Done with Procedures! (For now)

Well, Eric and I are back from Mayo for the second time. For all of you who might not have known, I had an endoscopy and colonoscopy yesterday. I was also supposed to meet with a couple of doctors afterwards, but I guess they were dealing with a "situation" (I think there was a really needy patient or something) yesterday, so I didn't end up going into my procedures until about 3 hours after my scheduled time. I'm okay with that, though - I think I would have been way too groggy to process anything that the doctors told me.

So anyway, there's VERY good news on the PSC side of things. I asked my doctor beforehand if he thought they might put a stent in my bile duct, but he told me that was unlikely. He said the most likely scenario would be that they would just dilate the duct and take some biopsies. Thankfully, that's exactly what happened! What that means is that my duct is open now (for however long), and I don't need to worry about it at the moment. That also definitely cuts down the chance of a tumor being the cause of the stricture. Praise God! Definitely good news.

I don't know anything yet about my colon - all I know is that they said things went very well.

I've officially decided that I hate general anesthesia. It feels great to get some sleep in, but waking up SUCKS. I'm kind of OCD about being in charge of my faculties at all time (one of the many reasons I've never been drunk and don't even want to get tipsy), so not being able to control when I fully wake up is definitely horrible. It's been almost 24 hours and while I'm mostly back to normal, I still have this touch of tiredness and being out of it. Sucky.

Eric and I go back to Mayo on Wednesday for 3 appointments starting at 3:20. Our first one will be with my PSC doctors, Dr. Tabibian (who I saw after my procedure leaving the hospital in his gym clothes...funny) and Dr. Talwalker. The next appointment will be with Dr. Divine, who will be talking to me about what happened during my endoscopy, I believe. I'm actually not totally sure what I'll be talking to him about since he's not the doctor who actually was in the procedure, but we'll see. Lastly, I'll be meeting with my UC doctor, Dr. Hanson. So... all good things! I'm actually semi-considering tabling the idea of getting a colectomy depending on what she says. There's a different kind of medication called Remicaid that I haven't tried yet, but a few of my friends are on it and it has actually put them into remission. It is expensive and requires injections every couple months, but it might be worth it in order not to have major surgery right away. Again, this all depends on what my doctor says about the urgency of my colectomy and whether or not they would have to do a full one (with the ostomy bag and the effect on my fertility).

Anyway, that's all the news I have for now - let me know if I left anything out or any of you have any questions!

Prayer Requests:

1. I'm still in pain from yesterday's procedures - my stomach is sore from not eating for 2 days and then trying to adjust to food again, and my neck and throat are sore from the endoscopy. Prayer for that to go away is definitely appreciated!

2. Please pray for good news when we talk to the doctors on Wednesday. After how well the procedures went yesterday I'm definitely hopeful, but I'm also trying not to have false hopes - I want to be realistic, yet at the same time pray for good news.

3. Eric and I are going to get started soon on the whole moving process (we move in only 43 days!), and we need as little stress as possible (although we know there will still be a certain amount of stress involved with moving across the country...). We need to start looking right now for storage units in Colorado Springs (we'll be living with my parents for the first couple of months), and we need to look for a moving truck that isn't horribly expensive.

Thank you, everyone! We love you all, and we feel so encouraged and blessed by all your support. Keep it comin'! :)