Saturday, April 7, 2012

An Unexpected Appendectomy

Last Saturday Sarah had stomach pain all day; when we finally called the insurance nurse help line at 5pm, the nurse advised us to bring her in within three hours. At the emergency room in Olivia, I sat with Sarah (a much more comfortable Sarah with an IV for hydration and pain medication) until 11pm, when they performed a CT scan on her abdomen and discovered that her appendix was, indeed, infected and needed to be removed. In the meantime, I posted on Facebook and emailed the families asking for prayer. Pete had attended the Svea Wild Game Feed where Dad Stadem gave the message, but by midnight (after erroneously going to the Willmar emergency room) he arrived and I went home to get some sleep before the Palm Sunday service.

Dad Norling called just after I woke up, and wondered how everything was. When I called Pete, he said Sarah was walking around and would be home that day. Dr. Maland performed the surgery laparoscopically, so she has only three fingernail-size incisions.

After Sunday School Opening Exercises, I prepared the praise team stage and recruited Julie Gatewood to substitute for Sarah as a singer. While playing the prelude, I looked up and saw Pete enter our pew! He'd brought Sarah home and she felt good, so he came on to worship.

Praise God for great medical care. We shouldn't be surprised if we have to pay a good portion of our incomes, considering the almost endless list of procedures that improve our lives and health.

No comments: