That Just Happened!

For the events leading up to the day of the surgery go here.

Total procedures being done: diagnostic laparoscopy to identify and diagnose endometriosis, possible treatment of endometriosis, tubal dye test (to ensure fallopian tubes are clear), removal of possible scar tissue, D&C. 

Total problems found: 3.

I have level 1 endometriosis, which meant it was minimal (although he made it clear that the 1-4 scale does not in any way indicate pain caused from it) and he removed it.  I had scar tissue near my appendix (which he was surprised at because that much scaring without having had appendicitis is rare) and scar tissue on my big intestine (from a bad diet?!  But I’m a vegetarian!  Most likely from first year uni and living on my own for a year).  Unfortunately, this will probably not be last time I go in for surgery for this, as endometirosis comes back until you hit menopause.  It can cause infertility (if it goes untreated) and extreme abdominal pain.  Thankfully, I caught it pretty early and I havebeen on birth control pills for so long that it has helped delay the progression of the disease. 

I was glad that the doctor found something.  There was the possibility that he would find nothing.  It turns out your uterus, bowels and bladder share a nerve center, so it is difficult for a woman to identify exactly where the pain is coming from.  You may think it is your uterus, but it could be your bowel, or bladder.  So, the fact that the search can end there is reassuring.  Who knows how long it would have taken if I had to see another specialist.  I must admit that I lost heart a bit when I realized I would have to got hrough all this again.  The other factor is, I could need surgery again in  years, ten years, or even one year.  There is no way of knowing for sure.  It was a very emotional day and it takes a lot to stay braveand positive, so when I realized that it would come back I had to take a few minutes to just be by myself.  MPW was amazing and let me have my time, and he was ready to hold my hand when I was done sulking.  Hello, Pity Party, Table of One!

The pain meds make me nauseous, but I definitely have my appetite.  Moving around is painful and I vow that the next time I go in for this surgery I will have a smaller tummy to make it easier.  There are a lot of things to be grateful for, so here are some of them.

1. I get to havea stress-free Christmas.  No working out, no heavy lifting, no bending over.  MPW is my slave and has to do my bidding.  I must admit it has been fun getting him to run around for me.  Just being able to call him and he’ll get me stuff.  My recovery may take a looooong time.
2. MPW is around to help me and love me and take care of me.  Thank goodness, because the thought of looking at the incisions makes me more nauseous than the pain meds.
3. People bring me gifts (thanks again Stephtastic) and offer to do my bidding (Thanks Art Owl).
4. I finally found out what has been causing the pain and it has been taken care of so I can return to a normal life.
5. I live in Canada and the only thing I had to pay for was the surgical soap for my showers and $1 for the pain meds.  Thanks to universal health care and paying into it since I was 13 years old and the benefits through work.
6. The wonderful people at St. Mike’s who took such good care of me.  I really can’t thank them enough.  To donate to the hospital you can go here.
7. Chocolate.  Enough said.

So, for now I just need to catch up on my rest and be grateful that this is over for now.  I have a follow up appointment in a few weeks and then I should be okay for a while at least.

I wanted to share this with all of you because it is such a major event in my life.  It’s also been really helpful to write it all out (and I get to put words like vajayjay and lady business all over the Internet).  I think it’s also important to share stories like this so that other women know what’s happening and what can happen.  I have never known anyone to talk about having this problem and if I knew more about it, maybe I would have been able to get help a little sooner.  The most important thing I can think to pass on is something I have heard time and time again, “You know your body better than anyone else and if you think there is something wrong than there is!”  Don’t let one stupid doctor tell you they’ve never seen it before because someone out there has  and it doesn’t mean it’s all in your head.  You can keep going and find someone who believes you and who can help you. 

Yeah, That Just Happened!

For what led me to this point go here.

First, let me explain what endometriosis is, in case you aren’t familiar with it.  Endometriosis is when the uterine lining starts to develop outside the uterine wall.  It can start to form on your ovaries and in severe cases it can form on other organs in your body.  There is no direct cause for developing it, but it is estimated that 5-10% of menstrual aged women develop it.  It can cause a myriad of symptoms, most common being pain and infertility.  Being on the pill, lowering your estrogen and smoking appears to halt its progress (obviously no one should take up smoking for this).  There are medications to prevent it from returning, but the side effects are so awful, that most women choose not to take it.  For more information about this you can check it out on Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endometriosis

After a few more follow up appointments with the wonderful doctor through his clinic at St. Mike’s (I had been seeing him through the hospital up until this point)  we decided that diagnostic surgery was pretty necessary.  Although, it is considered ‘elective surgery’  I don’t feel like I have much of a choice.  I either see what’s going wrong, or I live in continual and increasing pain.  Hmm.  Decisions, decisions.

MPW came with me to the final appointment so he could meet the doctor and we could talk about the surgical options.  Right away, MPW felt better having met the doctor.  Again, the doctor has this amazing ability to put you at ease.  He doesn’t overstate, or understate the concern, or the issues.  He is matter-of-fact and he smiles a lot.  Definitely makes you feel like you are in capable hands.  Also, he performs his own surgery, so you know who you are getting.  All major pluses.  The downside was he was booking in the spring of 2011.  That would have meant that I would have waited over a year from the first time I went to my doctor to find out what was wrong with me.  He asked if I wanted to be on his waiting list because I might get in around February.  “Sure, why not,” I said.  I signed all of the forms and went home with all the literature and kind of put it out of my mind.  No use worrying about something that is 6 months away.

On December 11th I get a call from his surgical coordinator.  “Hi, may I speak to Jennifer please?”  “Speaking.”  “Hi, this is ______  from ______’s office.  Would you be available for surgery on December 17th?”  “Um…heck yeah!  I mean….wow!  Okay!”  *laughs* “I know it’s kind of short notice, but…”  “No, that’s great.  Great.”  “Okay I will call you back and let you know when your pre admission appointment is.  It is supposed to be 2 weeks in advance, but we’ll have to get you in sooner.”  “Great, I will talk to you soon.” 

