Surgery Update

First and foremost, thank you for all the prayers, warm wishes, text messages and calls. I truly appreciate them all. This has again shown me that family isn't always blood. So many friends have become family to me and my family.

I had to undergo another surgery yesterday between my abdominal and pelvic cavities because of the ripping and tearing pain. It was once again affecting my daily life and in return, putting too much on my family. In the beginning the surgeon was hesitant to perform another surgery on me because of the risks that come with my surgeries as well as the fact that I have had WAY too many surgeries. He just didn't want to perform something that would be up being unnecessary and explained to me that he could not promise anything positive from a surgical procedure. I informed him that I didn't expect him to be a miracle worker and that if we didn't do surgery we would never know what was causing the pain, even though I was already 100% sure the adhesion's were becoming worse and worse. He also explained to me that he feared I have a chronic pain condition due to so many surgeries and the trauma. I think some of his hesitance lies within the fact I can be in a tremendous amount of pain and still smile. I hate showing when I am in pain. As I told him, I have literally been on my death bed, so I know how that feels. Which, we all know that I spent a week at home in kidney failure, refusing to get seen.

The outcome of the surgery is my abdominal area for the most part, looked great! However, my pelvic area was saturated in adhesion's from wall to wall, thus causing the pain. If I sneezed, moved a certain way, coughed and so on, I would feel as though my stomach was just ripping in a horrible way. He cleaned me completely out. The surgeon showed photos to Kevin after he left the OR, leaving Kev in shock over the before and after photos. He said it was a huge difference.

This was an outpatient procedure, so as soon as I was able to urinate, I was able to go home. It took me a couple attempts and a few hours before I was finally able to urinate, but when I did I was like a kid on Christmas. I was so excited that I left the restroom grinning from ear to ear in a ton of pain, telling Kevin "I was able to pee!!!". This is not something that most get excited over! However, when a person go into  kidney failure this is the thing that excites them more than anything! I felt very accomplished after this! Haha It doesn't take much to make my day, people!

I have had a rough time with the gases that I was pumped full of since last night when my body came back to life. My upper abdominal area and shoulder (especially right one) are causing a lot of pain. I can't wait to finally be able to pass the gasses. I am allowed to walk a little today to jump start this process. Yesterday I was confined to bed unless I had to use the restroom. I can't take a shower until Monday morning. Ick! I am not okay with that part, but will manage. Of course no baths for a few weeks. I have come to the conclusion we desperately need more decor in our bedroom because the walls are awfully boring. :) The things I notice when I am stuck in one room...

The hospital experience was superb! Everyone was absolutely amazing from the nurses when I walked in to the ones when I left. We didn't have anyone here to stay with the kids, so Kev and the kids dropped me off yesterday morning around 5:20 at The Surgery Center which is a part of The Medica Center of Central Georgia. I was so nervous going in without Kevin. I have never had to do that. He made it up there a few minutes after they took me to the OR, so I was unable to see him until lunch time when I went to the second recovery room.

Again, thank you to those that helped me through my anxiety over the past two weeks, for checking up on me, praying, well wishing, and just being here! Without you, I am not sure I would have made it through! I love you all!

After Britt's Surgery Update

As most know, I had to undergo another abdominal/pelvic surgery six days ago, on Wednesday (August 17, 2011). The surgery was expected to hold many complications, but not as many as it ended up having. Dr. Farnam, my surgeon, was not too sure if he would be able to remove my cervix, or if this would lead to more surgeries, because he was limited to the information on what all was going on with me since the Army has it all.

