Resurrection, Part 2

At first, the morphine made me throw up, then I felt relief slide into my body. I could still feel the pain, but it wasn't in control of me. After a short time of feeling this relief, the e-room doctor came in to see me,

"You must have a high tolerance for pain, lady, because you have a serious disease."

Yikes.

Apparently, I had "acute pancreatitis." Only, it wasn't that cute. A gallstone had most likely lodged itself in a duct outside the pancreas and the liver. Pancreatitis can either fix itself or get worse. If it gets worse, the pancreas starts autodigesting. Yum. They would try to let the stone pass itself before doing any surgery, because surgery near the pancreas is apparently really dangerous. They would send me up to bed. With the morphine in my system, I was fine with that.

They rolled me into my new home, past a girl who looked like she could be my sister, and put me in my new bed. Lee left to go back to Nan's and try to sleep. Again, as long as I wasn't in pain, that was fine, and the nurse assured me they would stay on top of the pain. I couldn't exactly sleep, because I was still in a lot of pain, but I could doze in and out. I tried to call my mom to let her know what was happening, but the stupid hospital phones don't connect to a lot of cell phones.

Around 5:30 am I knew the stone was passed. I slowly became aware of my surroundings. The girl next to me was in bad shape. I heard her tell the nurses she had been there for 6 days. She wasn't allowed to eat or drink anything. I was't allowed to eat or drink anything either, because anything going through the system can keep the pancreas from healing. All we were allowed was a little sponge dipped in water. I couldn't help but think about Jesus on the cross, how he was thirsty and they gave him a sponge to drink from. I had a lot of thoughts like this.

It's funny, because a few months ago I was thinking about how we have to be willing to literally die to follow Christ, to be like Him. And I thought about how I had no experience with pain. What would I do if actually faced with pain because of my faith? And although it's still hypothetical, I feel better about that now. I experienced a lot of pain and I feel a little more capable in that area... just a funny thought I was having.

I started to talk to the girl behind the curtain. It turned out she was in for the same problem as me, and would be having her gallbladder out shortly. She was very close to my age, had three children that she loved and wanted to get back to. The chances of two so similar cases being in the same room are infinitessimal, but I know it was a God thing. We needed to lift each other up.

Morning arrived, and it was my 8th wedding anniversary.