Because Who Needs a Gallbladder Anyway?

Hi friends! It's been a while, and that's because there has been yet again so much going on in the Velasquez family. It all started like this...

When we first moved to Cali in July I woke up in the middle of the night with awful pain in my back. I had to wake Matt up to take care of Chelsea because I was in terrible pain. We almost went to the emergency room but didn't for two reasons - #1 we were still waiting back to see if our insurance was approved and #2 we didn't know where the hospital was. Luckily after a couple hours and a blessing from Matt the pain resided and I didn't think much of it. Well two weeks later I had similar pain that lasted a lot longer. I was telling my mom about it and she suspected I had gallbladder disease. My mom got it after each of her pregnancies until her third when she got it removed. I decided to wait it out for a while and again the pain passed. Well fast forward to just a couple weeks ago. I had the pain again in the middle of the night, except this time was worse. I had to go to the emergency room. I held off as long as I could and finally that afternoon I relented and went. That's when they found a ton of tiny little gallstones. Now if you have a big gallstone they don't worry too much, but if you have tiny ones they do because the stones can get stuck in your bile duct and cause a lot of problems. Because there were none stuck in the duct at the time and because I really didn't want surgery right then and there, they let me go home. Well the pain just got worse and I ended up in the ER again the next day, except this time there were stones stuck in my bile duct. I was going jaundiced really fast and my liver levels were almost at Hepititis levels so they took me in for emergency surgery pronto. The whole thing was really scary. I hated leaving my little girl and I was scared about what surgery would mean. But I am so blessed. My mom hopped the first plane to San Jose to take care of Chelsea. There were also so many people praying for me and I felt it. Not only did I feel it, but the surgery went so much better than expected. He was able to do it laporscopically and flushed out the bile duct much more easily than what was expected. Less than a week later my surgeon gave me the go ahead to head back to Utah as planned. So here we are back home amid a lot of boxes and a lot of unpacking. We have had so many worries lately. So many times I have gotten stuck worrying about finances in the midst of a move, a salary change, and an extremely expensive surgery; but really I am so overwhelmed with gratitude at the availability of modern medicine that made it possible for me to feel nearly fully recovered today. I am blessed to live in an age when these things can be taken care of so quickly and that I was able to be away from my little girl for only a day. There will always be worries, but I am now happy, healthy, and back at home with a family I love. Thanks to all of you for all of your thoughts and prayers!