I ended up going into surgery a little earlier that what was scheduled, which now is an excellent thing! The typical 30-45 minute surgery that I went in for ended up taking over 3.5 hours. Talk about complications. When Dr. Farnam made the incisions, he explained afterwards, that I was more covered in adhesion's than I should be. Too many within a year period and this explained all the pain that I was in. However, it also left a lot of questions as to what in the world the surgeon last year was honestly doing when her removed my ovaries. It took the my surgeon over an hour and a half just to cut through and clean the adhesion's out and yes, he did make the final diagnosis of my adhesive disease that I am now stuck with. This means there will more than likely be more surgeries in the future as a clean out and hopefully nothing more. At some point, pieces of my ovaries were found still in my pelvic cavity. Yes, you read right.... Which explains why the ER doctor kept telling me that I had ovarian cyst even after I argued that my ovaries were removed. This may also be why I have not felt well at all, even while on my estrogen. Then it took more time to separate my cervix from my sigmoid colon. The two were tapered together and in poor condition. While separating, they did run into a small  problem with a tear in my colon that was repaired right away. Gas was used to fill my colon in order to make sure there was no leakage. Thankfully, Dr. Farnam did an awesome job! After that, he went on to remove my cervix. As I said earlier, what should have taken under an hour, ended up lasting over three and a half hours due to all the complications.  I see Dr. Farnam later this week to find out more details of the surgery and what all was found. At this point, I am really not too sure what to even think. He was able to confirm how much the surgeon at Beaumont really jacked me up and to be honest, I still have not been able to process it all yet... I am really upset over it and have tried to not think about it this week. With all the adhesion's and ovary pieces, I can't help but to wonder what he really did last year, besides almost cost me my life on different occasions.

This surgery was much more painful that I ever expected and there were times I found it very hard to breathe. It has taken a toll on my body, emotionally and physically, and honestly right now I am just trying to maintain a busy life. I have been home since the day after, Thursday, and have been taking it easy for the most part. Okay, and I have been absolutely bored out of my mind. Yet, I have managed to keep my word this time around and do pretty much nothing at all during this recovery time! You should all be so incredibly proud, because this is seriously hard to do for me! Kevin has been a wonderful help. David, Kev's dad, happened to come in town over the weekend. Which, this of course, was a wonderful distraction away from the surgery, with the exception of the fact I felt horrible for not being able to do anything at all but sit around the house. I am on a two week do nothing at all schedule. No lifting, bending, picking things up, or anything really other than sitting on the couch. Oh, and I can't drive for at least the first two weeks. Thank God for my baby laptop! I'd be real lost without it. Especially since my cell phone fell into the bathtub and the bottom button no longer works. If you have an IPhone, you know exactly how annoying this is. I have to turn it off and back on just to get into a different file! Once my two weeks is up, I can slowly start doing things again. I still have to take it extremely easy until I am past the eight week mark on recovery. Only seven more to go!

Thank you to all that have been here helping me get through this time. Thank you to the family and friends that I may not talk to everyday, yet you have been full of thoughts, prayers, messages, and calls throughout this past week. I can never explain exactly what this has meant to me. It goes to show that we don't have to talk everyday in order to always be here for each other! I love you all and am very blessed to have you all in my life!

 Thank you to my girls that I have been blessed with through FOV! You ladies NEVER let me down and never let me go through anything alone! Y'all are absolutely amazing and I'd be lost you in my life. What went from "co-workers" has turned into lifelong friends. Thank you for being who you are and I love each of you so very much!  You guys mean more to me than any amount of words could ever say!

And of course, thank you to the most amazing husband and children a girl could ever wish and hope for. I have been incredibly lucky and more blessed than I probably deserve. Thank you Kevin for always staying by my side and sticking by me through everything in life. I love you and our kids more than the air I breathe and cannot wait to see what life has in store for us, especially with the upcoming changes that are soon about to take place! I love you with every ounce of my being!

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you... and many, many more Thank You's to my family at FamilyOfaVet.com, Hillary, and Joanna for sending me such beautiful flowers, cards, candy, and cookies! All of them are absolutely amazing and beautiful! You all know exactly how to make a girl feel incredibly special! I love you guys! ***Sorry Jo, the cookies were opened before I could ever take a picture of them! Kids, lol. They are all very tasty!***

Here We Go Again... Another Abdominal Surgery....

This afternoon was spent at the surgeons office, to receive the official news, in which we already expected, that I DO in fact have to undergo another pelvic surgery. As most of you may know, for years I have had issues and health problems in the female region due to endometreosis and ovarian cysts. I have also had multiple surgeries on my pelvic/abdominal area. More so that any one person should ever have to go through. In October of 2008, a surgeon out here had to remove my uterus in hopes of it helping the situation. Once he removed it (which he said was the worst looking uterus he had ever seen) and cleaned the endometreosis and adhesion's out, I started feeling a little better ~ pain wise.

