I cannot be held accountable for anything I write today due to the anesthesia administered this morning.

Having said that, I will try to string a few coherent sentences together to update those of you following my journey.

First, a huge THANK YOU for praying for me to experience peace.  Whereas a couple days ago I wailed and freaked out about having to undergo another endoscopy, this morning the only time I started to feel truly nervous was when the nurse called me back to begin prepping me for the procedure.  The procedure itself went off without a hitch, I guess.  I don’t remember because I was dreaming.  The nurses had music playing in the background, and I remember one of them telling me I had “Lady Gaga to go to sleep to” as they turned the oxygen on in that thing they put in my nose.  I told myself I’d rather think about Jesus, and I did…and then I dreamed….and then I woke up to my husband and daughter’s smiling faces and went home

and slept some more.  When I finish writing this thesis, I’ll probably take another nap.  Because I can.

You can call me “Itis-Girl.”  Esophagitis, gastritis, dueodenitis…you name it, I’ve got it.  So it’s Nexium for me for awhile.  I wonder if the result would have been the same if they had done the procedure during the time of the month when I wasn’t in such acute stomach/diaphragm pain.  Yesterday I was in so much pain I could not stand up straight, eat, or drink.  Last night the severity eased up (as I knew it would…drop in hormones = drop in the pain) a bit.  Today it’s still there but not like yesterday.

So…on to another day.  Tomorrow is a full abdominal ultrasound, and then we should be good for takeoff.

I don’t have any other way to explain my calmness today except that I experienced the peace that Jesus promised to send to believers after he went back to be with the Father.  From John 14:

²⁷ “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.

My prayer is that the Lord will grant me that same peace of mind and heart from now through next week’s surgery and beyond.  I am eager to get this “Itis-Girl” chapter of my life written so I can embark on a whole new story.