how I brought in the New Year

For months and months I've had horrible upper abdominal pain after various foods that I eat. I've cut back on fatty foods and tried to be a lot more careful about what I ate, but lately it seems that just about everything I eat brings on this pain. Last Wednesday I took my kids to a movie (we saw Tangled.. so good!) and we ate popcorn. All evening I was in pain. Usually I can go to bed and the pain is gone by morning, but this time I couldn't get comfortable all night and it was still really bad in the morning on Thursday. So I made an appointment to have it checked out... that was at 10am. My doctor sent me to ultrasound and then back to her office. It was in fact gallstones, adn my gall bladder was enflamed, so they sent me to the ER to do surgery. I was on a bed in the ER for a while, then moved to a room. I went for surgery around 7pm and it was a pretty quick operation. The did the laparoscopic procedure, so I just have a few small incisions. My sister Michelle was with me most of the day, and stayed with me until I was settled back in my room after surgery (which was around midnight because I had lot of nausea and vomitting after surgery).

I'm now recovering at Michelle's house. I'm so thankful for her and her amazing family. I am in pain (especially when I cough) but healing well and feeling loved.

I had big plans of staying up and celebrating the end of 2010 and welcoming the New Year with open arms... instead I was tucked away in my niece's bedroom sleeping soundly as the clock struck midnight. I may not have been awake to welcome the new year, but I am excited to see what this year holds and ready to receive what it has in store.