Not too long following the hysterectomy, the pain was back as intense as ever and the cysts kept forming and rupturing. I felt like I was fighting a losing battle. In August of 2010, the GYN department on post decided it was time to remove my ovaries. So, there we were again awaiting an oopherectomy. His plan was to remove my cervix at that time as well,  however due to the adhesion's and endometreosis that were still forming everywhere, he was unable to even get to my cervix. He let us know that I am a very complicated case and he is not qualified for it. He explained then that I would have to see a oncologist, because they have more experience in removing the cervix when it is under major complications. Looking back, I am glad he didn't even try, considering his incompetence placed me on my death bed... He was the one that did not cauterize the sites when he removed my ovaries. This left me bleeding internally and put me into kidney failure. When we went to the ER I was literally dying. Due to this, I now have permanent issues with my kidneys, went into kidney failure a second time in November, and have remained anemic, as well as many other issues. 

Since the surgery, I have felt better because I no longer have ovarian cysts. Sadly though, I still have a great amount of pain from my cervix. I was referred to Dr. Farnam ~ who is an AMAZING doctor that specializes in complicated GYN surgeries. I saw him a little over a week ago for my consult and he told me then that my cervix does indeed need to be removed. However, he did not promise it would alleviate all the issues and pain. Today he went into greater detail. What it boils down to is he will not know the severity of my situation until he has opened me up. This surgery could take thirty minutes or it could last over three hours. His goal is to remove my cervix and clean any adhesion's. If he sees that removing my cervix is too complicated from it being wrapped up in my colon, bladder, and whatever else he will have no other choice but to close me back up and schedule another surgery once I recover from this one. He was explaining that if my cervix is in too much of a complicated place, he will have to call in Dr. Gomez (my life saving surgeon last year when I went into kidney failure. If it weren't for him, I would not be here any longer). Dr. Gomez is an excellent surgeon that would work hand in hand with Dr. Farnam is needed in order to avoid bowel damages and to leave me with a colostomy bag. I love the fact that he knows what he is doing, yet is not too arrogant or does not have too much pride that he refuses to ask for assistance. If you want to look him up, his website is www.farnammd.com. Dr. Farnam also proceeded to tell me that if he could not remove my cervix, even with Dr. Gomez, then he would have no other choice than to refer me to the Mayo clinic next. Typically following this procedure, patients are sent home. With that being said, I will more than likely be kept in the hospital due to my medical problems and the complications that could arise. He is also very pissed with the incompetent doctors at Beaumont that allowed last year to happen and to see what it has done to me. Dr. Farnam also informed me that he cannot promise this will leave me pain free. Scary enough, all the damages done last year and over the last 15 years have more than likely left me with permanent pain in the pelvic and abdominal regions. He explained there is a very high chance that I will always be on pain meds and that there will be certain things I can never do or have to limit myself to...

My thoughts, well, I am scared because I have to undergo ANOTHER surgery. This makes 11 surgeries in 9 years. This makes 8 on my abdomen overall and the fourth surgery since last August, three of which have been abdominal and one spinal. While I am scared, I am also very angry and extremely tired of this. I hate the surgeries. I hate the medical problems that I have. I find myself angry a lot lately due to the fact that I can no longer have children and the ones I did have I had a real hard time carrying and they were all full of bedrest and pre-term labor, as well as other issues. I find myself wishing that I could be like many others and the reality that I can't do what others can breaks my heart. I see many take advantage of their good health, when they should be more grateful for it. Yet, through all of this, I find myself happy and beyond thankful to still be here and be alive, when I know that I shouldn't be after last year and the years prior to that. I just wish others understood that life has not been easy and I do have to fight for my health to remain stable. I have a lot more emotions to this all, but none that I am ready to share on here with everyone... At least not yet. I may be sometime very soon.....

What I ask of each of you reading, please just say a prayer for the complications to be minimal and for this to go without further dangers. As well as a prayer that I feel better from the spinal surgery I had in June very soon! We really need this to go as smooth as possible and for the recovery to go without issues. Thank you to the ones that have stayed by my side through all these health scares and issues. I would be lost without each of you. The more I know, the more I will update on here. Right now, I feel kind of at a loss for words out of the concern, fear, and pure exhaustion.

Thank you everyone!

Falling in Love All Over Again

After three hours of Kevin being in the OR and me being on the verge of a breakdown because the procedure that was only supposed to last a little over an hour ended up being over three hours. Panic was beginning to set in to the point I had to ask the Red Cross Volunteer woman if she could find out what was going on with my husband. Of course, she went to the OR area to check the status of his procedure and find out what was taking so long. She was only away from a few minutes and came back with the news that they were in the process of transferring him from the OR to the recovery area and that his doctor would be visiting with me within moments.

