This last weekend was an interesting one. Saturday morning at 3:30am I (Alex) woke up with a sharp pain in my left side. Now, as many of you already know, I had my appendix taken out in Peru in June 2006. This time, the pain was just as bad as it was before, so Holly and I guessed it was kidney stones. At 6am, I arrived at San Juan Bautista Hospital. I was taken right into the emergency room (same bed as last year too!) and then right into the ultra sound room so they could look at my stomach. We got the ultra sound back in about 15 minutes, and I had many kidney stones in the left kidney and also some in the right. So the hospital decided to keep me overnight.
Aabout 12 noon on Saturday, they came into my room, and said that I also had a stone in my gallbladder, and it was a pretty big stone according to them. The surgeon said that surgery was not urgent but necessary soon to remove my gallbladder. The surgeon that gave me the news was the same surgeon that had taken out my appendix the year before, so he remembered me. After that, I was taken for many x-rays and forced to drink the nastiest tasting stuff in my life. I had to drink 2 liters of it, and I mean it made me gag every time I took a sip. Of course, I was not allowed to eat, so I was starving by that time as well.
The hospital finally let me eat at about 8pm. I couldn't eat the next morning, however, since we had decided to go ahead with the surgery if the doctor said it was okay; we figured that since I was already admitted in the hospital etc, it would be better to do it now than wait for the situation to get much worse. On Sunday, the surgeon came into my room and said that I was good to go for the surgery and that we would have it around 11am or so. Well, it was 2pm before they took me down to the operating room. Once I got to the operating room, I was greeted by nurses who had worked on my appendix and knew me as soon as they saw me. I am sure they do not operate on many Americans anyway. The doctor that works with our ministry, Rebecca, was also able to scrub in for this surgery as she did last year, which made both Holly & I feel more comfortable.
After coming out of surgery, I was in a little pain but was doing good. I was able to leave the hospital today, which was good. I am finally back at Pat's Place and working on my recovery. I have been given a strict diet, so let's see how well that goes. Thank you for all your prayers and support. We definitely felt the hand of the Lord with us taking care of all things, including giving Holly a bed in my room to sleep in both nights I had to be in the hospital. Hope to talk to you all soon.
Aabout 12 noon on Saturday, they came into my room, and said that I also had a stone in my gallbladder, and it was a pretty big stone according to them. The surgeon said that surgery was not urgent but necessary soon to remove my gallbladder. The surgeon that gave me the news was the same surgeon that had taken out my appendix the year before, so he remembered me. After that, I was taken for many x-rays and forced to drink the nastiest tasting stuff in my life. I had to drink 2 liters of it, and I mean it made me gag every time I took a sip. Of course, I was not allowed to eat, so I was starving by that time as well.
The hospital finally let me eat at about 8pm. I couldn't eat the next morning, however, since we had decided to go ahead with the surgery if the doctor said it was okay; we figured that since I was already admitted in the hospital etc, it would be better to do it now than wait for the situation to get much worse. On Sunday, the surgeon came into my room and said that I was good to go for the surgery and that we would have it around 11am or so. Well, it was 2pm before they took me down to the operating room. Once I got to the operating room, I was greeted by nurses who had worked on my appendix and knew me as soon as they saw me. I am sure they do not operate on many Americans anyway. The doctor that works with our ministry, Rebecca, was also able to scrub in for this surgery as she did last year, which made both Holly & I feel more comfortable.
After coming out of surgery, I was in a little pain but was doing good. I was able to leave the hospital today, which was good. I am finally back at Pat's Place and working on my recovery. I have been given a strict diet, so let's see how well that goes. Thank you for all your prayers and support. We definitely felt the hand of the Lord with us taking care of all things, including giving Holly a bed in my room to sleep in both nights I had to be in the hospital. Hope to talk to you all soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment