When It Rains, It Pours

The past few days have been eerily reminiscent of the week, two years ago, following Davis's birth when I was hit with a wicked case of mastitis complete with high fever and other flu-like symptoms and Addison got a terrible case of pink eye. Just when you're hoping that life will begin to assume some normalcy, you're thrown into a tailspin of random medical issues.

It was almost too good to be true. A 4 1/2 hour labor followed by a painless delivery to a small baby, which equals no lingering discomfort. A wee girl who does not have her days and nights mixed up like most infants but is awake during the day and sleeps so soundly at night that I have to wake her to feed. If I weren't a good Reformed Calvinist, I might begin to think I'd used up all my good karma and that balance needed to restored to this Murphy's Law universe.

It began Friday with some pain near my tailbone area. What I first shrugged off as a minor nuisance, grew so quickly in pain level it could no longer be ignored. I suspected a cyst of some sort and called the doctor for an appointment. They couldn't get me in until yesterday, which meant hobbling around all weekend like a decrepit old lady. Sitting has been almost unbearable at times because the pressure of my full weight is put on this inflamed and possibly infected cyst. In the meantime, I also suspected a bladder infection. Great. At my appointment yesterday they confirmed that I did, indeed, have a UTI (urinary tract infection) and that the painful spot at the base of my spine is a sebaceous cyst, which needs to be removed by a surgeon. Was this caused by pregnancy or delivery, I asked hopefully. No. Apparently, the cyst is totally coincidental. Just my luck. In the ironic and probably not so helpful words of my doctor, "Did you buy a lottery ticket this week?"

In God's merciful kindness, I have an appointment with the surgeon this afternoon to remove the cyst. From everything I've read, it should be a simple, in-office procedure. Nevertheless, as with anything unknown, I have a bit of anxiety about it. I would certainly appreciate your prayers today for a successful excision and swift healing. Also, in God's providence, the antibiotics prescribed for my UTI seem to have kicked in and I am feeling better in that department. It took some doing, but they finally got the medication right after I reminded them that I am nursing a brand new infant. Apparently, they had forgotten and given me an unsuitable prescription necessitating a call to the pharmacy for a safer drug.

Yesterday, after all these medical woes, Evie vomiting in the waiting room of the doctor's office while I foolishly hadn't packed an extra outfit, the mix-up and subsequent delay with the meds, I was beginning to feel more than a little beat up, but as I mentioned earlier in this post, history is a good reminder of God's faithfulness. I can remember how desperate and vulnerable I felt back then, but God gave us the strength to pull through and, as an instrument of His care, provided my mom in both instances to help us with juggling the kids, appointments, and other needs. I can only believe that these trials are sent our way to refine us. Hopefully, we come away stronger but more humble with a greater awareness of our need for our Heavenly Father. It is easy to forget His constant care for us when things are going well. In the ugly moments when our mortality and frailty confront us most directly, I think we come closer to understanding what a truly loving, all-sustaining God we serve.