happy {or unhappy} birthday to me!

August 14 was my birthday, and my special day this year was spent in surgery and recovering in bed. Here's the long story...

In January, I gained 10 lbs. Something happened inside my body, and the weight came on even though I wasn't eating differently. Then my menstrual cycles changed--and for the first time in my life I wasn't regular. I wasn't sure if the added weight made my cycle change or if something inside me was causing both. Over the next few months, I tried some diet pills to lose it, but they didn't work. I tried eating differently--no food at all after 9:00 at night, and limit the soda pop intake, but that also didn't change my weight.

In the middle of May, I began passing clots every day, and at first I thought I was having a miscarriage even though Josh got a vasectomy after Kanyon was born 6 years ago, so I didn't think I could be pregnant. This heavy bleeding/clotting was something that had never happened to me before. After a week, I called the local OB/GYN but he didn't have an open appointment for almost a month, so I made that appointment, hoping that my situation wouldn't worsen before then.

After 2 weeks of straight bleeding, I was feeling sick all the time, I had no energy and was super tired, and I kept having headaches. I knew I couldn't wait until the middle of June to see the OB Dr. So I called the clinic, and made an appointment with a general Dr. the following day. She ran a whole bunch of tests. I of course was NOT pregnant. The culture came back with an infection, and the ultrasound showed that I had a fibroid in my uterus, but other than that the Dr. couldn't find anything else wrong. The Dr. gave me some antibiotics, and the bleeding went away again for one week. The general Dr. wanted me to keep my appointment with the OB/GYN in June because he could help me decide what to do about the uterine fibroid--she wasn't specialized in that area. My original OB/GYN appointment was on the last day of my antibiotic pills. I waited for over 2 hours, and he never saw me. I heard him talking on the phone with his nurse (she was in the office across the hall and hadn't shut the door). He was at the hospital with a patient, and was coming back to the clinic, and wanted to know what patients were waiting for him there. There were 2 of us: me and a pregnant woman waiting for an ultrasound--I know because she was the appointment after me, and I'd seen her walk in when I was in the waiting room and she told the desk clerk what she was there for. The Dr. argued on the phone with his nurse about having to see me because I wasn't his patient, and he shouldn't have to diagnose me when I'd seen another doctor. The nurse kept saying "that's what the {regular} doctor said--for her to keep this appointment and have you discuss a treatment plan with her". When the OB Dr. arrived back at the clinic, he spent over 5 minutes talking on the phone in his office about some tractor he wanted to buy. Then he saw the pregnant patient first. I waited for another 10 minutes, and by this time it was 5:30 (my appointment was at 3:00), and the clinic closed at 5:00. I decided I wasn't going to pay him to see me if he didn't want to see me, so I walked out. I didn't see another single person on the way out--all the other employees had gone home. I was so upset by the way I was treated, but the OB Dr. or his nurse never once called to see what happened to me. The next day, I called and scheduled an OB/GYN appointment in Idaho Falls with the Dr. that delivered my twins and Kanyon, but he couldn't see me for another 3 weeks--not until the middle of July.

After a week of being off the antibiotics, the bleeding came back with a vengeance--this time even heavier and with painful cramps. After another 10 straight days of passing clots, I went back to the general Dr. She did another culture, said I had another infection, and prescribed me antibiotics (AGAIN). I asked for some birth control--which I wish I would've thought of the first time around, and she agreed to prescribe me some. I figured this would help get my bleeding under control for more than just one week at a time. The bleeding again went away for one week, but then I got appendicitis, most likely from the nearby infection. When the surgeon took out the appendix, he did some exploring inside and said my uterus was swollen and that it appeared that an ovarian cyst had burst because he could see some liquid and blood/pus around the abdominal cavity.

My OB/GYN Dr. appointment in Idaho Falls in July was a week after my appendicitis surgery. I brought him all the results of the tests that had been taken, and told him all the symptoms that I'd been having, beginning in January. He said the weight gain is probably from the swollen uterus and the bleeding is a side effect of where the fibroid is in my uterus.  I told him I wanted a hysterectomy because I'm so sick of bleeding so heavily every single day. He wanted me to take the least invasive route first, especially since I'd just had appendix surgery, so he convinced me to have an endometrial ablation surgery (which burns the inner lining of the uterine walls). Hysterectomies have a longer recovery time (about 4-6 weeks)--and I would've likely missed the first 1-2 weeks of school still recovering. Ablation surgery is an outpatient procedure and the recovery is usually just one day--and there's no incisions. He's had a high success rate with ablations which 70% of the time completely stop the bleeding, and 25% of the time minimize the bleeding. But he told me that the ablation wouldn't prevent the fibroid from growing and that my uterus may still have to be removed in years to come. Since I'd just had surgery, and I couldn't have surgery on the same area for 4-6 weeks, the ablation surgery was scheduled for one month later on my birthday in August. 

I was so delighted to finally have a plan, and a date when I knew everything would [hopefully] be fixed. I was glad to have a Dr. who finally listened to me and helped me make a choice that was best for me and my body. I cheered in his office when I found out the surgery date was on August 14, because after months of feeling unwell, it was like a gift to myself to be better once again!

We got back from our family vacation to Glacier on the night of August 13, and after midnight I wasn't allowed to eat or drink anything. The next morning, we left Salmon at about 8:30 and Josh drove me to Idaho Falls for my surgery time at 11:00. On the drive down, he said to me "I hope you live to see another birthday". I hadn't really been nervous about it until then! When we arrived at the Dr.'s office/clinic, we waited for a half hour, and I was beginning to get antsy. Finally they called us back and prepped me for surgery (after I peed in a cup to confirm I wasn't pregnant).

They put me under with anesthetics, did the procedure in 5 minutes, and a half hour later, I was in the recovery room. We waited in there for another half hour until I could keep liquid down and I wasn't so disoriented, then Josh and a nurse helped me back to the car and we drove home. My instructions for the day were bed rest--and that if I listened and followed directions of doing nothing that day, that I would feel almost 100% the following day.

I slept on the drive home, and for several hours after we got home. Then I felt depressed all evening because I knew it was my birthday, and I wanted to do something special, but I was restricted to do nothing. The next day, I did feel a whole lot better--so I ended up overdoing it, and paid for it the following day when I was cramping and feeling sick and tired. The entire next week was like that: one day I felt fine, the next day I felt sick, repeat pattern. But during that week, I also got to celebrate my birthday in many ways: Josh took me out to eat at a nice restaurant one night, Kerry and I had dinner/movie night at her house, Amanda & Krissy took me out to karaoke & dancing with Josh & John, and the kids gave me some fun little gifts to open.

I feel so much better now, and I'm so grateful that I had my ablation surgery. I was so tired of all my health problems this past year: this was my 3rd surgery in less than a year (my body's falling apart at the ripe old age of 34!!!). I'm so grateful that I have health insurance, though, so the medical bills aren't too overwhelming. I am happy to feel healthy and whole again, and that's a great birthday gift to myself for sure! And I'm also glad to know that I survived the surgery and "will live to see another birthday"!!!