salpingo-oophorectomy

Turns out those pains that Dave told me weren't cancer, weren't cancer. But they were something serious. In fact, if we didn't live in this world of modern medicine I would probably die a slow and painful death over a couple of weeks. Instead I am recovering from surgery.

Here's the story:

Last Saturday I had some bad cramping pain, similar to menstrual cramps in my lower abdomen and around to my back. I was worried there was something funky going on with my IUD. The pain lasted an hour or so, but then got better.  Monday evening, a couple of days later, it happened again, but only for a couple of hours and I was back to 100%.  Wednesday morning I was fine but as the afternoon came I started cramping again and a little worse. By about 5pm it was hurting so bad I asked Dave to come home.  He left rounds early to come home and take me to the hospital.  We weren’t sure if we should go to urgent care or the emergency room, but suspecting I’d need an ultrasound we decided on the ER at a regular hospital so that they’d have everything on site.  Since we are new to Houston we weren’t sure what would be the best hospital to go to and which hospitals would be covered by our insurance. Dave made a few phone calls and decided we should try St. Luke’s emergency room. We checked in there and waited for triage for about 15 minutes. As we were in the triage suite a man answered the phone and told the person on the other line that they didn’t have OB/GYN services at that hospital. So we packed up and left for another hospital. The triage nurse had recommended The Woman’s Hospital of Texas so we decided to go there.  The pain was getting worse throughout all this time and on the bumpy drive from St. Luke’s to womens was killer. I was crying it hurt so bad and I don't cry much at all. Dave was getting really worried and partially wishing we'd stayed at St. Lukes.  At Women’s it was much less busy and ghetto than St. Luke’s looked. We checked in and waited.  By then I was hurting so bad  I thought I would die. I told Dave that I have a life insurance policy in case I die to help pay for child care so he can finish fellowship! Haha. I had never told him before because I knew he’d think that is stupid. I’m not sure how long we waited for triage, iv and to see the dr. It seemed like it all took a little while. We got an ultrasound and the tech said she saw ovarian cyst. She didn’t say much else. While I was getting the ultrasound and writhing in pain, the ultrasound tech sent someone to go see if the ER had my meds ready. They came with demerol, which knocked me out.  Up to this point I have pretty hazy memories due to the amount of pain I was in. After this point I have very hazy memories due to the Demerol and then later a morphine drip which helped me through the night. The OB dr. on call came and spoke with Dave while I was in the drugged happy place and told him I’d need surgery in the morning. I remember vaguely being worried about that.   Dave went home about midnight to relieve the babysitter who had come to stay with the kids. 

In the middle of the night, about 2am, the nurse came to move me to a regular room. We changed gowns, put on compression tights  and sign all my consents for surgery and other treatment.…. At the time I was wondering why all of this was necessary in the middle of the night but I guess that’s just how it works in the hospital. When your bed is ready you take it!  No way could they have called me legally in a state of mind to make important decisions.

 

Around 6:30 am I woke up and started texting a few friends to get help for the kids and cancel a few obligations I had for the day. Everyone was so kind to offer to help. Within minutes I had dinner for tonight and tomorrow night and kids had rides everywhere they needed to be! Amazing.

At 7am I was still a big groggy but alert enough to wonder why the nurses were telling me to eat breakfast. I told them I shouldn’t eat since I was having surgery. (dumb nurses)

A few minutes later  the OB came by to talk to me about surgery.  Dave wasn’t back from getting the kids out the door and was bummed to miss him. The Dr. said he’d try to squeeze me in whenever he could but wasn’t sure if that would be morning or afternoon. 

 

Dave arrived by 8am.

 

The Dr. came back around 8:30 and said we were ready to go to the OR. Good news.  We moved to the patient surgery waiting area. Dave had to go to the waiting room.  They put me in this gown that has a hole for a vacuum type thing that blows warm air in to keep you warm. I think it’s called a bear hugger. It was kind of neat.

I remember them putting the face mask on me and then nothing until a few hours later when I was back in my room with Dave there. Surgery had gone well. The dr. did have to remove the ovary and fallopian tube on one side. He also went to look at something inside the uterus and swept out the IUD.  I suppose it's just as well the IUD came out as well because it's one less thing to worry about getting infected as I recover.

 So there was a little bit of action going on inside me today!  I have three incisions.  The belly button one is really sore. The other two are down lower on either side of my lower torso and don’t hurt at all.

I have to say, that to die during surgery would be a very peaceful way to go (for the patient, not the family) because you are already asleep and feeling no pain).

Most of the afternoon I have been pretty groggy and too tired to move at all but starting about 4:30pm I have gotten up to go to the bathroom a few times and gotten on the computer to type this up. 

Around 7 a friend from church will stop by with a taco for dinner. Then tomorrow morning Dave will come over after the kids go to school so he can bring me home.

Dave has the pictures the dr. took with the scope. I'll have to try to add those later (for those interested).

Since Dave was supposed to be at an interview today and had to miss work last night, he emailed a few people to tell them what happened. Now everyone knows...same with the church friends. News spreads fast. Some people are super private about medical issues but my thought is that unless it's super embarrassing like a STD or you stuck a light bulb up your butt (you must watch the scrubs episode about this if you haven't seen it), there is no reason not to just talk about it!