Knives, organs and anesthesa OH, MY

Instead of writing out a long post about the pending surgery I figured I would just paste the email I wrote earlier:

You are so sweet to remember this surgery…God knows I am trying to forget! As of the moment we are moving forward with the surgery. We did our pre-op testing yesterday and I was able to be put at ease with a lot of questions answered. It appears that this is a fairly easy surgery and I should be back to normal in a week or two. They won’t monitor the baby during, but will do so before and after. They will also put me under right before they begin and bring me out right as they finish. That was reassuring just to know I will be out about an 1.5 hours (length of the surgery) and should allow me to come out of anesthesia a lot easier. (The one time I had anesthesia I came out really panicked and struggled a lot). Barring any complications I will be home on Tuesday…Yea! Real rest is never accomplished at a hospital! Apparently, the only issues they are saying I will have is that I will be pretty sore at the incision site, have a hard time moving my head side to side, feel like I have a sore throat and just really tired. I am hoping that is the only couple things I feel because I can handle that!

As far as what happens after the surgery with my "hyper-thyroid" status; I will go from hyper to nothing in seconds. They will immediately put me on centroid (natural hormone replacement) and monitor me. I am more likely to go the opposite direction and become hypo. Yet, my doctor doesn't think that this will happen and thinks that I will be on the correct dosage of medicine right off with a little tweaking here and there. The tweaking shouldn't be noticeable to me, but only be seen in my blood work. The Grave's disease should disappear as quickly as my thyroid. Whew, aren't I grateful for that! Nothing like being 30 with a disease called grave's...makes me feel old.

I truly appreciate everything you guys want to do and the steady prayers. They are being felt especially the closer I get to surgery day…I am a lot more at peace then I was!

Not to throw another monkey into the mix, but if you could please pray (I feel like we are just basket cases right now) for the baby. We had an ultrasound on Monday and everything looked great they just couldn't see the stomach. Apparently, he needs to swallow some fluid so they see the stomach. They said not to worry and to come by on Tuesday. We went by again and they did a quick scan and again they couldn't see his stomach. The Dr. said that he was getting a little nervous, but isn’t jumping up and down yet because my fluids are not in excess but are at normal levels. While I am in the hospital they will try to scan again to see the stomach. If they see it all is well and we move forward. If they don’t we will have to go to DuPont to have a baby MRI in utero. ARRRR What all this means is two things: either the baby’s esophagus isn’t connected to the stomach or the baby’s stomach isn’t forming. Great, just what we need. All of this could be caused by the medication I was one when I got pregnant or the meds I am on now. Yet, to be honest I am very at peace with little concern! I just don’t feel that either of the above is an issue. This little guy is truly a miracle and a force to be reckoned with! As I type he is kicking away as if to say, “No worries, mom”.

Well, that is the up-to-date information on surgery, baby and our worries! I will most likely not post before the big day, but either Todd or I will post on Monday after the surgery. (: Thanks in advance for the prayers and thoughts!