Reflections: Surgery Day One Year Later

I have written quite a few reflections over the past few months because it’s crazy to me how many changes there have been over the past year or so. Last year, on July 20, I was finally able to have the surgery I was waiting on for months. I’ve always been amused about the timing of the surgery because after all that waiting, it fell on our busiest week of the year. I didn’t really care at that point, though, because I was in too much pain to enjoy our “Super Week” even if my surgery had been a little later.

I don’t think I’ll ever forget how I felt the night before and the morning of the surgery. Honestly, most of the time I was at peace throughout the process. The night before the surgery, though, reality hit. I was having a major surgery, and obviously, there are many different risks associated with that, but what really made me lose it was knowing I could wake up from anesthesia the next day and find out I could never be a mother. I remember getting in the shower and applying the special soap you have to use before surgery and just sobbing hysterically.

That next morning, I woke up feeling at peace. It was still a hard day, but I knew God was in control, and I had an amazing team of surgeons operating on me. Right before the operation, a pastor from the church I used to work at before I moved to Chicago came in to pray with me and Chris, and that felt like such a huge blessing. When I woke up, I was so thankful to hear everything went almost as well as it could have (you can read all the details here).

As funny as it sounds, I am thankful for all I went through last year because it makes me truly appreciate the blessings we have received this year. Last year on my birthday, I was just thankful to be released from the hospital in time to spend the night in my own bed. This year, I am beyond grateful to be spending it in Maine with my love on our last big trip before the birth of our baby boy. I think all babies are miracles, but finding out I was pregnant this year has been the biggest blessing of our lives. This past year has strengthened my faith and shown me what a true miracle worker God is. He is so faithful!

On a lighter note, you know how I was so worried about losing all my reproductive organs? Well, even though it didn’t happen, somehow it got added to my chart that I had a hysterectomy. They had tried to remove it when I had my stent removed, but apparently it didn’t work because when I showed up to my first pregnancy appointment, my OB told me it was still in my chart, and she had spent 20 minutes trying to remove it, but it was locked! So I was the pregnant lady with a hysterectomy. I think it’s been fixed at this point, but it was pretty hilarious.