grieving...

Yesterday (Wednesday) during an ultrasound at the hospital, Becky and Steve found out that their baby died. It was hard. Again.

Today was the D&E. Becky is weary, and feeling mostly tired of surgeries and procedures right now. She will remain in the hospital while they troubleshoot some pain in her back.

She is grateful to know that so many care for her, and are inquiring about her well-being.

Thank you for your prayers and offers for support.

Right now the best thing we can do is honor her request for privacy.

~Jenny

Becky's Hospital Visit

Update (from the sister one state over)
She's back. In the hospital, that is.
Possible port infection.
The home nurse came this morning. She comes to change the port every Friday.
This time she took one look and made that "hmmm... that doesn't look good" noise.
Becky's rather indifferent to the change in locale.
When you feel that nauseated constantly, those things just don't matter so much.
She had her regular visit to the doctor yesterday, and her body was showing signs of being in starvation mode. Apparently it's not so much an issue with eating, just an issue with actually keeping things down long enough to digest them. Let's pray that she can get some nutrition from the things she takes in. And keep them in.

I'M SO LUCKY!

To have such wonderful sisters.

A week ago Friday, I went in for my port surgery.

This helps to keep me hydrated during my pregnancy.

I've been through this before...it's no big deal...

Until this time.

Two hours into my recovery,

I woke up in SCREAMING pain.

It felt like I could hardly catch my breath.

It hurt to breath.

It felt like something was wrong with my heart.

I knew something was not right.

I didn't have this pain the last time I had a port surgically placed.

My first thought was a possible blood clot,

we have a family history of these.

After many tests and x-rays, they found it.

A PNEUMOTHORAX.

I had a small puncture in my left lung.

My left lung was collapsed as a result.

The doctor decided they would watch it for a day,

to see if it would get smaller or possibly bigger.

The only thing that made the pain bearable was morphine.

I was admitted.

24 hours later, my pneumothorax had grown.

That meant a chest tube.

They called a surgeon in.

He numbed the area and popped it in.

It wasn't too bad...

Until they hooked me up to the chest tube suction/drain.

Then it felt 10x worse then in the recovery room.

They were suctioning out the air that had escaped.

I could hardly catch my breath again.

It was awful.

The pain never really went away until they took it out.

(two days later)

Thankfully my lungs re-expanded right away.

On top of the pneumothorax,
I caught a stomach bug.
I was SO sick, fever and all.
I also walked away with a UTI.
Lots of lovely gifts from the hospital.
Thankfully I was able to come home 5 days later.

My sister Amy Jo is here from Ohio to take care of me.
I am so blessed. I couldn't do this without her.
I know what a sacrifice it is to be away from some of her family,
and so I am truly grateful for her service and love.

And I am so grateful for Jenny too.
She kept my blog going...(thankyou)
and was by my side in the hospital.
She snuck me contraband,
and entertained me...
even though it was too painful to smile.
I am thankful for her service and love as well.

Thank you dear sisters. ♥

thank you

...but you're not welcome.
(Jenny, still Guest-posting and also feeling in the mood for a little game playing that might yield a give-away for YOU)
That's the message I'm getting.
Becky has been politely cutting me off.
Even the rebel sister is not the medicine she needs.
I feel bad.
For the past two days I have been checking in by phone, and Ms. Becky is not well.
On the up side, her chest is feeling MUCH better. The chest tube was taken out yesterday. Things are healing.
The bummer? She caught a stomach bug and is dealing with the fall-out; pun totally not intended [but kind of punny?] (which, when you're in your home and otherwise healthy and living a normal existence is a drag; but when you're in the hospital and dealing with so many levels of complicated issues, the stomach bug is the LAST thing you want to deal with).
Not fun.
I know she appreciates your comments. Even though she hasn't seen them yet.
Her hospital is a little behind the times, and she doesn't have access to a computer and there is no wireless internet.
Help is on the way. Our other sister, Amy, is on the road even now, and making her way to Ortonville. She cooks, she cleans and she is basically compassion in the flesh.
Amy's planning on spending the summer with Becky and helping in whatever way she can. She is AWESOME like that.
P.S. I cleaned out my purse while I was visiting Becky. Not only did it help me (because I keep my own selfish interests in mind while I'm visiting the infirm) it also provided some decent entertainment value while the patient was in spirits well enough to be entertained. SO. Let's play a game, shall we? It'll be fun. If any of you Orton Family fans can guess how many pens and pencils I had in my purse, plus the correct number of tissue packets, I will NOT send you the pair of dirty socks I found in there, OR the moldy spoon either. I WILL however, give-away a nifty little prize. And it wasn't in my purse that day (or now).