Not long after the conversation with this sweet lady, Kevin's neurosurgeon came in to get me and Nicholas. As we were walking to the recovery area, Dr. Caram explained all that had taken place and why it had taken double to time. Once he had made the incision and was in the neck area, he was able to see the extent of the damages. He was able to see that the MRI did not show how horrible things really were and what had been done to Kevin after being hit with so many IED's. Kevin has severe arthritis and bone spurs in his neck as well as the bones crushing down on his neck. There was a lot of drilling and moving around in order to replace a disc and perform a fusion. He had bones pressing down on the nerves that was causing a constant pain in his neck, shoulders, and stabbing headaches. 

As we approached the recovery area, I saw my husband lying in the bed not even knowing who he was or where he was at that moment. I saw a side of him that I had never seen, even after he had his arm surgeries he wasn't as bad. He kept lifting his arms and placing his hands against his heads in hopes of trying to ease the pain. The good sign that I immediately picked up on was that my husband was lifting his arms again with no problem. But, to see him in that amount of pain I felt my heart just ache. For about an hour they kept pushing the pain meds through him in hopes to alleviate some of the pain. I felt helpless seeing him this way. Yet, he kept grabbing onto me and keeping me as close to him as he could.

About an hour after being in the recovery area, we were taken a few floors up to a room that he would be staying the night in. During the few hours that I was able to stay with him, Kevin kept me laying beside him, holding me close, which Nic played on my phone or watched a movie. I felt like at some points I was Kev's crutch as he tried to hard to not let me see the pain he was in. I don't think he realized that it all showed through just by looking at his eyes. Through this time, Kev kept telling me how much he loves me and yet, I still felt helpless because I couldn't just make him feel better.

During this time, I felt my heart break into a million pieces as I watched the battles, yet at the same time I felt my heart swell with pride knowing what all he has done and been through. I caught myself on multiple moments after he pulled me beside him to lay with him on his bed, tearing up and trying my hardest not to shed even a single tear. I mean, how do you explain to someone fresh out of surgery the thoughts that were going through my mind. Everything from the past two deployments and his injuries became raw and fresh to me all over again. My husband has honestly lived through the true hell of combat. He has done, seen, witnessed what we all fear or worse, what we all imagine the most difficult situations to be in war. He pulled convoy security, he did the recovery missions, he was involved in multiple firefights. He's lived the true hell of war.

For the first time since his return in 2007 and again in 2009, everything truly hit me. It all came falling down on me like a pile of bricks. When I returned home that evening, the tears just poured. I often hear many wives mad and yelling at the world because their spouse is no longer the person that they sent off to war. I know this is true.... Yet, how can one find so much anger in this situation. All I could think was, my husband came home. Even if he has severe problems with PTSD, TBI, sleep apnea, skin cancer, and everything else that has come out of the deployments, we can work through it all. He's home with me and our kids and he is alive. There were so many times over there when things could have gone differently. I could have been one of the many that had to live through the feared and dreaded speech of "On behalf of the United States Army, we regret to inform you...", yet I wasn't. I didn't have to explain to our children that their daddy wasn't coming home. I haven't had to rebuild my life, alone, while daily just trying to keep it together because my spouse didn't come home physically.

So, here I am, lucky and relieved because I can lay my head down every night with Kevin beside me. As I write this, I feel selfish and in pain because I know how many others there are that are no longer able to experience this any longer. In the end, regardless of what war has brought to my house, I no longer have doubts, fears, or worries that we not overcome everything. Sure, life and marriage won't always be easy, nor do I expect it to be. However, something during the recovery period following Kev's surgery hit me hard and I found myself falling in love all over again with this man that I met years ago and have been blessed to share my life with. War changes people, but it's what you make of it in the end and the determination a spouse and veteran have to make things work. I welcome the new changes that lie ahead, including the challenges that come after combat.  Kevin will never be the same mentally or physically again as he was before he ever deployed, yet he will always be the man I love and continue sharing my life with. 

Kevin's Spinal Surgery Update

As most of you know, on Wednesday at 5:20 in the morning, we had to report to William Beaumont Army Medical Center for Kev's spinal surgery. This procedure consisted of a disc replacement in C5-6 and a fusion at C6-7.

