Livin like LewLew

It's taken me a some time to write this entry. I've been really worn out - but I guess that comes with recovery. Here's a little update on what has happened since I last wrote. First of all, the surgery was successful! Everything is structurally okay, but the challenge that we are trying to overcome currently is the function of my digestive system. It has been so long since my GI tract has actually been able to function in the right way (because things were so structurally wrong with it before surgery), so we are trying to figure some of this stuff out.    Four or five days after surgery, I began throwing up again.  This might be TMI so skip ahead of this paragraph if you don't want to read it. We discovered that there were 2 liters of BILE being dumped into my stomach when I began to violently throw up. It was terrible. AND if you don't know, there isn't supposed to be ANY bile in the stomach - especially NOT 2 entire liters of it. Bile is supposed t

I haven't really shared a lot of details regarding how truly hard these past 14 months have been, but I guess I can start by saying that what I have gone through is something that I hope no one EVER has to experience. Sometimes it has literally felt like I went to hell and back, and then hell and back again. No part of this journey has been easy, but I've tried my best to focus on the happy in the midst of all the struggle. We've been pretty vocal about the things that I have encountered during my illness, but there are so many things that I haven't been ready to share - until now. Writing this is one of the hardest things that I might ever try and write - thinking about it makes me tear up. As you may know, I had major surgery last week. I am so incredibly thankful for my wonderful surgeon, Dr. Petty, who, by operating on me, saved my life. I am not over exaggerating one bit by saying that he is the reason that I am alive. There was no way of knowing how bad thing

A little recap before I go into detail with what went down on January 31st - the day of my surgery. On September 6th, 2018,  I had something called the LADD procedure to get rid of my Superior Mesenteric Artery Syndrome (SMAS). It had been 286 days of not being able to eat or drink normally up to the day of surgery.  I was excited because it was laparoscopic and it was minimally invasive. The LADD procedure was successful in that my SMAS was gone! My surgeon, Dr. Petty, was able to move everything behind the Superior Mesenteric Artery, so that it was no longer able to compress my duodenum. More specifically, he cut the ligament of Treitz and was then able to move my large intestine from the right side of my body to the left side. He then moved my small intestine from the left side of my body to the right side. He also removed my appendix as a precaution. The night of surgery, I was able to drink water - something that I hadn't been able to do in nearly 9 months.  Soon after th