Monday, October 3, 2011

Exhale...

A good God does everything He does for good reason. - Gregg Harris


I've been holding on to this truth this week.  


I have gone back and forth about whether or not to share all this on here, but so many of you have emailed or texted with concern.  I've been too sad to respond, but writing is therapeutic for me, so I decided I'll write it all out and share it with those of you that have been checking on us this week.  It's going to be ridiculously long and probably whiney, you've been warned.


About 7 weeks ago, Chuck and I found out we were pregnant.  We were absolutely NOT trying, and we were in shock - and I was completely overwhelmed at the thought of getting even less sleep.  But, we love our big family, so we quickly became very excited about having another precious, funny Wilson kiddo running around this house.  And, if we believe what God says about children - and if we believe God when he says that he won't give us more than we can handle with His strength - then we could see this as nothing but an incredible blessing.


I know some of you are thinking WHAT?!?  Doesn't she have a full plate already? 


Yes, and our hearts are full too.  


I know that to some of you four kids seems like a lot.  To be honest, I'm no more overwhelmed with 4 than I was with 1 or 2.  I know this sounds crazy, but in many ways it gets easier with more children.


I'm so ashamed to say that the one thing that tempered my excitement was the thought of telling others of this blessing and listening to all the negative OMGosh, another baby??  Don't you know what causes that?? comments.  Never again.


Ok, fast forward a bit to two weeks ago.


Chuck is walking through the kitchen one evening and he mentions nonchalantly that he'd been having to run to the bathroom alot the past few days.  Immediately, I thought of diabetes.  


I had him check his blood sugar.


An ugly 354 looked back at us.


No way.


We re-checked.


We grabbed a different meter.  


The ugly number wouldn't go away.


I checked his ketones and thankfully they were negative, so I waited until the next morning and got him in with the first dr that would see him.


Later that day, while I was educating 300+ high school students about diabetes and service dogs, Chuck was at the dr being diagnosed with diabetes.


And, they suspected it could be type 1.


I emailed Dr Casas for a recommendation for an Endo that was knowledgeable about adult onset Type 1.  In true Dr C fashion, and keeping with the Godsend that he's been for us, he called me on my cell.  He scolded me for not calling him first (he's Faith's pedi Endo...I didn't want to waste his time.  I felt like it would be like calling your mechanic and telling him you had a flat on your bike or something - not his problem.)  I was wrong.  He's been SO helpful - ordering tests that should have been run by the first dr, following up on Chuck's condition and numbers, even starting him on insulin to get him some relief while we wait to find out the results of the antibody tests (to determine which type he has).  Once again, we are so very thankful to have Dr Casas in our lives.  For the record, the other dr hasn't checked on Chuck's numbers even once.  Ugh.


While type 2 seems like it would be the lesser of the evils at this point, Chuck is almost hoping it's type 1 because Faith is so excited that her "daddy hab da betes wike me!"  How will we explain to her that daddy gets "cured" (through diet and exercise if it's type 2) while she still has to live with diabetes...and insulin...and needles?  


This was on Wednesday.  On Friday, Chuck started insulin, I had two tests to take at school, a Spanish class to attend...AND had a kidney stone starting to move.  Can I tell you?  I've had four babies and I've never experienced worse pain than kidney stones.  It's excruciating when it's at it's worst.  I needed to go to school...and I needed to go to the ER to get some relief from the kidney stone pain.  


But, I couldn't leave not knowing how the insulin would affect Chuck.  Did we have his dosage right?  I was terrified and decided to stay home.


Saturday Chuck and I had the rare (and MUCH anticipated - literally for weeks) privilege of having a sitter for Faith.  We were both so miserable, but determined to enjoy a little time alone.  We dropped the big kids off with my mom, dropped Faith off with an amazing couple we met at Tyler Type One and have grown to love, and headed to have dinner.  


But we were both so miserable.  We went out to eat, picked up Faith, and then headed home.


