Giving Thanks on Thanksgiving

Wouldn't it be nice before the holidays kick into full gear, to take a few days away from home, in your own private room, with people waiting on your every need: meals, warm blankets, drink refills, slippers, sleep as  long as you want, watch tv, read a book.  No cleaning, errands, meals to prepare, kids to clean up after or practice with.  Just a little get away is all.  

Not as great as it may sound when it refers to emergency surgery and hospitalization for three days.  Maybe next time it'll be a fine hotel on her upcoming 40th.

(Grateful for visitors, but in small doses.  Yes, we see you Lucy)

Elizabeth was in severe pain, it was pretty clear she had appendicitis, and we took her to the ER.  I promised to let her be a patient and let everyone just do their job.   Prior to leaving, we prayed for a good outcome, comfort, health and patience.  I soon realized the patience was intended for me.  Being on the other side of an ER visit is a good reality check.  Healthcare can be a slow process, and the ER is an especially good exercise in waiting. 

After being told it was indeed appendicitis, Elizabeth felt quite legitimized and that she had a good reason for her pain.  As she drifted off into anesthesia for a thirty minute surgery, she had no idea that the surgeon would have a lot more than just an appendix to deal with.

She was also found to have a 4 cm dermoid cyst on her left ovary which needed to come out.  These are also known as teratoma.  You may not want to google image this.  They are a non cancerous mass of tissue containing  all variety of human cells and can most disturbingly be found to occasionally develop hair and teeth.  

(dermoid cyst through laparoscope-white)

After the appendix was easily removed, and the Ob/Gyn on call came in to remove the cyst, her surgeon reported to me that the most serious issue was that her small intestine was found to be completely attached to her abdominal wall in a hairpin turn, scarred to the permanent mesh from her old hernia surgery years ago.  After carefully prying these apart, her bowel was in bad enough shape that he decided to remove 3 inches entirely.  While a simple appendectomy is a straight forward procedure, this had become an extremely complex process.  

Miraculously all three surgeries were done consecutively and all laparoscopically.  I still cannot express my appreciation for these two surgeons did everything right and so willingly.  The first OB recommended that she wait for a later surgery to remove the cyst, and the general surgeon wasn't even the one on call.  He came in at the request of the ER doctor, after getting a baby-sitter for his kids.  He happens to be specialty trained in complex laparoscopy.  Under different circumstances the other issues could have easily been missed, postponed, or complicated.

We had a lot to be thankful for this thanksgiving after Elizabeth endured a 3 in 1 surprise surgery.  She is still recovering well and was able to be home from the hospital early and able to have a few bites of Thanksgiving dinner.  We felt like her appendicitis was a blessing in that it led to the discovery of two other more serious concerns that we had previously been unaware of.  

We all missed her and were glad to have her home.  We were very well taken care of by all of our parents and well fed by our good neighbors.  Elizabeth's mom took off two days off work to spend at our house and Emily dropped everything and babysat during surgery.  We count among our greatest blessings, our families nearby, the generosity of our neighbors and ward members, and prayers and concerns from so many loved ones. 

(this will most likely NOT be our christmas card photo)

Gratitude Jar

This Thanksgiving season, instead of making a blessing tree as we've done in the past, we decided to have a Gratitude Jar which we filled with all our blessings.  I put the jar near the kitchen with a stack of papers beside it, and everyday (or whenever the Spirit moved us) we could write something down and stick in the jar.

Over the past few nights we have been reading through the dozens and dozens and dozens of blessings our family is thankful for.  Some of the entries are hilarious, others are tender and sincere.  It has been a great experience to read through these and to get additional insight into what our children are thankful for.  As we have read through them, it is clear that as a family, we have much to be grateful for.

Henry's contributions to the jar were comprised of almost any three-letter word he can sound out by himself.  They included everything from Mom and Dad, to BYU, sun, max, bed and boy.  He also included several entries of "Laura" (his aunt whose name he has learned to write) and "burger".

Abby and Isaac both expressed gratitude for Mom and Dad, great teachers, good school, toys, church, family and books. Abby is grateful for candy and the beach and Isaac is grateful for "pilgrums and Indeeins and Thanksgiving." He is also grateful for "food and meet."

Andrew is grateful for his job, for good friends, for Peter's talking, Henry's writing and drawing and for healthy kids.

My list is long this year.  I am grateful for our new baby girl, healthy kids, a wonderful husband, amazing parents and siblings, my testimony and Andrew's job.  In addition, I am grateful for hot showers, a warm bed, a dishwasher, a computer, good books, kids who LOVE to read, amazing school teachers for my kids and a great piano teacher.  I am grateful for Sunday dinners with family, for good friends and neighbors and for this beautiful world.  The list could go on and on and on....

We have loved focusing on our blessings this month.  I hope I will continue to remember all the things I have to be grateful for and hope that I can teach my children to do the same. We have loved our Gratitude Jar that has inspired each of us to count our blessings and name them one by one by one.