TMI

Come what may~ 


Today I went to the hospital


In the summer of '08 it was discovered that I have high blood pressure and because of that being on the pill could kill me at any second!!! Or something like that... So I decided to get a hormone IUD (hormone coil) instead. Expensive, but it would last for 5 years, and I would be free of the whole "Did I remember to take my pill today??" and "Wait, why does my next pill say 'Wednesday' when today's Thursday??". If you're not on it you'd be surprised at how difficult it can be to remember sometimes. Or maybe I'm just a scatter brain...


So in January '09 (yes, things were moving at the speed of light, ahem) I finally got the coil put in, but not before having been to a specialist because during the gyno's preliminary examination and scan he discovered what turned out to be three fibroids. 
Now if you don't know what that is, lookie here~

They are some sort of "muscle knots" (medical personnel, feel free to correct me), and about 30% of women have/get them. Usually not until later on, but for women in their 60s and 70s the numbers are as high as 50-75% (Disclaimer: This is just how I remember the numbers from years ago. Do not use as facts!), so the main unusual part about this seems to be my age. 
They're not malignant, and if not in the way they can just remain and grow, and in old ladies they can get so big it can look like an early pregnancy!
But if they protrude into the uterus, like the one on the right, they can cause heavy irregular periods and problems conceiving, and it's not a good idea to stuff a coil up in there with these guys already taking up space.


I had one in the wall that were allowed to stay, but the rest had to go, so off to the specialist I went. He used local anesthesia and cut and burned as much of it out as he possibly could. I don't tolerate morphine, and by the end the pain was too much so eventually he didn't get to cut out as much as he would've liked, but enough for me to get the IUD. 
It hurt like a sonofabitch and I felt like puking my guts out from the pain killers.


But I got my IUD and it worked brilliantly for two years. My periods almost disappeared into nothing because the hormones causes the endometrium to reduce significantly, and I was a happy camper! 


About 5 periods ago, from one cycle to the next, they became SUPER heavy! We're talking gushing, like, blood running down my legs, ruining chairs, carpets, clothes no matter how many Super Plus pads I was wearing (usually 2-3 at a time!). I sat on plastic bags in the car because you can't just throw a car seat in to the washer if it becomes soaked, and I literally had 2-3 days a period where I didn't leave the apartment because I had to stay near the bathroom.
Of course I thought "Wth?!" and that I'd better get it checked out. Maybe it had moved askew or maybe it had run out of hormones. I couldn't remember when I'd had it put in.


Cut to four months later and me finally getting my ass in gear and calling the gyno for a check up. 
I go there, he scans me, and then he tells me it has moved alright. RIGHT OUT OF THERE. 

His theory is that my endometrium has gotten big and fat because I am big and fat (my words! He was a little more PC), and fat in women produces oestrogen (growth hormone) that makes the membrane grow. And during a period this stuff has flushed out the IUD.
"So what you're saying is that I've been protectionless for that past 4 or however many months???" ..... For a sec there I was thinking to myself, "Well, damn, then maybe it's not all just junk food and sitting on my ass!", but then the fog lifted a bit and I reminded myself that I've had my periods regularly. He concurred, but that was a fun split second...
Long story short, we're either damn lucky or have problems conceiving. 


Obviously we scheduled an appointment for me to get a new IUD, but when I came back in for that on Monday he did another scan and discovered a new "bump". So no new IUD and this time I have to have it removed at the hospital. 
Frankly, I was too chicken to ask if it's because it's bigger or more severe this time.


/freak out time with the bad experience still very much at the front of my memory


Fortunately the hospital had a cancellation so I could go in for the prelim today. It took about 2½ hours with talking with the doctor, blood tests, EKG, meeting with anesthesiologist, and then back to the doc with my now full file. 
It will be a non-admit surgery under local anesthesia, but in case of complications they would like the opportunity to put me under which I agreed to, and so I had to meet with the anesthesiologist just in case. 
It's gonna be the same doc I talked to today who'll perform the surgery, so I'm happy about that. He was very nice and had great experience. 


Oh yeah, one final thing. To help ensure the best result possible, I got a hormone shot that will put me into menopause....... 
It takes four weeks to work properly which is why we have to wait. It goes in and shrinks the endometrium, like the IUD would, so the doctor can have a clearer view of what to cut out.
The hormone injection comes with all the usual side effects that goes along with menopause. Hello, hot flashes, night sweats and mood swings! Of course I started to look for signs of anything right away. "Am I getting hot?? What was that?? Am I sweating????". 


As far as the mood swings go I was, like, "So what you're saying is, business as usual.." Hubs couldn't stop laughing about it in the car, and we're already joking around. Every time I say something snippy and/or impatient (which is pretty much all the time) he looks at me and says "Is that a mood swing??? Are you having a mood swing now???" Bastard.
It should be a fun four weeks^^


The operation is set for Nov. 14th. 

I'm not scared of..I don't even know. What I'm dreading is the anesthesia and pain killers and nausea and puking and spinning and the hangover-times-ten feeling afterwards. 

My last three surgeries (yes, last, I've had more than that) at least have been hellish because of how bad the anesthesia and pain meds have made me feel afterwards, and I don't wanna feel like that again.

Of course I'm not exactly looking forward to the pain itself, but that's minor compared to the other stuff. Like with a real hangover only time can make those things go away, while the pain can be stopped with a single word.

So should you believe in some sort of god, I wouldn't mind a shout out. Not that I'm a believer, but the caring helps..

A/N: When I say "TMI" I'm not kidding, huh?