The Scope of it All

Well my mom is flying out of Austin in about 4 minutes...

I hate saying goodbye to family. It's never easy and always emotional. Way to be.. way to be. It was great having her here, though. Even though I was tired, in pain, and super needy the whole time. I wonder why she wanted to leave so quickly?! Jk. jk. She was actually able to come for a good chunk of time... I'm very lucky to have a mum who loves me enough to travel all the way out here.

The reason behind her visit is due to my date with the scalpel last Friday. You guessed it... I was lucky enough to have Laparoscopic surgery! Woot! Na.. not that cool. I promise.  So I decided I'd let y'all know how it all went just in case, ya know, you need to get a Laparoscopy or Hysteroscopy one day. (I really really hope not!)

So the appointment was on Friday at 1pm. I wasn't allowed to eat or drink anything after midnight Thursday night, which actually wasn't too terrible. I was surprised at my lack of appetite. I'm always hungry. Guess I was pretty nervous. Honestly, I've never had to have surgery before.. I've never been "put under" by general anesthesia... or had to think of possibly never waking up..

Anyway - so Jake got off work at 7am.. came home and slept for two hours and then took me to the surgery center at 11:30. Once there, I signed some paperwork, waited until about noon, then was called back for more paperwork. After that I changed into the super sweet hospital gown and was shown to my waiting/recovery "room" (that was separated by all the other "rooms" by sheets... nice). The nurse attempted to start the IV, took one look at my tiny, child-sized hands and decided I had tiny, child-sized veins as well. So she had to get a smaller needle and got to work fixing it into my hand.. (puke..) So it didn't go super smooth, but she wasn't really hurting me too bad, thank goodness. Apparently the little rubber IV thingy didn't want to fit into the hole made by the needle in my skin, so it got a little messy.

It looked a lot worse than it felt.

The nurse put a clean sheet underneath so i didn't have to almost faint every time I looked down at my hand.

After the IV was figured out, I started feeling a little sleepy. I met the anesthesiologist and the nurse anesthetist. My doctor showed up around that time and tried finding the lab results of my Pre-Op appointment in my chart.. specifically the pregnancy test. Unable to track them down, he had to get on the phone to his office. In the meantime, the nurse there who had previously taken a urine sample from me, remembered why she had actually taken the sample and ran off to do a pregnancy test. She came back with the stick, waiting for it to turn either Positive or Negative, all of us waiting with bated breath... me hoping that, even though I knew it was impossible, I could somehow actually BE pregnant and wouldn't have to go through this hideous surgery after all.. but then the idiot nurse (she wasn't really an idiot nurse, her next statement was just idiotic given my situation, I thought..) said, "Oh, it's one line! That's good!! That means it's negative!" I of course had to reply with, "Well some of us don't really think that's such a good thing..." I think I repeated that a few times, actually, because by this time I was really sleepy and anxious..

Well, after that, the nurse anesthestist told me that he was going to give me something to relax me and that they would then wheel me into the surgery room. He said I would be talking the whole time they were wheeling me in there, but that I wouldn't remember any of it. So I said goodbye to Jake and they shot the drugs into the IV. Jake says I kept trying to stick my arms out through the bars in the side of the bed as they wheeled me away, and they kept making me cross my arms across my chest, but I don't really remember doing that. It's sketchy, but I do remember the surgery room. I saw a big, blue light and then it went black.

So when I woke up, I was back in a recovery "room" and as soon as I opened my eyes, I was nauseous. They kept trying to give me crackers and I was trying to eat them, but my mouth was so dry and my throat hurt from the breathing tube they'd had in... and I just wanted to throw up. I knew I was going to react badly to the anesthesia. I don't do good taking a pill on an empty stomach, let alone a whole stew of drugs. I guess I kept falling asleep, too. Jake says I would fall asleep in the middle of sentences. He and the nurse had to dress me and I honestly can't remember much of that. They loaded me into the jeep and Jake drove me home and put me to bed. I was so nauseous the whole time... I kept trying to make myself throw up, but nothing would happen because I didn't have anything on my stomach! It sucked. That wasn't a very great night. My mom did arrive that evening and Jake picked her up from the airport. I was awake when she got there and munching on graham crackers. I was nauseous still, but once I had some food on my stomach, I started to feel better.

So the results of the Laparoscopy: I have Endometriosis. Well, I had Endometriosis and it may come back. The doctor put three incisions in my stomach, the most painful one being in my belly button. He went in with a laparoscope to see what he could find... he found Endometriosis on both ovaries, behind the uterus, and on the bladder flap (whatever that is!). There were also adhesions, which are like bands of scar tissue. He decided to remove it all as well as the cysts that we already knew were on my right ovary. He also did a Hysteroscopy where he flushed dye through my tubes (same thing I had done last year, called an HSG. It hurt like hell. I'm so happy I wasn't awake for it this time!)

 I haven't spoken to the doctor yet. I go in for my Post Op next week so I'll know more about what stage of Endometriosis this is considered as being and what our next plan of action is. I spoke to the nurse a little yesterday and she doesn't think I should take any Femara this month. I'm okay with that. My body needs some time to recuperate. The worst side effect I had to deal with over the weekend were the ache in my back, shoulders, and neck.. everywhere, actually. During the procedure, they fill you up with carbon dioxide gas so they can get a better look inside. They try to get as much gas out as they can after the procedure, but they can't get it all out. So it took about 3 days for the gas to seep out through my joints. (ouch!) I took the pain pills mostly because of that, honestly.

Now, 4 days later, I don't feel 100% at all. Maybe around 60% my normal self?! And I have to go back to work tomorrow. :( My incisions are still painful. And they call this minimally invasive surgery?? I can't imagine having anything bigger done! Blah.. well, I guess it was a little more than a Laparoscopy since they had to remove all that "gunk". So yes.. not the most wonderful experience, but I did have my mom and Jake here to take care of me. They cooked meals for me and kept me hydrated and comfortable. I'm so happy I had them here with me. I was able to get out of the house on Sunday for a little bit and we headed downtown to do a short riverboat cruise on Lady Bird Lake. It exhausted the hell outta me, but it was fun. Monday I took my mom to see the peacocks in Mayfield Park and we were able to go shopping for a little bit. I was ready to go home after a little while, but it was really nice to get out of the house for a while.

Anyway, so that's that. I guess we'll see what the future has in store. It's scary to think that I have Endometriosis.. and in the olden days, I may not have been able to get pregnant at all. But I've read that the best way to combat Endo is to get pregnant. So let's hope that we've helped that process along... and that we can have a happy ending yet! I know I'm not losing hope..

Lauren xo