Blessings amidst Trials

    The last couple of posts have been of me struggling about not having kids yet, and being frustrated about being forced to wait while it seems that everyone is getting pregnant at the drop of a hat.
     Well, the last few days my eyes have been opened to the many blessings I do have in my life, and a few positive things about us not having kids yet.
        For those who do not know I have been sick now since last Wednesday. I was scheduled to work last Wednesday, December 22. When I awoke I felt a little weird. My stomach didn't hurt, and wasn't exactly sick, but it didn't feel right. I went to work and started getting extreme pain in the middle, just below my ribs. Well, I said a quick prayer, and the pain didn't stop, but was manageable all through work. Almost instantly when I got home from work I got the bad pain, cramping, diarrhea, hot sweats, dizziness, lightheadedness, and nausea. I figured it was just the 24 hour bug, so I slept off and on that night with a bowl by my side. The next 48 hours was no better. I stayed down for 3 days straight. I didn't eat anything, and therefore was extremely weak on top of all the other symptoms. By about one o'clock Christmas eve morning I was ready to go to the hospital. We packed up and went to the ER. After several tests, we were sent home with the direction that we needed to follow up with my normal dr. because my liver enzymes were elevated, and needed to be monitored.
        Well, I was feeling so much better by Saturday, so I didn't really feel the need to see my normal dr. Then I was smacked again with the pain starting again Monday afternoon. I figured this has been almost a week, and wasn't going away on its own, so I needed to go in. I set up the appointment for Wednesday. When I was in the ER they only told me that my liver was elevated, but none of their other findings, so my normal dr. went over everything with me.  Apparently I have cysts on my ovaries, along with the elevated liver enzymes. Normal liver enzymes is in the 50 range, and she said mine were in the 800 range. Which is why I am constantly in pain, and have so much bloating and fullness in my stomach,  even though I cannot eat more than a little soup and crackers. We are waiting on the rest of the results from the tests she took, but she gave me some medicine that should actually help coat my stomach rather than the tylonol/percocet that the hospital gave me that does more damage to my liver. Good thing they have competent doctors working in the Emergency Room right? Sheesh!
          Now, on to the point of this story. I have been thinking a lot about how moms deal with their own pain and sicknesses with the demands and time of children. I have been in quite a bit of pain and I can barely manage it all myself, let alone having kids and their needs on top of it all. When it got the worst, and we had to go to the hospital, we didn't have to gather up the kids, or find a babysitter at 1:00 am, or have me go to the hospital by myself, while my husband stayed home with them. Nope, we just hopped in and went, and I was able to have my baby at my side the whole time. This is one of those times that I am so grateful that I don't have kids. It has been and still is hard enough without the added EVERYTHING kids bring.
   Well, another situation that makes me grateful for my own trials.....Today, Mike and I left at 9:00 this morning to get a jump start on errands and get ahead of the game, since I have been down and gotten behind on the demands of a house, and a husband. Well, the roads were super crappy and so we put the chains on our tires and drove a few blocks to maceys to check to make sure they were tightened good enough. Much to our surprise we had a flat tire! Well, we decided to just drive a block to Big O, and just go ahead and get 4 new tires, since we needed them desperately anyway. We get there and it is packed. We wait in line, order what we need and then sit down and wait. For those who do not know there is a lot of sitting and waiting at Big O Tires, especially when its as busy as it was today. Well, this poor lady was there right before us, and she had 3 small kids with her. Luckily they had a movie going, and popcorn and drinks for those of us waiting. Well, as great as that is, it only suffices for these three kids a short while. It was not long before they were making a HUGE mess with the popcorn, running around and chasing each other all over the store, and about running into people waiting in line. They were teasing and fighting with one another which was then causing them to complain and whine to their mom. This poor lady was trying to have a conversation with a lady next to her at the same time as manage this restless boys. It really made me smile inside. I was getting really restless near the end as well, and could just imagine being 3-7 years old and feeling the same way, with no qualms as what to do about it. As I watched the energy drain, and the frustration rise in this poor mother, I had a grateful heart. It's bad enough to have car problems, and be waiting for 3 hours by yourself, but to have kids that you cannot control with you through the turmoil and frustration, I cannot imagine. And today I did not have to imagine as I watched and listened with a grateful heart, and a smile on my face.