Post-Op

Well it has been a lovely few days. Allow me to fill you in.

When the doc told me to stop the birth control last week, my body responded by bleeding even more. Yeah, super fun. I started doing extensive research on what my problem could be, and I got scared. Apparently, the longer one’s body remains in an estrogen-dominant state, and the longer one bleeds, the higher the chances that “abnormal” or cancerous cells will develop. I read story after story (bad idea, I know) of women my age with my problem who had endometrial cancer and had to have hysterectomies. I should stay away from the internet, for sure, but I didn’t. I called the doctor Wednesday afternoon to tell him the bleeding was worse, and he ordered me to go to the ER the next morning. So that night I was really upset about everything, and worried about going to the hospital, and I ate emotionally. A lot. When I realized what I was doing, I stopped, but I was surprised at just how easy it is for depression/worry/anxiety to set in and trigger the desire to stuff my face with calories I don’t even want. I was mad at myself, but decided to just learn and move on.

Thursday morning I went to the ER, and they admitted me. They starved me the entire day due to my doc’s orders (he thought they might do the D&C that day), did lots of blood work and an ultrasound, and then I got to lay in my room hooked up to an IV while waiting for the gynecological consult. I guess there were lots of babies being born or something, because he didn’t get to my room until after 10 PM. We chatted for a while, and then I went through the most AWKWARD vaginal exam EVER, on my hospital bed. I’m talking, my feet were resting on the gyno’s thighs since there were no stirrups, and a herd of nurses decided they needed to watch this lovely occasion like it was a movie premiere, ‘cause I guess there was nothing more exciting going on. Not fun.

Sexy leg compression-y things

 When he finished the exam, the doctor agreed to let me eat something in my 30-minute window before midnight, since they decided to do the D&C the next morning. They brought me a sandwich and applesauce, which was heavenly after fasting all day, and I ate before going to sleep. By “sleep,” of course, I mean laying awake all night on the horrendously uncomfortable hospital bed and being poked/prodded/vital-signed until dawn.

Press "up" to be elevated to a position that will require lumbar spine surgery.
Press "down" to ensure you don't fall asleep until next Wednesday...

Friday morning they prepped me for a D&C and hysteroscopy, and I vaguely remember being wheeled into surgery before going unconscious. I was in pain when I woke up, but they put something in my IV to help with that, and I haven’t had much pain since then. After pumping my veins full of iron and feeding me a yummy hospital lunch, they released me Friday evening. I spent the rest of the weekend eating unhealthy things and laying around looking at the fugly bruise the IV and liquid iron left on my arm.

I don’t have the pathology report from the biopsy yet. I should get it in a week or so when I follow up with the doctor. I’m still bleeding a little from the procedure, but it’s supposed to stop in a week or so. In the meantime, I’m trying to eat healthy, non-estrogenic foods and exercise much as I can. I’m 3,000% convinced that the only thing that will make me better is losing weight and getting fit.

My weekend from the hot place...

What started out as a really fun weekend ended badly on Saturday night. I had managed to avoid the whooping cough that plagued all of my coworkers for the last few weeks, but as I sat watching a movie with my sister, I felt that gross tickle in the back of my throat. Then came the coughing. Then came the upper respiratory infection and the worst two days of my life (OK, maybe a slight exaggeration.)

I didn’t sleep at all on Saturday night, and spent all day Sunday about as miserable as I can remember being since I got swine flu four years ago. Disgusting chest congestion made it hard to breath, and I had a fever off and on for 24 hours. Fever is a big deal to me, because it happens so rarely—I once went 10 years without getting one. True story. I think. Anyway, I spent Sunday and Monday in bed watching episode after episode of House Hunters and Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives, but forced myself to go in to work today, against my better judgment. (And based on the death glares from the now healthy people in the office, it was against their better judgment, too.)

I’m still not feeling great, but I feel sooo much better than I did Sunday, and I’m definitely headed in the right direction.

Out of nowhere this weekend I dropped a couple more pounds, and surpassed my “10 lbs down” goal for the month. I’m at 10.5 lbs lost since May 29^th, and I’m hoping for a little more by Saturdays weigh-in. Weight loss is so funny (well, not funny when I’m frustrated and ready to smash the scale with an axe)—one day I’m furious that the numbers haven’t moved in two weeks, and the next, I’m giggling with glee at an overnight loss of 3 pounds. This last month of living healthfully has at least reinforced that I can truly “trust the process.” It’s so easy to get discouraged and think that I just physically can’t lose weight, but after seeing how the scale has been weird over the last 4 weeks, and seeing that the results are there, just not as uniformly as I like, I’m encouraged that I really can trust the process. Eating fewer calories and moving more really does work! Who would’ve thought?

Speaking of weight loss... My mom is a nurse, and she stopped in to see how I was doing on Sunday night. While she was listening to my lungs, she kept commenting about how my heart was racing. Since I'd been sitting motionless for a full 24 hours, that was odd. We finally realized it was the Maximum Strength Mucinex liquid I'd been taking every four hours. It had my heart rate way up... no wonder I lost a few pounds! Disclaimer: Do NOT go to Wal Mart and buy a case of Mucinex to try and speed up your weight loss. Go to Costco. Much cheaper. ;)

I hope your week got off to a much better start than mine! J