He Took It All
Warning - graphic detailed information going forward - stop reading if you don't want to know "too much."
So picture this, a 37 year old woman walks into abar hospital, but would have preferred a bar. She thought she was going in for a quick in and out partial hysterectomy and 3.5 hours later wakes up to discover it was actually a radical hysterectomy and a whole lot more and then she pushed that pain med button and drifted back off LaLaLand. Surprise, that 37 year old was me and this is no joke!
I knew I was in pain, I knew I was piling on the pounds, I knew my emotions were all over the place, but I attributed a lot of it to "life." In November I was standing at after school pickup and something felt funny, so I looked down and there I was in an elementary school cafeteria standing in a puddle of my own blood. This was a few weeks after I stood up at the end of a work meeting and wasn't sure what was going on, so I ran to the restroom and when I pulled off my tights my legs were smeared with blood. This was the final straw, I was done and needed to go see my doctor.
I went and saw him and he gave me a few options, the only two options left were an oblation or hysterectomy. I was warned that the oblation would be temporary IF it worked. OS I went with the hysterectomy and scheduled it for January. I part chickened out, part had an insurance problem and part knew it was the worst possible time to be out of work. So January was out, my symptoms were getting worse and my mom was hounding me about scheduling, so April it is.
I was shocked by what an emotional toll this decision was taking on me. I have two beautiful little girls, Grant had a vasectomy awhile ago and I had no desire for another baby. Now that this procedure was going to make another baby not an option it made me reconsider everything and I just kept crying about it. My poor husband was so confused. My last few days at work I apparently stopped talking, did more pacing the aisles and just got as much done as physically possible.
So here we were in the hospital on procedure day and even as I was getting undressed to put on my hospital gown I was still debating if this was the right thing to do. They gave me the good drugs and next thing I knew I woke up and I just knew something didn't go as planned. I asked the nurse if they took it all and she said yes. I remember a tear rolling down my face and falling back to sleep.
Apparently when my surgeon went in to complete my procedure he found that I was covered with endometriosis and my bowel and ovaries were all intertwined, so he had to take it all. At this point I just wish he would have went ahead with a little nip and tuck so I could have woken up a little lighter and tighter.
So here I am two weeks post-op with a whole lot less guts. The recovery is going so much better than I anticipated. I have 4 holes in my abdomen which are healing nicely, I was up and about almost immediately. Within a few days I was down to taking the meds just once a day.
My friends have been incredible. I've had meals delivered, conversations about nothing just so that I had company, I've been picked up for little field trips and received countless texts. Here in the last few days I have been pushing myself physically and I've been paying for it. This meant that my lovely husband gave me a lecture about learning to relax and not worrying about my to-do list, he also told me to sit my ass down. When you can't find me tomorrow I'll be getting a pedicure and hopefully drinking a mimosa with my friends because the hubby said so.
Anyone who wants to know the true details about what happened when, please let me know, I am happy to share. The details can be gross, but at least you would know that you aren't alone. For now, I'm going back to watching my trashy tv shows and enduring another hot flash until I start my hormone therapy on Wednesday, I'm sure that will be fun too, or not.
So picture this, a 37 year old woman walks into a
I knew I was in pain, I knew I was piling on the pounds, I knew my emotions were all over the place, but I attributed a lot of it to "life." In November I was standing at after school pickup and something felt funny, so I looked down and there I was in an elementary school cafeteria standing in a puddle of my own blood. This was a few weeks after I stood up at the end of a work meeting and wasn't sure what was going on, so I ran to the restroom and when I pulled off my tights my legs were smeared with blood. This was the final straw, I was done and needed to go see my doctor.
I went and saw him and he gave me a few options, the only two options left were an oblation or hysterectomy. I was warned that the oblation would be temporary IF it worked. OS I went with the hysterectomy and scheduled it for January. I part chickened out, part had an insurance problem and part knew it was the worst possible time to be out of work. So January was out, my symptoms were getting worse and my mom was hounding me about scheduling, so April it is.
I was shocked by what an emotional toll this decision was taking on me. I have two beautiful little girls, Grant had a vasectomy awhile ago and I had no desire for another baby. Now that this procedure was going to make another baby not an option it made me reconsider everything and I just kept crying about it. My poor husband was so confused. My last few days at work I apparently stopped talking, did more pacing the aisles and just got as much done as physically possible.
So here we were in the hospital on procedure day and even as I was getting undressed to put on my hospital gown I was still debating if this was the right thing to do. They gave me the good drugs and next thing I knew I woke up and I just knew something didn't go as planned. I asked the nurse if they took it all and she said yes. I remember a tear rolling down my face and falling back to sleep.
Apparently when my surgeon went in to complete my procedure he found that I was covered with endometriosis and my bowel and ovaries were all intertwined, so he had to take it all. At this point I just wish he would have went ahead with a little nip and tuck so I could have woken up a little lighter and tighter.
So here I am two weeks post-op with a whole lot less guts. The recovery is going so much better than I anticipated. I have 4 holes in my abdomen which are healing nicely, I was up and about almost immediately. Within a few days I was down to taking the meds just once a day.
My friends have been incredible. I've had meals delivered, conversations about nothing just so that I had company, I've been picked up for little field trips and received countless texts. Here in the last few days I have been pushing myself physically and I've been paying for it. This meant that my lovely husband gave me a lecture about learning to relax and not worrying about my to-do list, he also told me to sit my ass down. When you can't find me tomorrow I'll be getting a pedicure and hopefully drinking a mimosa with my friends because the hubby said so.
Anyone who wants to know the true details about what happened when, please let me know, I am happy to share. The details can be gross, but at least you would know that you aren't alone. For now, I'm going back to watching my trashy tv shows and enduring another hot flash until I start my hormone therapy on Wednesday, I'm sure that will be fun too, or not.
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