Sunday, June 12, 2011

It appears the time has come...

This week has been another crazy week. Go figure, such is my life! Wednesday morning, I woke up not feeling to great, but didn't really worry about it. I was feeling a lot of discomfort in my lower stomach and wasn't sure what was going on.

Just a quick back ground I suffer from endometriosis and poly-cystic ovaries. I spend a great deal of my time in pain for one reason or another. I have been dealing as well as you can over the last few years. I had surgery in March of 2009, again! Then last year in January, I went through Lupron injections, which put me in menopause for about 7 months. Yep that's right menopause, and I had every part of it you would normally get. The purpose of this was to hold of having a total hysterectomy as long as possible. There are some dangerous side effects the younger you are to have a total hysterectomy.

Anyways, back to Wednesday. I worked all day, feeling very uncomfortable, taking Tylenol like it was candy. Still wondering what the heck was going on. I take a hormone birth control to make sure that it minimizes the effects of both conditions and I don't have to have a period. Yeah me!! Not the way you want to go about it!! I came home from work and went straight to bed and laid down for about an hour. I got up and Rick and I went to church.

Sitting in church for class was very difficult, I was in a lot of pain. I could feel it building and getting worse. We left church and stopped at LaFiesta for dinner, that wasn't so smart. I just kept getting worse and worse. We got home and I immediately went to bed and tried to relax. Not in the cards! It just got worse and worse! Thankfully I had a couple of Lortab left over from having my tooth pulled a few weeks ago. Downed one of those, it felt like it took FOREVER to kick in. I was crying, yelling and really just writhing in pain.

At about midnight the pain was under control enough to allow me to fall asleep. Yep only got about an hour of sleep, before I was up crying again. At about 1:45am I woke Rick up and he ran me a hot bath. I spent about a half our hour in there. When I got out I began to realize we were not getting control of my pain and something was very wrong.

2:30am, Rick loaded me into the van and off to the ER at North Florida we went. They promptly got me in and started getting my history and going over some information with me. Thankfully they realized the pain had to be controlled. I had and IV and got some medicine, first they only gave me some kind of anti-inflammatory drug. HA!! Like that was going to help! Then my nurse came in to tell me that they would need to do a vaginal ultrasound and exam. I don't think so! On came the Percocet, that was the only way I was going to be able to handle anything.

Finally feeling better they began running test, after test, after test. They couldn't see anything on my ovaries then ran a CT to make sure I didn't have any blockage in my intestines or other areas. Nothing could be found, sadly I knew what that meant. Endometriosis, it's back! It's like a bad horror film!

I was released around 7:45am and went home to call my GYN. Rick and I were beyond exhausted, thankfully we were able to sleep for about 4 hours. I met with my GYN's, nurse practitioner, Wendy at 2pm. We went over everything that had gone on at the ER and she did an exam and confirmed my fear. I asked if we could just do another Laparoscopy and remove whatever had grown. Problem with this, more scar tissue. The more scar tissue the more the adhesions.

I could try some physical therapy but that was up to me. Given all that I have been through over the last 15 to 16 years, physical therapy I think not. If surgeries and Lupron didn't help how would PT! Rick and I decided that really wasn't an option. Wendy spoke with my Dr. Ross, who told her it was probably time. They both felt it best for us to go home and really decide if we want to proceed with surgery.

We have been praying since Thursday afternoon, trying to prepare our minds for the best option. We have spoken with a couple of family members and friends who have seen me through these years. Decision, move forward with a hysterectomy. We will meet with Dr. Ross in the next couple of weeks, obviously we have a lot of questions. Hopefully the surgery can be completed with minimal incisions and a quick recovery time.

Please pray for a minimally invasive surgery, easy recovery and for the this to be the right decision. I knew this day would come now that it's here, I'm pretty nervous. This is a serous surgery and comes with a lot of potential complications. Long term ones and short term ones.

Rick and I both really appreciate your thoughts and prayers. Thankfully this week Ricky has been with Grammy and Papa. I know he was upset he wasn't here to help take care of me. I have such a great kid!

4 comments:

  1. Rachael, I hope you are able to have relief with this surgery. It sounds like you have been dealing with an extremely painful situation. You will be in my prayers. I hope all goes well.

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  2. I think you will be relieved in many ways, Rach - physically AND emotionally. As always, you and yours are in my prayers. Hi to your boys!

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  3. Rachael-
    I found your blog through Amy Davis, she is a friend of mine. I too suffer from Endo and have for many years. I suffered through most of my teens and early 20’s spending about 10 days a month on Darvasit and other narcotic pain killers. Because I was so young and hadn’t had any children, but wanted kids, a complete hysterectomy was out of the question.

    I am not exactly sure which Dr. Ross you see, but I'm a patient of Dr. Helen Ross with UF OB/GYN. Anyway, in 2001 she performed a procedure on me that basically changed my life. It's called a Presacral Neurectomy. LPSN is carried out by removing the nerve fibers that innervate the uterus, thus blocking the pathways for pain impulses to the brain. Just thought I would mention this procedure to you. I can’t tell you how much it relieved the pain – I basically have NONE. I have had two children since having this procedure. Anyway, if you would like to contact me with questions, I would be happy to try and help. I know exactly what you are going through. My email is kbastow88@gmail.com. I hope things get better for you.
    -kari

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  4. Rachael,

    My heart broke when I read this. Brad and I were talking about it at lunch yesterday and can't imagine what you and Rick have had to endure over the years.

    Please know that you are in mine and Brad's prayers! Let us know if we can do anything for you.

    Love, Mallory

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