She called me back and I was booked in for Monday at 8am.  At this point you would think I would tell MPW the news, but I couldn’t because that weekend he was in Vermont with the ski school, coaching.  Of course, his phone was off and I didn’t want him to worry all weekend.  I had to wait 4 days to tell him and even then it was the night before the pre admission appointment, so he had to send an email to his boss and hope for the best.  I must take a minute here to say how great his employer has been about him taking time off for this.  There was no question about it, and MPW has been free to go with me on the appointments and surgery day, so major thanks to them.

We went to the pre admission appointment and they took my blood, blood pressure (twice) and asked me all sorts of questions (twice).  I left with instructions to call on Thursday for my surgery time on Friday.  I also left with a lot of nerves.  For some reason, in my head, this was going to be no big deal, but when I sat down with the pre admission nurse and she explained the procedures it finally hit me that this was a lot more serious than I thought.  The recovery was going to be painful (mostly from the gas…and it is.  The gas is in your body cavity, so you can’t just expel it and it pushes on your stomach nerves which causes back and shoulder pain.  Go figure.)   I also do not remember the doctor explaining that I was going to also have a D&C.  That really freaked me out.  I know he did tell me because it was on the paper that I signed, but I don’t think it actually sunk in until that point. 

So, off I go back home to sit and wait.  I told my mother, sister and brother what was going to happen and what was going on.  They were of course, most supportive.  I think my Mom was the most nervous of all of us.  I had 3 days to get used to the idea of surgery and then it was time. 

To find out more about the actual day, come back tomorrow!

Yeah, That Just Happened!

For the start to this, you can go here. 

Around 10 months ago I went to my family doctor complaining of pelvic pain, cramps in the middle of my cycle and abnormal bleeding.  Grossed out yet?  I know I was!  She referred me to a gynecologist to help sort everything out.  So off I go to this wonderful woman who was going to answer all of my unasked questions and cure me of this ridiculous pain.

Except she didn’t.  What she did do was freak out  when I wouldn’t stop bleeding all over her table.  She just sat there frozen in panic mumbling, “I’ve never seen anything like this, I’ve never seen anything like this.”  Um thanks, B*tch.  So she goes flying out the the room to find nitrus sticks to stop the bleeding  and leaves the door wide open.  Yeah, I’m still lying on the table half-naked with my feet around my ears!  Geeeeeze, woman.  So she finally manages to get the situation under control and I am freaking out a bit inside.  “Okay, I think I fixed it,” she said.

Fixed what?!  You didn’t even know what was wrong!  She goes to end the appointment and as an after thought she says, “You will probably have cramps and some bleeding.”  “Great,” I replied, “the person sitting next to me on the plane is going to love  that.”  “What do you mean?” she asks.  “Well, since you kept me waiting 2 hours  before the appointment, I now have about 1.5 hours before I have to be on a plane to Calgary, soooo that’s going to suck.” 

She gave me 2 Tylenol on the way out, but they didn’t have any water, so I had to take it when I got home.  I went on the plane and was fine, but the bleeding didn’t exactly stop for a few days.  Grossed out?  I know I was!

I returned to my family doctor and told her the whole story  nightmare.  She was appropriately horrified and recommended me to a specialist at St. Michael’s Hospital in downtown Toronto (affectionately known around these parts as St. Mike’s).  So, off I go to see another specialist  flash my vajayjay to another person I don’t know.  I get an appointment relatively quickly and see him in July.

 This doctor was amazing!  First of all, he apologized for the other quack who saw me previously.  He said, “that is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.  Of course, it is obvious what is going on here, I see it frequently.”  I swear I sighed a bit in relief.  In fact, I could see it too because they have this wonderful thing at St Mike’s that projects your lady business onto a TV screen in extreme  close up so that you can watch the doctor work.  Um, yeah.  Grossed out?  I know I was!  All I could think about was, “sorry about the grooming down there.  My vajayjay and I haven’t exactly been taking care of each other as we should.”  Have you ever seen your lady bits up close?  For someone who has seen torture movies, pictures of war zones, read horrific accounts of third-world countries…nothing could have prepared me for that.  Sorry ladies, I ain’t ever going to play for your team now!

He tells me that part of the problem is the cells on my cervix are not changing fast enough because I havetoo much estrogen in my body.  If I wasn’t taking birth control pills, it would be even worse.  Basically, your cervical cells start off really soft, like the inside of your lip, but hormones toughen it up so it feels more like the outside of your lip.  Except, mine don’t.  Mine stay delicate and soft, so it is more easily aggravated.  The solution?  Manually toughening them up with more freezing.  Oh, and removing a polyp.  Grossed out?  I know I was!   At least I was reassured, and this doctor has the most wonderful bed-side manner.  He makes you feel as though it’ s really no big deal and that it is totally treatable.  Exactly what I needed to hear.

He sent me out with the promise to return and book a follow up.  Great, all better.  Except…not.  Upon my return I describe the pain I am still feeling (although the bleeding has   stopped).  He takes another look and says to me.  “I cannot say this conclusively, because to be absolute certain surgery is required, but based on the number of women I have seen, and your symptoms, I am saying I am pretty  sure you have endometriosis.” 

WHAT?!?!  THE?!?!?!  HELL?!?!?!  (Okay so, hell wasn’t exactly the word that came to mind.)  Endometriosis?  But, but…

Okay, so where do we go from here?  Surgery?! 

Yep, sure do. 

Part Two of this lovely, gross tale tomorrow.  In the mean time…Yeah, That Just Happened!