Pancreatitis

Joe and I woke up one morning to Joyli throwing up all over her crib. I didn't think much of it until I noticed that the color was green with black specks. I've been told ever since we found out about her intestinal malrotation that bright green vomit was a situation that we needed to go to the ER for and to call the Dr. before we arrived so they could contact the ER and let them know she needed to be seen right away. So when I saw what the Dr.s described I freaked out. We called the GI Dr. and he told us that both the green vomit and the black specks were something they would send us to the ER for. Joe watched Hannah and I rushed Joyli to the ER.

They found that she didn't have a blockage in her intestines that would cause a blood clot, but that she did have Pancreatitis. The way to fix this was by not letting her eat. My poor sweet baby went without food for 2 days. After that her blood tests showed that the pancreas inflammation had gone down. They slowly added food back to her diet and on the 3rd day was able to go home.

The Dr. doesn't think she will get pancreatitis any more because 90% of her pancreas is scarred and not working. I guess you can't get pancreatitis if you don't really have a pancreas to get it with. The pancreas is supposed to produce enzymes that help digest food and thereby getting the nutrients from the food. Joyli's doesn't do this, so she takes pancreatic enzymes before every meal. We are hoping that she won't get Cystic Fibrosis Diabetes when she's older.

I need to thank my mothers. I can't believe how blessed I am!!

On the day I took Joyli to the hospital Joe came down with this horrible flu. He's still taking antibiotics and trying to get over it a whole month later. When I came home from the hospital my sharing husband gave me the flu. We laid in bed dying while healthy Hannah jumped and danced around us. My sweet amazing mother in law took care of Hannah, and brought Joe and I breakfast, lunch, and dinner in bed. All while taking care of my sister in law's children who was in the hospital having a baby! Thank you to my sweet and caring mother in law!!!

My mother offered to stay with Joyli over the weekend. This was a blessing for several reasons. #1. I had Joe's flu and could hardly move anywhere, let alone take care of a baby. Reason #2. Being in the hospital with my daughter is one of the most horrible things that is on the top of my list of things I hate the most. The first week she was in the hospital for her surgery was a living Hell!! When she's there I feel overwhelmed at how many Dr.'s see her for all of the multiple problems that she has and that they seemingly most of the time don't talk to each other. So every Dr. wants something different and my daughter is left suffering while they hum and haw over what she really needs. It's so FRUSTRATING! And when I say "enough!" they all look at me like I'm the crazy, psychotic mother that expects too much. I can't stand to be there in the hospital while the Dr.s play Guinea-pig with my daughter, but I can't stand to be away and trust that everything will be o.k. either. I do however trust my mother to stay with Joyli, because she is a caring grandmother who loves her granddaughter and because she's an RN who's not afraid to speak up and say "excuse me, I think you might be doing that wrong". I know this is selfish, but I wasn't ready to be back in the hospital with my daughter and those Dr.'s that I know really are trying to help. I'm so grateful for my mother who spent so much time with Joyli her 2nd time in the hospital and again her 3rd time in the hospital. Even after a day the hospital walls seem to close in on you and Joyli's crying and the Dr.'s not doing anything about it gets unbearable to take. For my mom to do it for so many days makes her a hero.

Several people helped me so much during Joyli's 2nd hospital stay when she was there for weeks. My sweet step-mother also stayed with Joyli for several days and a wonderful stranger (I hadn't met her yet) from our new ward stayed with Joyli for a few hours while I was in the temple as my grandparents were sealed together. I was able to do that work for my grandmother. What an honor and blessing! And how amazingly blessed I am to have so many Christ-like people in my life, bending over backwards and turning their lives upside down to help my family and I. I don't know how I'll ever repay everyone or even begin making this up to my Heavenly Father and Savior. But, I'll always look for ways to try.