By the time we got there I was only peeing blood.  (TMI?  Sorry...)


I couldn't stand it any more and headed to the ER.  The horribly arrogant ER dr kept me overnight on morphine and sent me home with 3 Rx's and instructions to return if I got worse.  


I was back within hours unable to pass anything but drops of blood.  I ended up in there all day with them pumping me full of fluids, antibiotics, and painkillers (Thank you!).  Because I was pregnant they couldn't do a CT Scan, so the (much better than the day before) ER dr did an ultrasound to check my kidneys and decided to check the baby while we were at it.


He came back in the room and asked me how far along in my pregnancy I was.  When I told him he responded by telling me that I needed to follow up the following day with my OB/Gyn.  I told him he couldn't say something like that without elaborating, so he told me that he just didn't see what he expected to see on my ultrasound.  



Of course, the next morning I was on the phone with my dr.  She had me come in right away, reassuring me the whole time that everything was probably fine.


It wasn't.  


Chuck and I were heartbroken to learn that there was no heartbeat.  Our baby had stopped developing.


The dr offered to do a D&C, but Chuck and I couldn't go for it yet.  If God wanted to work a miracle we weren't going to limit him by doing what seemed "easier" and if I was going to miscarry then taking a week to pray about it wasn't going to change anything.  We agreed to pray about it for a week and reassess.


All the while I'm still miserable with pain from the kidney stones -  and my poor husband is miserable with crazy high blood sugars and adjusting to the insulin and meds - and he's having to take care of me and the kids.  God love him.


The next morning I called the urologist about my symptoms and was told to go back to the ER.  I ended up spending the entire day in the hospital again.  Because we had learned that there was no heartbeat, the (best of all three) ER dr did a CT Scan to check the stones and found a mass on my left ovary.


Oh my goodness.  I know these things happen all the time, but everything happening at once just had us so beat down.


But, God is good and blessed us with some of the best friends.  When they learned of what we were going through they called, emailed, brought food.  We are so grateful.


We went back to the OB dr today and were told that I was hemorrhaging around the baby, and I spiked a fever yesterday, and it just makes more sense to go through with the D&C.  I go into the hospital tomorrow and should get to come home right after.


This has been a rough 10 days.  We know things could be worse, and we know things will get better, but right now we are overwhelmed and so, so very sad.  


Thank you so much for your love and prayers.  We appreciate it more than you know.








Faith does not eliminate questions. But faith knows where to take them. ~Elisabeth Elliot











6 comments:

  1. I have no words.
    I am here if you need someone.
    Sending love hugs and prayers across the miles...

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  2. Praying for you and your family.

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  3. Wow, what a challenging week. You and your family are in my prayers.

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  4. Sarah... I'm so sorry for what you guys have been through over the last few weeks! I want to encourage you to continue writing... Your faith and perseverance through personal hardships and tragedy is encouraging to anyone reading your blog. God is using you in a mighty way and no doubt has great plans for you! And honestly I read no whining!

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  5. I'm so sorry. Too much sadness. I'll be praying for you all. I hope the Fall brings you much happiness & rest.

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  6. I stumbled across one of your youtube videos which led me to your blog, I have spent the past several hours reading through all of your old posts. I am absolutely at all Ruby is able to do for Faith and your family.
    I am 19 years old and was just diagnosed diabetic. It is technically Type 2 as I am still producing insulin, but it is not lifestyle caused (lot of genetic predisposition) and could over time progress to Type 1. I have been struggling lately with all of the changes in my lifestyle, and this blog has really put everything in perspective for me. I have been inspired by your unwavering faith and strength. If Faith can have such a great attitude, I should be able to as well. I really appreciate you putting all of this out here, and I hope the best for you and your family.
    Also, you posted a while ago about how you loved to hear positive stories of Type 1 diabetics. My grandmother was diagnosed with Type 1 as a child and has lived a very healthy life and is now in her 70s :)

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