I am typing this while sitting in the surgical waiting room at the Irvine Regional Medical Center (aka Charise's "weekend getaway"). Ashley went into surgery at noon and should be less than an hour.
Last night, Ashley was had diarrhea problems and was throwing up when we went to bed. We thought it might be food poisoning from having had Pei Wei for dinner, but nobody else was sick. Even though she felt very ill, she was a trooper and kept playing games with my parents and I because we only have a few weeks left living near them.
At about 1:00 am, she began to have some really bad pain and tried to lay in bed an endure it, but after more than a half hour she woke me up. She was in tears as she described pain throughout her chest. I thought it might have been cramps from having thrown up so much, but it seemed much more than that. The pain grew worse and after the third time I asked if I should call 911, she said she thought so. I knew she has a high threshold for pain and was not prone to acting like a hypochondriac, so I was somewhat worried about the pain in her chest. The paramedics were very nice and quickly ascertained that the pain focused just under her ribs on the right side probably indicated gall bladder problems. They took her to IMC's ER where they gave her pain medication, which enabled her to relax and sleep a little bit. I was even able to go to the car and sleep for just over an hour. After ultrasounds, blood tests, x-rays, and urinalysis, the doctor confirmed that Ashley was having a gall bladder attack caused by gallstones.
Ashley was admitted to a room upstairs about 7 AM while I went to the store to get some formula for Lucy and then went to my parents to sleep for a couple of hours. Ashley slept until she met with the doctor who said that he would like to operate today. She went in at noon and should be out of surgery in less than an hour. The doc said she probably could go home tonight.
Throughout all of this, Ashley and I have kept saying that we are so grateful that this occurred last night while we were staying with my parents. Instead of wondering what to do with our two little princesses, I only had to awake Papa and Grammy and let them know what was going on. My parents were very helpful in taking care of the girls. It was also nice to have Dad there to assist me in giving Ashley a blessing. If this would have happened in San Diego or last week when I was out of town, it would have been much more difficult.
When I came in to help Ashley prepare for surgery, she said she had been reading in the Ensign - specifically a talk from April's General Conference - about how we should look for things to be grateful for during trials in your life. We are definitely grateful that this experience occurred last night.
I am also grateful for the Irvine Medical Center which is an awesome facility with beautiful common areas and patient rooms. It is very beautiful and 'homey'. The staff has been great. The cafeteria had the best hospital food I have ever tasted. I am sitting in this extremely nice surgery waiting room alone because the hospital only does emergency procedures on the weekend. I am practicing my new calling in life - southern Virginia redneck - by watching the NASCAR race on the TV as I type this.
Anyways, I will try to let you all know how it goes.
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