The Name Game

DH and I met with the surgeon today. My surgery is scheduled for 5/29 at Overlake Hospital in Bellevue. I should be in the hospital for about 3 or 4 days and then I'll be home settling into my lazy vacation for 5 or 6 weeks, depending on how long I want to milk this thing for :^)

The dr, who is a specialist in these types of things, is optimistic that I may not even have a mass. She says there is good reason to believe that I may just have a build up (granted an extremely LARGE build up) of fluid being locked in place by some scar tissue from my previous surgeries. If that's the case, there is absolutely NO chance of cancer and this should be the end of all my woes.

Just in case it IS a tumor, she laid everything out for us and it is still as we expected- very LOW chance of cancer and no future fertility concerns.

Added bonuses-
In addition to a long vacation and, as some of you pointed out, a no-hassle weight-loss procedure, she will also be minimizing some of the scarring that I've had my entire life. She will be performing the surgery along one of my existing scars and cutting out some of the scarring around that incision. In true girl scout fashion, she'll be leaving me much better than she found me :^)

Because I know you all so well, I can already hear your little do-gooder minds churning. Please don't feel like you need to visit me in the hospital as I will be spending most of my time there sleeping and drugged and won't be very good company. Plus, I'll be home before you know it and you can visit me then, and skip having to pay for parking... wait a minute, that's a great idea! New rule- parking in our driveway will be $1/hour, street parking within eye sight of our house will be .50/hour. PC and SM, since your driveways are within eye sight, your revenue alone will provide all of the money I spent in copays this last month- sweet! LOL, just kidding :&) Parking will be free for all visitors. Please don't send/bring flowers, cards, or stuffed animals as they go against my cheapskate values. Please send emails!!! Once I stop sleeping, I'll be looking forward to spending some time reading LONG emails from you or, if you feel you must, e-cards.

Oh, and we're happy to announce that we've named our little fluid-blob-thing...drum roll......it's "Cys"cile. (No offense to anyone who is actually named Cecile, we're sure you don't share any other qualities to our little bundle of joylessness.) We thought it was the most appropriate, though we did entertain the suggestions of Tom the Tumor, Mighty Mass and Fred. Thank you for those who participated in the naming process. As Shana stated, "if something is going to take up that much room inside of you, it should have a name." So start working on your emails (but don't send them until after the 30th or else I promise I'll cheat and read them ahead of time). Not to mention any names, but some of you owe me longer emails than others- you know who you are :&)

It's a Tumor Baby!

The gastro dr sent me for a CT scan which showed a mass in my abdomen. It's 20 cm or 10 inches (about the size of a 5-month old fetus) so it will need to be taken out. The pain and discomfort is caused because the mass is displacing my intestines and other organs. And I thought I was just gaining sympathy weight for SJ, SM and M! DH thought it was too much chocolate pie! After he found out, he says I can have as much pie as I want- score!

I had an ultrasound yesterday which showed that it is mostly fluid. The mass obscured the dr's view of my girly organs so they can't see if it's attached to anything, but they think it's most likely attached to my ovary, as that is the most common thing.

Overall it's good news, ovarian cancer is very rare to begin with, especially in someone at my age and even more rare in someone who hasn't had any children. Plus, since it is mostly fluid, that is also a good sign of it being benign.

The bad news is that I have to have full surgery to remove it, as it is so large and I have a lot of scar tissue from surgery as an infant so laparoscopic surgery is not an option. We haven't had our pre-surgical conference yet so we don't know much more at this point. However, my internet research (which may or may not be accurate) indicates that I'll probably be in the hospital for about 4 days and out of work for about 4 weeks. When DH had his stomach surgery, he was back at work in about 3 weeks.

Anyway, we'll keep you posted via email. Any questions, just ask. I don't have many answers yet (including when the surgery will be), but I can ask the dr when I next see her. Please don't worry as this really all seems to be quite common and easily taken care of with the surgery. The bothersome part is just how much work I'll be missing, but even that is not a big deal as I have been saving up all of my vacation time and sick time and working extra hours so I have about 5 weeks available. It's true what they say, everything does work out for a reason. I just didn't know that the reason was an all-expenses paid, all-inclusive trip to Bellevue, WA :^) A very cheap vacation destination!

