Landmines and Gratitude...

My friend Pam recently told me of a quote from Elizabeth Edwards about moving on with life after the landmines explode beneath us. Lucky for me, none of the explosions in my life compare with Elizabeth Edwards. But navigating the mine fields is a challenge for all of us and inevitably, we encounter a few exploding landmines on our journey.

Our most recent landmine exploded last Monday night when David ended up in the ER. He started having pain in his stomach on Sunday night, but he still managed to get up and go dove hunting with the boys and some friends. This was his third hunting trip in five days, and I was sure the stomach ache was a result of eating those birds...I mean really...who eats dove???

He came home from hunting feeling horrible. The pain came and went throughout the day, but he was able to swim and barbecue and eat ribs (and more dove!). By the end of the day he was laying on the bed in misery. When he started feeling feverish, we knew something was wrong. David never goes to the doctor, so when he said he thought he might need to go to the hospital, I knew it was bad.

David drove to the ER. The kids were in bed, so I stayed home and waited for his call. I passed the time googling causes of stomach pain, including parasites and food borne illness. (still on the dove thing.) Several hours later, I got a text telling me that the ER gave him some narcotics for the pain and that he wished he could listen to Sgt. Pepper! Oh boy.....at least he wasn't in pain. He was waiting for a CAT scan. When he finally called, he said that he had diverticulitis, which is infection in small pockets that have developed in the colon. He was being admitted so that a surgeon could look at the CAT scan to see if the colon had perforated. If it had, he would need surgery!

Needless to say, it was a rather sleepless night. I met him at the hospital the next morning to meet with the surgeon. His colon did have a slight perforation, but it was small and in a contained area, and he would not need emergency surgery. The surgeon did however, recommend that he have elective surgery in a few weeks to prevent the problem from recurring. I told David I would get him in to see Dr. Thacker and we would get a second opinion on that!

After a two day hospital stay on IV antibiotics, David came home to recuperate. He is doing much better and we met with Dr. Thacker today. Thankfully, he doesn't think surgery is necessary right now!

This is where the gratitude comes in....I am so grateful that David went to the hospital when he did and got the help that he needed. I am grateful that emergency surgery was not necessary. I am grateful to have a wonderful man like Dr. Thacker to help us navigate the mine field we found ourselves blindly stumbling through. I am grateful for dear friends who called, came by the hospital, watched our children, offered to help and supported us through this past week.

David and I have lived in Arizona for 11 years now and we have no family in the state. Or should I say, we have no relatives in the state. We have an incredible family here who takes care of us when ever the landmines explode...for this I am most grateful.