First a wedding/house/honeymoon update:
The wedding was July 12, 2008 and it was fantastic! It was so great to see everyone who was able to come to Oxford and we missed the people who weren't able to make the trip. The rehearsal dinner at Yocona was delicious, as always. Surprisingly, the day of the wedding went off without a hitch. I couldn't have asked for a better day! Many thanks to Jeff Chao for being the most fantastic photographer. He captured moments that we will treasure forever. The food at OUC was yummy and I devoured the wedding cake. (I still have wedding cake frozen in slices in the freezer that I eat about once a week-- I planned ahead and ordered extra cake for this very reason :@) Thank you Mom and Dad for making this day possible!
Two days before the wedding we closed on our house and moved in. We survived the closing/moving/getting married stress. Barely. I just unpacked my clothes last week but most of the house is settled. My favorite rooms are the kitchen and hearth room (love the fireplace!). And the screened in porch. And family room. Oh, and the bedroom of course. I guess I just love the whole, cozy house!! We took down the Christmas decorations two days ago and the house looks pretty bare now. Time to spruce things up a bit!After the wedding we went on our honeymoon to Puerto Rico. Naturally it was insanity actually getting to our destination (cancelled flights, diverted to different airports, no seats = 16 hours of travel + grumpy, tired newlyweds). Thankfully we had the post-wedding bliss thing going on and we made it through. Our hotel was beautiful and the view from our room was even more spectacular. We were one of the top floors (it has been so long I can't remember, oops) so we had a perfect, unobstructed view of the ocean. Lucky for me, they had a casino in the hotel. Not lucky for Richie, I am not as nice when I am gambling. He tried to sit with me at the blackjack table but I quickly realized he was bad luck and I sent him to the pool to wait until I was done. Of course I didn't win anything big and Richie did during his 5 minutes on a poker machine. Err. At least we won something!
Most of our honeymoon was spent by the pool and relaxing. We did take a day trip to the rain forest. Everyone said how beautiful it would be and it is not to be missed. So we paid the money to drive (with a tour guide and group in a van) the 2 hours to see the rain forest, specifically a waterfall. We get there and find out we have to hike over 1.5 miles to see said waterfall. So we get out of the van after driving for 2 hours across Puerto Rico and start the hike. All up hill. A 1.5 mile walk up hill to see a rain forest is worth it, right? Haha. No. When I think rain forest I think exotic foliage and animals (and crazy big bugs that my students learn about during the rain forest unit). I'm so excited to take pictures to share with my 6th graders. We start the hike. Nothing. Just plain green trees. No animals. We keep going. Nothing! I tell myself that the waterfall will make up for the nothingness we see on our hike. Um, I should learn that my thinking is faulty by now. The waterfall in North Georgia is more exciting. We see the waterfall, smile, take pictures. Richie got in it for a second. We then start the hike to leave the rain forest and go back to the van. I'm happy to finally have a relaxing walk after the intense up hill hike we just had. The other side out has to be down hill if the way in is up hill, right? You guessed it! Nope- another 1.5 miles up hill again! How our guide managed to have us walked up hill BOTH WAYS I will never know. I took some pictures for my students but we saw nothing exciting. Apparently the rain forest in Puerto Rico is an evergreen forest with green trees and no exciting animals. Boo. Thankfully we ate a yummy dinner after returning to the resort so all wasn't lost. We enjoyed being away for a week and were said our honeymoon was over. It was then time to head back to our new house to get settled and wait for the school year to start.
I always enjoy the beginning of the school year. The first weeks of school were going great. I was having so much fun learning with my students and coming home to my new hubby and great house. As usual, I caught the stomach bug going around. Richie was great and took care of me. I got better and all was well again. Then I got a stomach bug again, two weeks later. This time it was worse and lasted longer. I went to the doc who said in addition to the stomach bug (again!) I also had a kidney stone and infection which was the source of the pain. So I took some meds, spend quality time with my new toilet and got better.
When I got the stomach bug a third time I started to get worried. The pains in my stomach were so bad I literally thought I was bleeding to death and was going to die. (For those of you who know me, I get sick all.the.time and so I normally don't let things get me down this much. Nothing has prepared me for what was to come.) I woke Richie up and told him something was really wrong. I was shaking uncontrollably and told him I needed to go to the hospital. Poor thing came to help me out of bed and I threw up all over him. Great way to bond in our first weeks of marriage!
Richie takes me to the ER, where they do blood tests and realize it isn't just a stomach bug. They give me meds to help me feel better and admit me to the hospital here in Oxford. Because it is a "game weekend" the hospital moved at a snails pace. Richie called my mom before I was even aware of what was going on and she drove straight to Oxford. I stayed in the hospital 4 days and then realized the doctor at the hospital was CRAZY so I decided to leave and see my regular doc.
My regular doc was stumped as to what was going on and couldn't figure out my bloodwork and symptoms without other tests. She sends me to a GI in Memphis who wasn't the nicest doctor I've seen. I freaked out about this doctor and wanted to cancel the biopsy surgery he had scheduled. While I didn't know it at the time, I was so blessed to be sent to him. The surgery was supposed to be a quick, 20 minute procedure and I was to go home the same day. My mom came back to town and took me to the hospital in Memphis the morning of the procedure. A wonderful nurse came to take me back to the operating room and told my mom she'd keep her updated. My 20 minute surgery went on for 2 hours or so before I got admitted to the hospital. This same nurse stayed with my mom, got her sheets to sleep on and was so helpful. Of course, I was out this entire time but my mom told me what a bright spot she was. The GI from Memphis was able to find the problem but not able to fix it. I had to stay at the hospital for 8 days with post-operative pancreatitis (which is the worst thing ever. Seriously a horrible, horrible disease. And I wasn't allowed to eat or even drink water or ice chips for 5 days. The details still make me cringe).
After I was recovered enough to travel, the doc sent me to a specialist in St. Louis to fix me and hopefully end this miserable experience (the GI from Memphis was a blessing because he didn't "try" to treat me; he knew it was beyond his training and experience and found the right doctor to help). Off I go to St. Louis. Barnes-Jewish Hospital is the best hospital I've ever been to (and I've been to more than my fair share!). The doctor there was nothing short of amazing. We met him on a Monday and he scheduled my surgery for the next day. Normally he has an associate do the procedure but he was so excited about my difficult case that he was able to move things around to perform my procedure himself. His nurse told me he never does that and I must be very lucky (finally, something lucky happens to me!). Long story short, I had the surgery, stayed in St. Louis with my mom for a while to recover and was finally able to come back to my husband in Oxford.
I'm getting better every day but I still have 5 more months of recovery time ahead of me. Richie has been more than the best husband, he has been my saving grace. I am so blessed for the help of my mom, Richie's mom and my devoted husband. The start of our marriage has been an incredible roller coaster but we are hoping all will be up hill from here. We are looking forward to 2009 with much hope and faith. Thank you to all those who have provided us with support and prayers over the past few months. We look forward to seeing what the year ahead holds for all of our loved ones and we promise more regular updates now that things are on the mend. Here's to a happy, healthy 2009!
1 comment:
I had no idea you had been so sick, Jillian. That was not an easy start to your marriage, but I see it gave you more chances to see just how wonderful your husband is. My thoughts and prayers are with you!
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