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Tubal Reversal Doctor:  Dr. Roberto Perez

Ed & Shirley McGuire's Testimony

February  2009

I can hardly believe we are here on this side of a reversal testimony letter. I have read many of your letters and testimonies, and always I prayed God would give us the patience to wait on him and allow him to work out the details of our reversal journey.  Now that we are in our recovery we are so thankful to all of the ways God has directed us, even the times of trial are for our good!  He truly has shown us  through our walk how we need to trust and obey him in everything!  Pr 3:6  In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.   And also through our study of His Word how he sees children as His blessing to his people. Pr 17:6  Children's children are the crown of old men; and the glory of children are their fathers .

      Our reversal Journey has been an interesting one. For most of our married life we have used every kind of birth control out there (and they have always failed!).  God has been reaching out to us, using other Christians to help us see His view of children and reproduction. It was after the birth of our fourth child that things went drastic. When we became pregnant with him we were on birth control pills. We were so inundated by people who  thought they needed to tell us how to control our family size. He was an emergency C-section and both I and the baby were in great danger due to the cord being twisted around his body a number of times. Many folks were concerned about my safety if we had more children and what Ed would do if left him alone. These were all hard things to think of and we caved! Ed went and had the big V. Seemed like a relief but we were uneasy. Still our walk with the Lord was not what it should have been then and we went thru with it. Guess what? God in his infinite wisdom decided we needed another child, and three years after the V we conceived our last son. Well... everyone we knew blew a gasket! Even our Pastor couldn't believe it. He seemed disappointed and concerned! Three years tells us that we were not just the "unfortunate" ones who didn't take the first time. We went a long time without conceiving! God gave us this child! We were shocked and upset at first, but after the shock came happiness the likes of which we still have a hard time believing. I (Shirley) had such an easy time and we had a short easy labor. He was a vbac, and our son was healthy and beautiful. But still the pressure came. Control your growing family before you are overtaken! We were such idiots! I can remember sitting there as they were getting ready to do my tubal and I really felt the Holy Spirit try to get my attention, I was changing my mind and didn't want to go thru with it. I still remember the Doc saying those feelings were normal and they would go away soon. After all, I had my share of children and I should be practical...etc, etc ...What is with people today?  As they prepared to take me in for the surgery I expressed to my Dr how many misgivings I was having and how I thought I shouldn't do it. Seems like once you're strapped down they believe they can proceed as they want! And they did go thru with it, to my shame.

     Praise God, He never left us! He continued to grow us up in His ways and teaches the value of children! We attended a home school conference in June 2006 in Denver that featured the Vision Forum team on Uniting Church and Family. God blessed Ed with time off and he was able to attend almost all the lectures with us. We were so encouraged and uplifted by what these men of God were speaking on. We sat thru "How to Help Men Lead in the home", "A Covenantal Approach to the Family"," A Wise Woman's Guide to Blessing her Husband's Vision", "How the Modern Church is Harming the Family", "The Family as a Factory of Church Leaders" and many, many more. So many topics, and they all spoke to the same thing, trusting God and Serving God in EVERY area of our lives! We met so many families who have left their child bearing up to God! Over the next few weeks Ed and I talked about this and both of us were feeling convicted to give our fertility back to God. But how would we do that? After all a tubal is permanent, isn't it? Many days later after an internet search, we found TLH.  It was so important that we find a place we could agree with on their views. And God led us to TLH!! What a marvelous God we serve, He continues to love and guide us through all of our troubles and puts us in the path of other believers! The blessings we have had by being yoked with TLH are tremendous! God has given us a family of fellow servants who share our convictions and encourage us to press on toward Christ!

     This last January, I (Shirley) went through a time of feeling low and tired of waiting. We had been on the funding list for almost a year at that time and our fund was growing slow. We also had seen the chatter on the list go from a steady pace to none at all. All of this served to be very discouraging, and I cried out to you all for encouragement. I can remember most of you sending notes of prayer and uplifting thoughts our way and it really helped. At the same time my sister went through a time of despair and discouragement in her marriage. She called and asked Ed and I if we could keep her children for her during this hard time. We of course felt God would want us to do this, so we said yes. As I spent the next few days praying and talking with the Lord, I began to realize he was calling me to also recognize this as an opportunity to be Parents for Him.  It was with those thoughts on my mind that I spent an afternoon crying out to God, praying for grace to be that influence in the lives of all children he sends in my path, not just the ones born to us. Again I committed my thoughts and hopes to him asking him to create in me the desire to obey him in this even when it was hard. And again, I prayed if it was his will to restore us then so be it, but if he chooses to have us wait, for Him to help me do it with His joy in my heart. What peace we can find when we resign ourselves over to the Father. (I don't know about the rest of you but I frequently have something I have to re-give to the Lord.) This time, as the peace came into my heart I also heard a voice in my head...Kelli's actually....telling me our fund was finished and we were on our way to our reversal!  My head was literally spinning. I wonder all the time if my feet actually touched the ground....I had Kelli call back later that day to tell Ed and the children. While I thought shouting would have been the reaction, I actually got dumb stairs and 'are you sure she's ok?" looks from my children.

