2 days!

March of our first year was a growing experience for us. "in sickness and in health..." really applied.

After small group one night, I started having some lower abdomen pain that just wouldn't go away. It wasn't awful, but it was uncomfortable. Thanks to FAM (again--love it!), I knew that it was odd pain, and that the other symptoms I was having (I will spare you the details), were also not normal. So, the next day I called my OB/GYN and asked if I could see her. Since I know abuot my body and what it does/could do/shouldn't do, I pretty much knew this pain was either my ovary, an egg implanting (pregnancy), or my appendix. Something told me it was my ovary, and that made me nervous. Turns out, I was right! After a quick appointment, and an ultrasound, I was told I had a cyst nearly 6 cm. on my right ovary. I was shocked! That is pretty big! The doctor told me that they would watch me, and if it got bigger and didn't go away on it's own, it would have to be removed. She said it didn't look cancerous (thank you, God!), but it could still cause harm because of it's size. She told me that if I felt horrible pain, to go to the ER; a cyst that size could cause my ovary to suffocate and die.

Well, needless to say, I was quite surprised, and quite scared. Jason and I prayed a lot about it, and got a lot of prayer, and started wondering if maybe we should change our "baby making plans" and move them up if something happened and I lost my ovary. It was a scary few days for us, waiting and wondering what would happen, and trying to trust God that He had it all in control.

The next Sunday, during church, I started getting really uncomfortable, and really nauseas. I went up for prayer after service, and just was at peace that God would take care of it. Well, He certainly did, but not in the way I was expecting! About 3:00pm, I was sitting on the couch, and felt that excruciating pain that I thought the doctor was talking about. I felt like someone had lit my insides on fire. I couldn't breathe for a minute, and then all I could do was scream and cry because it hurt so bad. Jason came running, and off to the ER we went. After a wonderful shot of morphine, and another ultrasound, the tech told me my cyst had burst, and was down to 2 cm, and would continue to go down as the evening progressed. She said my ovary was healthy still, gave me a script for morphine and an anti-nausea drug, and sent me on my merry way. That night was rough, because coming off of the morphine made me pretty sick. But, by God's grace, I was completely fine the next morning. NO pain whatsoever.

That was definitely a time of growth for us. We had to lean on each other, lean on God, and start having those tough conversations that any semi-serious medical condition brings up. (What if we can't have kids, what if it's cancer, what if, what if, what if...). The Lord truly provided for us, giving us peace and understanding that it was totally in His hands.

"'Though the moutains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,' says the Lord, who has compassion on you."