Of course Tuesday night went by with very limited sleep and Wednesday morning came way too early! We did manage to make it to the hospital on time, even with Nicholas not wanting to wake up and get going. Surprisingly, they allowed Nic and I to go everywhere along side Kevin with of course the exception of the OR. Around 7:40 and the meetings with the surgical team, we were told to head to the waiting room and that the surgery would last a little under two hours. Needless to say, it lasted a little over three hours! Nic and I grabbed a cinnamon roll from the cart a few floors down, as well as a drink, then settled in the waiting room for a few hours. Nicholas made friends with anyone around us, he played with his cars and dinosaurs, watched a movie, colored in his books, and even had a nice woman next to us read a story to him. When we reached the three hour point of Kevin being in surgery, I started to get worried and nervous...only to find out that he was just being rolled into the recovery area at that point.

The Neurosurgeon arrived in the waiting room right around the three and a half hour mark of Kevin going back. At that point he explained that the surgery was a lot more complex than expected due to the bone spurs, arthritis, and bones crushing Kev's nerves. He explained that the MRI did not even come close to showing the extent of the damages and injuries. Needless to say, we are both very pleased with this doctor and very happy that he went ahead with the surgery in place of Kevin waiting for after we moved.

Dr. Caram (the neurosurgeon) made the incision in the front right portion of Kev's neck and went through the side wall to reach the discs. At this point there were findings of severe cervical spondylosis (degenerative osteoarthritis of the joints between the spinal vertebrae ~ degenerative disc disease) at his C5-6 and C6-7. Dr. Caram had to do a good amount of drilling during this procedure. As I stated in the beginning, his C5-6 was a disc replacement and C6-7 ended up being a fusion. Dr. Caram also explained that the discs were pressing down and crushing Kev's nerves, which in return was also causing a lot of the pain.

Dr. Caram explained to us that after the surgery and once Kevin starts to feel somewhat better, he needs to use his neck muscles in exercises that have him looking up, down, left, and right because certain neck muscles have been "lost" due to not using them. He now has to strengthen them all.

Before the surgery, Kevin would sporadically get stabbing headaches and neck pains, there was a grinding feeling when he would look left, right, up, or down. His back was beginning to show somewhat of a hunch and to lift his arms in an upward position would be painful throughout the shoulder area. Following the surgery, the shoulder pain was minimized and so far he has not grabbed his head from the stabbing headaches. Now, when he looks to the left or right, he no longer has the grinding pain and just has the surgical pain. Kev is still real sore and the pain is noticeable at times, but overall, the improvements are already showing through! He is very glad it is over and very excited to get through this recovery process so that he can feel all the improvements.


For those of you who may not know much about the incidents that led to this surgery, let me tell you. In 2006-2007 while in Iraq, Kevin came in close contact with many IED's, VBED's, mortars, RPG's, and was involved in numerous fire fights. The same thing in 2009, just not as severe. During one mission in 2007 an IED was activated right beside the truck Kevin was gunning in and he was thrown from the turret. This incident  left him with a gash on the front upper part of his head, bleeding everywhere,  briefly unconscious, broken elbow, hurt back and neck, and nerve damage throughout his arms. Following these injuries, he was put back on missions a couple days later and kept pushing through. When he redeployed home months later, I could instantly see the differences in him physically. He was not able to move as he did before and he was always in pain. He could no longer pick up heavy objects as before he deployed to Mosul, Iraq. As time crept by, he became worse. Even though the physical struggles became more challenging as the days went by, he still kept pushing through and even deployed again 17 months later. In 2009 he was in Iraq for about 8 months when they medically sent him home on R&R. At this point, he had become so much worse. He was unable to open things, such as water and gatorade bottles. His hands had quit working and he was partially paralyzed. Kevin could no longer hold nor fire his weapon and had lost feeling in both hands. Upon his return he had to undergo a surgery in each arm called a Ulnar Nerve Transition. Within time, the feeling and movement came back in his hands and arms. His left hand is much better today, but he still cannot fully extend his right hand open. His pinky and ring finger do not open all the way. He also has a lot of tingling throughout this area and the feeling has not even returned half way. After trying physical therapy and injections in his back and neck, the surgeon decided it was best to go ahead with the disc replacement and fusion. Kevin still has bone spurs, crushed vertebrae, arthritis, and degenerative disc disease throughout his back. However, this surgery should help him out tremendously!

As always, please keep our family in your prayers when it comes to our health obstacles!