     We began scheduling our appointment with Dr Perez. In all actuality I couldn't get in fast enough. We finally got the date of 2-28 set up and from there we waited through the month of February.  Finally as the day approached we saw all the details of our travel plans come together, and we got more and more excited. I don't think we had much trepidation but we really were moving too fast to notice.

      We had decided that driving was the best course of action for us as the costs was 1/4 what a flight would have been. Little did we know that Ed would come down with a terrible head cold on the day before we left. I had a feeling his travel would be very difficult but God kept him, and he was actually able to drive and felt quite good.  We made great time considering we left later than we intended. We stayed overnight in San Antonio and drove from there in the morning to McAllen. Marcus checked with us twice that morning to gauge our arrival with the shuttle. When we arrived in McAllen we ate a light lunch and went to the airport to wait for the shuttle that would be there around 3pm. While we were waiting, Marcus called and said because of border traffic the shuttle would be 45 min late. It was not a big deal and gave us time to make a few phone calls. When the shuttle arrived the driver got out and shook Ed's hand. He then loaded our bags and told us he would be picking up some other couples so we should get in and wait. Within 10 minutes we were underway. As we crossed the border we could see the backed up traffic waiting to cross over into the US. No wonder we had to wait.

     We arrived at the hospital and Armin, our driver, went to start the check in process. He came back and said there was only one room and took Ed and me to the room. We filled out some basic paperwork and then paid for the shuttle. We were very concerned that we would not be able to communicate with the nurses but we brought our Spanish/English dictionary. It was not really hard; if there was something we couldn't understand we just looked it up. We highly recommend that anyone traveling over there remember to get a dictionary. It was a big help!

      Ed and I are impressed with how clean and well kept the hospital is. It was not like an American hospital but it is very home like and clean. People were friendly and easy going. They went to great lengths to help us feel calm. Dr Levi came in and spoke with us concerning the operation and answered any questions we had. I felt like he was very willing to spend what ever time we needed to explain the procedure and answer any questions we might have. After that we were fed dinner, and Ed and I went to sleep for the night. We woke in the morning and the nurse did my IV in preparation for the operation.

     The actual procedure seemed fast for me. I drifted in and out of sleep and never felt any discomfort at all. Ed was able to be right there with me and give me assurance and comfort the whole time. He also took many photos :- ). Dr.Levi told me I had very healthy ovaries and uterus. My lengths were 8cm on the left and 6cm on the right. He also mentioned there had been damage done to the right tube that he repaired (this probably happened at the time of my TL).  Recovery went very fine and I never had more pain than I could handle. The nurses were very attentive and always concerned as to how I was feeling. Even with the language barrier I had no trouble communicating with them.

    When we met with the Dr the next day he told me to rest and take it very easy for the next two weeks and then we could go back to normal. I really feel Dr Levi is a caring and giving man who really wants to give couples the assurance and comfort they need at a time like this. We had an uneventful if long trip home. Ed wanted to make stops along the way to give me time to stretch and stay rested.  We had a visit with his brother and sister in law, and she was very interested in our info on Post Tubal Ligation Syndrome...She had a tubal 7 years ago.

    All in all I would highly recommend Dr.Perez and Levi to anyone looking to have this mistake reversed! They operate a very clean and well organized hospital and are very knowledgeable about the procedure. Do not  hesitate, they will take very good care of you!

     We are so blessed to be a part of TLH and thank God everyday for this ministry. You all bless and touch our lives in ways we can never express. What a privilege it is to be part of a body of believers that bear with one another and walk alongside one another. We truly see the scripture Gal 6:2 "Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ."  And we look forward to welcoming any other children God sends us, through birth or otherwise. Ps 128:3  Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house: thy children like olive plants round about thy table.