope this pain while swallowing goes away soon, it’s horrible.  But I can’t complain because I know it could be worse.

~Sarah

Wisdom Teeth

Tomorrow I am getting my wisdom teeth out.  And I’m actually really nervous about it.  I shouldn’t be, considering all the other things I’ve been through.  But I am nervous.  The way this dentist does it, is a way called conscious sedation.  I just took a pill, before bedtime, and then I will take three more tomorrow before my appointment.  And supposedly that puts me out of it, but I will still be awake.  The dentist said that most people don’t remember anything afterwards at all, but during the procedure you are awake and when he says turn your head to the left or something, you can do it.  I wish I could be completely out, but that is kind of excessive for just getting your wisdom teeth out.  So this is the way it will go, and I know everything will be fine afterwards.  But right now, and I’m sure up through the procedure, I am very nervous about it.  I know everything will be okay.  I just have to remember all that I went through during 2008 and know that if I could get through all that, than this will be a piece of cake.  So 3:00 tomorrow the surgery will take place, hopefully all will go well! 

~Sarah

Just some thoughts…

I realize that when I find time to get away from schoolwork and stuff and update this blog, I usually write a couple entries.  I should probably try to span it out a little more, but for now I’ll do what I can.  I have come to a clear realization that I am unhappy with how unhealthy I have allowed myself to be.  I’m not happy with myself for how I have allowed myself to put exercising and eating right at a very low priority.  And I have made a distinct decision in my mind to move my health higher on my priority list.  Although all of 2008 my health was very much at the forefront of my mind, as I was daily dealing with health related issues, I think it caused me to see that some health problems you can’t prevent, some just come for no reason at all.  And so I slacked off, and frankly didn’t care very much about exercising or eating right.  For one thing, I couldn’t exercise, part of the time I could barely even walk.  But putting all the excuses and negatives aside, it’s time for me to start caring.  I know that there are things you can’t prevents, and sometimes God allows us to suffer for reasons we won’t know till we see Him face to face.  But as Cory and I say “I do what I can in the time that I’m given,” and thats what I plan to do.  I want to start being healthier now, for the glory of my Savior, for my family and my future family, for my current health and my future health, for my happiness.  No I can’t prevent every disease or every physical hardship, but I can affect the quality of my life and put a priority on my health.  I’ve overcome the whole not caring anymore attitude…I’m past that part and ready to care, I’m ready to show God that the body that He has given me is worth taking care of and preserving, He is worth it.  I don’t know if all that made sense, but I’m just typing out some of my emotions and things I’ve been internally dealing with recently…not trying to complain, just typing out some thoughts as I switch around some priorities.

~Sarah

“and by His wounds we are healed”

I have such great news!  Last Friday I went to the Wound Management Center at the hospital for my weekly checkup.  It was just a normal Friday morning for me, getting up really early and going to the doctor and getting back to my room right as most people around campus were waking up.  But this turned out to be my last appointment!!! I received my discharge papers and my “graduation from the wound center” certificate.    I am healed!  No more open wound!  The skin is really really thin and will take up to a year to completely thicken and be “normal.”  So I just have to continue to use gauze to protect it.  But I am so over-joyed that my wound has healed.

This has been such a long and painful process.  It has been an entire year of weekly doctor visits, sugeries, excrutiatingly painful healing processes, and major bonding between my parents and I, my doctors and I, and Cory and I.  I wouldn’t want anyone at all to go through all I’ve gone through this past year.  And I pray that I will never forget the pain, because it has truly strengthened me and encouraged me to know that I can get through anything!  I can never forget the lessons that I have learned.  I will probably never know why I have had to go through everything I did, until I am in the presence of my Lord.  But I do know that the initial reason for that first happening a year ago, was God’s way of getting my attention and teaching me to slow down and not be so busy.  If I ever begin to over commit myself, which I am so prone to do, I need to think back to this past year, and the way God taught me to slow down, to cut back on things, and not be overly committed.

I may never understand why I had to trudge through this specific valley, but I have come to appreciate and be thankful for the way God has allowed me to have an entirely new perspective on the words “by His wounds we are healed,” and “His wounds have paid our ransom.”  These phrases we so easily sing (or read in Scripture), I can no longer sing (or read) without getting completely choked up and overwhelmed.  It is truly humbling.  I have had a small taste of what it was like for Christ Jesus to have wounds, and just this small taste (that in no way comes close to comparing to what He endured) has given me a new and fresh love for Him and an entirely new and fresh outlook on what He went through.  And for that I am eternally grateful.  And because of that, I would go through it all again.

~Sarah

I’m Healing Finally!!!

Well my last doctor’s visit was encouraging, the first encouraging visit in a long time, well actually, since this all started almost a year ago.  What the doctor decided to use last time for my wound worked!  And so now I’m just keepin on keepin on, using what she gave me, and then I go back next Friday.  I go to my nurse here at school once a week, just for him to check and make sure I’m doing things right and that this stubborn ole wound is looking ok.  And yesterday when I went to see him, he was sooo encouraging and said that the next time I go see my doctor I should be 90% healed!  It’s such a delight to hear those words and so wonderful to be healing.  I was joking around with Nurse Paul saying I don’t really remember what its like to not have this wound, and to not be bandaged up all the time.  It’s going to be weird being “normal.”  But God is so good.  I know He has a plan and reason behind why I’ve gone though everything I have this past year, and I know He is good and His timing is perfect; there is a reason why I haven’t been healing up till now, even though I may not be sure of what it is right now.  I’m just so thrilled to actually be progressing in this whole healing process.  It’s such an answer to prayer.  Speaking of answers to prayer….Now if the house down in Florida could just sell…

~Sarah