Category: Abducted by Aliens

This one is just for the girls. Well, the guys can read it, but you know … it has to do with girly things. So you can continue at your own risk. (I can’t remember how to do the “more” thing in WordPress right now and I don’t care enough to look it up. Sorry.)

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Ever since I stopped taking the pill, I’ve had weird period cycles. Too close together, and sometimes long. So having a period every 3 weeks (instead of 4) and having it last for 10 days or so really sucks. I celebrated the months when it was close to 4 weeks apart, as you can imagine. I had my annual exam last fall, and no one was really concerned about it after I was checked out. It is inconvenient, but I checked out ok and I even had a pelvic ultrasound at the same time to check on my left ovary when they were doing the gallbladder ultrasound.

(In case you don’t know, I had my right ovary removed when I was 20. A looooong 17+ years ago. Massive multi-loculated ovarian cyst, not the usual ovarian cysts that people sometimes have. I’m good about getting my CA-125 and ultrasounds ever since. Also, last fall I had strange abdominal pain near my gallbladder, but they never found out why and it went away when we switched my blood pressure meds and took me off of anti-inflamitories for my carpal tunnel problems. I’ve been a lot less “broken” this year than I was last year, which is a good thing! Uhm, until today.)

So the frequent periods were annoying. Especially because I get headaches whenever they start. Fine. But the latest development has had me a bit more worried.

I’ve had a constant period since we returned from Germany. That means it has been 6-7 weeks long. Sometimes lighter, sometimes heavier. But always there. This past week, always heavy. Enough to freak me out and make me call the doctor. First appointment available? October 8th. He would be traveling this week, and so they couldn’t work me in any sooner.

Yesterday, after Elaine & I spent 10+ hours at a wedding on Saturday, I was sore, tired & achy. Ok, fine. To be expected, right? Then the abdominal pain started. Not the usual cramps, but pain — and on my left side, not my right which is where I normally have cramps because of the scar tissue there. The pain has increased. If you push on my abdomin, it hurts. It hurts to stand. Knowing my usual doctor was traveling this week, I called another doctor to see if I could get in any earlier to see her since she is closer to home. Nope, new patient? First opening is in NOVEMBER.

Yeah, today I get why people end up using the emergency room for doctor visits. What are you supposed to do when no one will give you an appointment?

Before I drove myself to the ER, I called my normal doctor’s office again. I really did not want to take the random shoot of getting whatever doctor sees me, especially considering my past medical history. Seems if you say “I’ve had a period for 6 weeks and now I have had abdominal pain for 24 hours” they jump. I have an appointment for 3pm today. At least I won’t have to go and wait at the ER like I originally anticipated doing. I’ve packed my knitting, so I am ready for anything. The laptop may be coming along for the ride too, just in case I need it.

I’m feeling a bit broken again. I really, really, really HATE this feeling.

I have plenty of things to do today, but I don’t feel well which is leading to the grumps. The grumps of course make me not want to work. *sigh* On top of that, I have pain where I shouldn’t have pain, so I’ve called the doctor’s office and I’m just stuck waiting for a return phone call. Stress + the grumps really sucks. Just thought I would share.

Big news part 1 – in case you didn’t catch it, I didn’t mention anything about classes starting for me this week – or any time in the next few months. I was having a “what should I major in?” crisis by the end of last semester, so Mike & I agreed that rather than spending money on classes I might end up not needing, I would just take Photography II this semester and focus on Jason because of the rough fall semester he had. My grade in Trig tanked mid-semester as I started to spend every evening focused on him. Helping him out is what is most important right now, but I can’t risk doing that to my own grades again if I ever want to get into the Pharmacy program – I need good grades.

So Photo II alone was the plan, and I was pretty happy with that decision.

Then I went to see Dr. Shoulder last week. He is part of the same practice as Dr. Hand. In early January, I saw Dr. Hand for my surgery follow-up appointment, and I mentioned that when all of this began back in July, 2005, it was in part because I was having a lot of pain in my right shoulder. Constant, burning pain, that I still have over a year and a half later. He suggested I make an appointment with Dr. Shoulder to check it out. (I’m not sure why, since Dr. Hand did my Dad’s shoulder surgery, and that was part of why I went to him in the first place, but whatever.)

So I went in to see Dr. Shoulder, and went through the usual round of questions. Where does it hurt? Burning, aching, throbbing or stabbing pain? (In the front at the joint and at the bottom of the shoulder blade, and all types of pain, but the burn is constant.) Can you lift your arm this way? That way? How about over your head and behind your back all while jumping on one foot? (Oh, ok, there was no jumping. But you get the picture.) We went over the fact that I had a cortisone injection which didn’t help, took anti-inflammatory meds which didn’t help, and went to physical therapy which didn’t help.

The final verdict was I could either have an MRI to look for the problems and then have the surgery, or I could just book the surgery. In addition to the burning pain which is most likely the result of small tears in the rotator area, or where the tendons and ligaments connect the bones together, I have gritty, grindy popping sounds and some bursitis showing up on my x-rays. Surgery is scheduled for February 12th, and we’re skipping the MRI because the small tears might not even show up on it anyways.

What does any of this have to do with school? Well, it seems that since part of my surgery involves repairs of tears, they will need healing time. Healing time means no lifting anything. I asked him if I was going to be able to lift a camera, and he said maybe to take a photo – but not to go and do a full photo hunt like I would need to do if I was in a photography class. Also, if I was in school, I would need to wait until the summer most likely to do the surgery so I had time to recover and to go to physical therapy. All in all, it just wasn’t going to work well together, and so I didn’t register for my class.

It is a bummer, but the class can wait. I’m so tired of this burning pain, I can’t wait to get it fixed. Honestly, I hate having surgery, but it is just sad when the pain reaches a point that it is the norm because it is so constant.

Everyone asks how I did it. Who knows? The doctor said that the popping & bursitis can be hereditary, or could be from swimming competitively or from waiting tables and carrying heavy trays. The intense burning really became worse after we went to the Frio in 2005; the river was low and the people we went with insisted on paddling with our hands to move down it faster instead of slowly floating. I was in such pain while we were on the river, I ended up falling way behind and was in tears from the agony of it all. Prior to that, I had pain, but it was never constant until then that I can remember. Now it never goes away, it wakes me up at night, and it just sucks.

I went back to the doctor today since I still have an odd rash on my wrist. Taking off the tape didn’t help, and Benadryl hasn’t helped, so I thought they should see it in person if only to stop my worries about what could be causing it.

As a perk, they changed out the steri-strips, cleaned everything up, put on fresh steri-strips and then just a Band-Aid! No more Ace wrap or anything. I pointed out to the assistant that I could not walk into class today after telling people I had surgery last week with just a Band-aid on my hand. There are no sympathy points there. She agreed, plus said it would be best to wear the wrap when I am out just to give it some added protection – but when I am home, it is Band-Aid only so that the inflamed skin can breath.

I actually looked at my scar, and I have to say it doesn’t look bad at all. All in all, I would definitely say this surgery has been a huge success. If you have problems with Carpal Tunnel, do not fear the release surgery. And if you live in Houston and want the name of my doctor, let me know.

UPDATE: Jason just informed me that Band-aids fix everything. Just like duct tape. He said the doctor should have just put on a Band-aid to begin with.