NTM - New Tribes Mission | Planting Tribal Churches

I’m happy to be able to report that the Fibromyalgia and Endometriosis are both under control right now.  Related to this, however, it my current struggle with a nerve that has become entrapped in scar tissue.  Scarring is a constant struggle due to the endometriosis and all the surgeries that have resulted.  Every once in a while, that scar tissue can trap a nerve, and that nerve is then constantly irritated by movement.  It can become quite painful, and this is one of those cases.  The nerve that is trapped is on the right side of my lower abdomen, and is therefore aggravated by almost any movement.

I have had a couple of nerve blocks (injections into the nerve of an anesthetic and steroid) over the last two months, and they help for about three weeks.  My doctor is currently applying to insurance to be allowed to use cryogenics to freeze the offending nerve and therefore end the pain.  Please pray that insurance would approve the procedure, and that the nerve blocks and pain meds will keep the pain manageable until we can do something more permanent.

Surgery progressed right on schedule, 9am on Friday the 22nd.  I was at Oconomowoc Memorial Hospital, a small hospital about twenty minutes from Waukesha.  At first I was a little dismayed about not being at the hospital in Waukesha, but it was all part of God’s plan.  Oconomowoc is a small, very personable hospital, but part of the large area hospital system so that it still has all the advantages of a larger hospital.  It was probably the most enjoyable hospital experience I have had!

The procedure itself went off without a hitch…once the doctors got in, they realized there wasn’t even a cyst!  It turns out what was visible on the ultrasound was actually a massive amount of scar tissue from the endometriosis and previous surgeries; they couldn’t even see my ovary!  The entire surgery only took about an hour, and they were able to clear out all the scar tissue and free the ovary and tube.  The good news is that the docs also looked around for progression of the endometriosis, and found no evidence of it progressing.  This means the hormone treatments the doctors have been using are doing their job.

I have never been able to go home the same day after a laperoscopy, and we were headed home by 3pm.  I was up and walking, not in extreme pain, and able to eat.  God is so good!

How I’m feeling has gone up and down as the anesthetic wore off, but over all I am doing MUCH better than anyone ever expected.  With three abdominal incisions, I am obviously moving slowly, but I should be able to return to work by Wednesday as we had hoped.  I can already say that I can tell the pain is much improved over what it was before surgery.  Once the surgical pain heals, I expect to be back to my old self!

Thanks so much for you love and prayers through this process!

Praise the Lord for 5 good years since my last endometriosis surgery and the arrival of Pepper in my life.  Despite other ups and downs with my health, the endometriosis has pretty much been in remission…until the last six months.

I’ve slowly been suspecting that things were on their way to flaring up again, and about three weeks ago, the pain started to become unbearable again.  Both of my gynecologists (my regular one and my endo specialist) had needed to cut their hours or leave their practice for medical reasons of their own, and no one was willing to see me until the end of September.  Needless to say, I was rather at my wits’ end!

Praise the Lord for my Pain Clinic doctor, who got me in the same day that I called and worked out for me to see a new GYN three days later.  By that time, we were all praying that the Lord would give me the right doctor…whoever I was able to get in to see we would assume was the right doctor He had sent!

To make a long story short, this new doctor is definitely the RIGHT doctor.  She is very experienced with endometriosis and the related surgeries.  We found that I have a 5.6 cm endometrioma (a type of cyst caused by endo) on my right ovary.  Essentially, I have a golf ball inside of me…no wonder I’m in pain!

So, surgery is scheduled for 9am, Friday September 22nd.  My mom has flown out to help me as I recover.  Please pray for me as I once again go under the knife.  I’m really excited that they found something that can be fixed, but surgery is always a bit daunting.  Please pray for my family as this has suddenly been thrown into their schedule in a busy time of year.  Please pray for my co-workers as I am out for a few days that things will go smoothly in my absence.  Please pray for wisdom and guidance for the doctors as they work to completely remove the cyst and any endo they can find.  We are hoping they will be able to save the ovary that is involved, but that is uncertain.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR PRAYERS!!!!!