Emergency surgery

Hello, my bucket list friends. As you can probably tell from the title of this post, it is going to be a little bit different from my regular posts. This was an unexpected and scary event, but I think it is important to share life experiences with others, so let’s get to it.

My unexpected surgery – The day that I returned home from Oxnard, I started having pain. I thought I was having the mussel spasms that I get sometimes. However, this time could not make the intense pain go away. All the things that I usually do to treat my mussel spasms were not working, and the pain kept getting worse. I started thinking about going to the ER, but my insurance is not very good, so I put it off for a little while, but the pain was so bad that I was throwing up from it. When my mom was driving me to the ER, I couldn’t wait to get there. I was in so much pain, and I just wanted it to stop. The last time I had gone to the ER with mussel spasms, I had been given some medicine that stopped the pain, and then I went home. I thought that it would be the same this time but I was very wrong. When I first got to the ER, there was a line. I could not stand, so I sat down in the line. Someone brought me a wheelchair so I didn’t have to sit on the floor. It was around 10 or 11pm. when I got to the ER. I was also throwing up in a bag in the waiting room. I had some blood taken, and I was told to go back to the waiting room. I also was told it would be an hour or so before I could be seen. I was in so much pain that I thought I would pass out before then. I went back to the check-in and told them that my pain was worse. At one point, I was lying on the floor of the waiting room. I was very happy when they called my name and took me back to a room. It took a little bit, but I got some pain medicine, and I felt like I could think more clearly, and the pain was not as overwhelming. I got a CAT scan and an ultrasound. After the ultrasound, I got more medicine because my pain started again. After the 2nd dose of medicine, my pain was at a four, and I felt really good. It turned out that I had a grapefruit sized ovarian cyst. At first, I was told I could schedule the surgery to have it removed at another time. However, my doctors were concerned that my pain was still there after two doses of pain medicine. They said that my cyst was probably twisted, and that’s what was causing my pain. They advised me that I should have surgery right away. I was also told that it looked like my ovary had blood flow, but they could not be sure, and that my ovary may have to be removed. I had never been put under before, and I had only dental surgery in the past, so I was absolutely terrified. I started crying when I learned that I needed to have surgery. By this time, it was well past midnight, and it was officially August 1st. My birthday month had begun with me in the ER. They took me into surgery pretty quickly, but before that, I had some time to post on social media and ask for prayers. I took some pictures before I went into surgery. I liked the sea animal decorations in the room I was in so I also took a picture of the Octopus on the wall. Another thing that made it even more stressful is that I had to cancel some job interviews that I had scheduled. Before I knew it, I was being wheeled into the OR. When we arrived at the room, it looked just like what you would see in a hospital TV show, but it was real. Before I knew it, my fear kicked in again, and I began crying. I remember the tears flowing down my face as I laid on my back. I was told that I was going to be given some anxiety medicine. Right after it was given to me, my tears stopped. I was still nervous, but I felt better than before. The next thing I remember is an oxygen mask being placed over my face while we had a short conversation about the oxygen bars in Las Vegas, and that’s the last thing I remember before I had surgery. After that, I remember waking up in the recovery room. It’s kind of weird because it doesn’t feel like I went to sleep. It feels like I lost memory, but I’m ok with that because everything went well. My cyst was successfully removed, and my ovary was fine, so they did not have to take it out. It was twisted, and that’s what was causing my pain. I went home shortly after surgery, and my pain was gone. The recovery process is still happening now, but I’ve made it past the hardest parts. My incisions hurt for a while, but now they are perfectly fine. It was a scary thing to go through, but I know that God was with me the whole time, and I’m glad that the cyst is no longer inside me.

Thanks for reading! – Christina Epperly

NOTICE SOME OF THE PICTURES BELOW ARE OF INCISIONS AND BRUISES