Category: Abducted by Aliens

As I’m still dealing with bleeding (NOT as heavy as it was on Wednesday night, but still happening) I decided I should do some more reading up on fibroids. Everything about my symptoms makes more sense after reading up on them.

– WebMD’s guide to Uterine Fibroids
– Fibroid Tumors

I woke up this morning in pain. Not cramps, like normal menstral cramps, but pain. Strangely enough, I discovered that if rolled over and laid on my stomach it felt better. I am normally a side sleeper, but I was willing to do anything. I’m trying to make sure I take it easy, and watching what I eat to make sure I’m getting iron.

I have also noticed that I’ve lost weight, but I feel bloated in my abdomin. After reading the above sites (and a few others), I’ve learned that the pill can relieve the bleeding, but actually make the fibroids enlarge. Oh, fun!

November 14th can’t come soon enough. Matter of fact, I’m going to call the doctor’s office on Monday and find out if there is any way they can move my appointment up even sooner. For now, I just really want to feel normal again.

Like I didn’t have enough to do last night, I ended up spending a good chunk of it in the ER. *sigh* Related to my previous problems (the first several posts in this category if you need to catch up), it is the cycle of the pill that is the “off” week, and while everything seemed to be normal for the first 2 days of the cycle, last night at 9pm that all changed. By 10pm I was concerned enough about the bleeding, I called my doctor’s office. He told me to start my new packet of pills (stop taking the blanks (ok, not completely blank, as they fortunately have iron in them) and start taking the hormone pills for day 1) and stay on pills until my hysteroscopy on the 14th.

Also, since I’m flying to Asheville today, he wanted me to go to the ER to be checked out. He was especially concerned about my iron level and making sure I wasn’t anemic.

So Mike & I were off for a late night trip to the ER. I didn’t want to leave Jason home alone (and I didn’t want to wake him and take him to the ER with us), so my Mom was kind enough to come over and stay with him. Mike had been doing computer updates for me, so once I was in line waiting he returned home too for awhile, coming back at 3 am or so? Not really sure – I was asleep when he came back to the room I was finally in. Ahhh, sleep. Everything checked out ok, they decided that this is all related to the fibroids, the doctor cleared me to fly, gave me strict instructions that if the pill doesn’t stop the bleeding or if I have any other symptoms to get checked out, and finally at about 4:30 am or so I got to come back home.

Today I just feel tired, and sort of crampy. Better than last night though, and hopefully I’ll be back to normal by tomorrow. Seriously, I really hope so…

Dr. P’s office called me back; the second lab reviewing my endometrial biopsy didn’t find anything conclusive. Now making it even more of a mystery why the first lab sent the results on. (I do plan to ask for copies of all the reports.) So the next step now is to do a hysteroscopy. Now waiting for the staff to call me back to schedule it. I don’t know if it will be done in the office or in the hospital. Personally, if it were up to me, they would do a laproscopy at the same time to check out the ovarian cyst also.

I have a feeling that I have a bit of a battle for myself ahead. I will fight for what I think is the right thing to do. My vibe is that there is something more going on and I want them to find out what it is. None of this is normal, and I want an explanation.

Oh, and while the pill was doing its job for awhile, it isn’t now. (Whee.) Plus I don’t like the side effects it is giving me. So I’m planning on discussing that with him too.

Ah, the fun never ends.

On Wednesday, I called my doctor’s office and asked to speak to the nurse to find out the results of my biopsy and my ultrasound. It went something like this:

Nurse: Your ultrasound shows a cyst, but nothing that he is really worried about.
Me: Uhm, ok, I’m glad HE isn’t worried, but me? I’m worried. (Flashbacks of ovarian cyst 18 years ago going through my mind – I’m NOT going to just wait for this to go away.)
Her: And, well, we hadn’t called you yet because we don’t have the results of your biopsy. I’ve been here for 8 years, and I’ve never had Quest Diagnostics do this — they sent it to another lab for further testing.
Me: [crickets churping]
Me: Uh, well, that can’t possibly be good.
Her: Oh, it may be nothing. But I’ve never seen them do that before. So now we’re waiting to hear back from them.
Me: I want to come back in and see him. I’m not going to just wait this out. If I have a cyst, I want it removed.
Her: No problem. We’ll get you in, but we need to have all the results first.
Me: *sigh*

I need to go back up to the local lab and have a CA-125 blood test drawn; not sure why they didn’t do it the day of my first appointment. I normally have them every year, and my last one was in November, 2006, so I’m due for one soon. I’m slightly freaked out about the whole thing, but trying to remain calm. Really, I just want to know what is going on. There is still some minor pain, but nothing as bad as it was last week. I’m back in the “wait & see” phase of it all.

I’ll keep you posted as I know more. Now, back to cleaning out the house!

I had my appointment yesterday, and don’t know much more today than I did when I left for it. They did an endometrial biopsy to find out if there is any issue there, and they are sending me for an ultrasound on Thursday. Once they get those two results back – probably about a week or so – we will know more. There are plans to schedule a laproscopic scope at that time. Meanwhile, they had me start taking the pill again to (hopefully) help stop the bleeding. Still feeling a bit cruddy today, and more congested on top of that, so it is a low-key day.

I’m stressed out about the whole thing – enough that I called the nurse this morning and told her how stressed out I am. I don’t cope well with the “it is probably nothing – you’re too young for it to be anything” response. Yeah, the whole ovarian cyst thing wasn’t normal either, and I was only 20 at the time. I know they were just trying to help keep me calm, and if it wasn’t for my past history it probably would have helped. I’m way too much of a realist (or a bit too neurotic, take your pick) to ever say never.

Originally, he suggested having me take the pill for a few months and just wait and see. I think the fact that he suddenly turned me into a crying pile of goo clued him in pretty fast that that wasn’t the right answer. He the pointed out that he could schedule a scope, but wanted an ultrasound first. I told him that was what I wanted because I wanted answers now, not to have to wait & see how it turns out. He agreed that that made sense. I’m glad he at least listened to me – and I’m comfortable with where we are at now. Aside from the fact that I don’t have more answers yet, but at least we’re doing something about it.

And yeah, I promise that I won’t be a dork in the future and put off going to the doctor. I know better. I was in denial, and that isn’t normal for me. I think I was just enjoying not having to deal with the medical profession for awhile.