Bouncing Bellies

SJ, M and I are still going to the gym, but they're down to cardio and yoga so I'm by myself in the kickboxing and weight-lifting classes. I tried doing yoga but my stomach was pretty uncomfortable- many of the positions were painful. And the weight gain that I have been noticing is all in my gut and seems to be getting worse. I'm hoping that my childhood issues with intussusception of the intestines aren't resurfacing but something is definitely wrong so I'm off to the dr AGAIN! She's going to do an MRI and see what's going on in there.

I'm a MOM- Maniac on Medication

It's taken a while, but I've finally gotten my medication under control. My GP kept playing with the doses of Levothyroxine (the generic form of Synthroid) but nothing was working. It turns out my friend A also has Hashimoto's Hypothyroidism and she recommend her Endocrinologist Dr. Robert Murray and he put my on Cytomel, my miracle drug. For awhile I felt like I was going crazy. My medications were making me alternately lethargic and manic. I finally feel like I'm almost back to my old self.

Since hypothyroidism causes weight gain, irregular cycles, constipation, memory loss and fatigue, I figured now that it was being treated I would have a complete makeover, but it hasn't worked that way. I'm still gaining weight, but only in my stomach and some of the other issues are better but others seem worse. Will I ever be back to normal?

Since I'm pretty much useless at work right now, we decided to take a vacation and go on a Caribbean Cruise. We're very excited and rest and relaxation sounds like the perfect thing after all of this chaos. Oh and now that the medication has my hormone levels back in the "green" we can start trying again. We're hoping for a cruise baby :^)

I've got what you've got!

I met with the dr and after a bunch of blood work they figured out my thyroid died. This is and isn't surprising. Isn't because for the past three years I have been complaining to my GP about symptoms that I was having and last year I even brought in a checklist for hypothyroidism and said- this has all of my symptoms, do you think I have it? And she said that it was probably just stress. Well, guess again. Score one for Shellie's Self Diagnosis. Your TSH levels are supposed to be between .3 and 3.0 but mine is 169! The doctor said she doesn't know how I manage to wake up in the morning and get out of bed (it actually does take some work, but always has, ask my sister) let alone work 40 hours, go to the gym and do volunteer work. She prescribed me some medication that she said would take a few months to get right and in the meantime, we have to stop trying to get pregnant as my levels are so low that it would be hazardous to adeveloping fetus IF we could even get pregnant to start with. She said all the pregnancy symptoms I've been experiencing the last few months can all be attributed to my hypothyroidism. At least it wasn't all in my head.

After the gym, M and I went out for dinner to catch up. We were chatting about her trip to Australia and my health problems and she said, "I think I have what you have." She's been very tired and her cycles are all messed up. Then she added, "And my boobs are so sore. I almost couldn't do yoga tonight!" Well, call me crazy, but that sounds more like the symptoms SM and SJ have been complaining about. I told her to go home and take a test. She was like, "Oh No. We aren't even going to start trying until my next cycle and we're not even sure if we'll do it then." I told her to take the test because if she calls her dr, that's the first thing they will ask her anyway so she might as well know for sure before she goes. Sure enough- she's pregnant!

Two Down, One to Go!

Well, I've been feeling awful! My period is a few days late. I'm nauseous all the time, I have hardly eaten anything in days and I'm sooooo tired. We went to PA to visit DH's US family and I felt like a walking zombie. I flew back on my own and so nauseous that I decide I will take a HPT as soon I land. Couldn't wait! Unfortunately it was negative, but something is definitely not right so I made an appointment with my GP. On the bright side, I just heard from SM that she's pregnant! That puts her and SJ at about two weeks apart! It couldn't have worked out any better for them! I'm so relieved!

Two down, one to go (soon to be two as M will start trying next month)!

One Down, Two to Go

My period was late again, but again no positive pregnancy test (for me anyway)! Argh! That's right, the bad news is that my cycles are evidently irregular when I'm off the BCPs, but the good news is that SJ announced she is pregnant! She told a few people- SM and her mom right away, but she waited until she heard the heartbeat to tell me and M. We're all so excited! It was only two cycles for her because hers are 6 weeks long so that means there is hope for the rest of us. SM is feeling a little down because she wants their baby-share plan to work out. I have my fingers crossed that it does because I know how much they are both counting on it, but I try to be realistic so I keep telling them both (separately), that it wouldn't hurt to come up with a back up plan.

Having sex so much is tiring! My Dear Husband (DH) is LOVING it but I feel like it's a lot of work. It does turn him into a very sweet sensitive guy though. Can't help but love that.