I'm not feeling up to exercising or anything, I still feel tender down there so I'm just going to take it easy. I cleaned my refrigerator and did some ironing. Tomorrow I'll go back to work.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
1st Post-Op appointment
My doctor removed the ballon today. It was so simple. He just took the saline out of the balloon and then just pulled it out. Wow, that wasn't complicated. He said I can exercise and do whatever I want! Great!
Monday, June 15, 2009
Recovery
These past weekend was boring. I slept a lot and watched tons of TV. I pretty much only got up to use the bathroom or to move between my bed and the couch.
Right now, Monday, I'm starting to feel a little less swollen and the pain is going down. I'm reducing my pain medication to half what I was taking. I'm getting up and around a little more, if only to get a drink. I took shower while seated on a bench. My husband is still doing all the cooking and cleaning, he is so great!
I'm starting to feel the balloon inside of me, probably because all the swelling is going down. I feel like I want to scratch my insides, like there is something itching the inside of my uterus...weird feeling.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
The Surgery - June 12, 2009
I arrived @ 8am. They called me in and left my husband in the waiting room. I had to pee in a cup for testing. They asked me the typical questions then put an IV in me. Once that was over, my husband was allowed to wait with me for the surgery to start. My doctor and anesthesiologist came in to answer any questions.
I asked the doctor about recovery time because I got such conflicting information. Every prior visit with him, he acting like this was no big deal, however, when my Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) forms were filled out, the nurses said I was to be home for five days. He said that was a miscommunication and that I should be out and about in two days or so, with a bag strapped to my leg.
At 9am, They gave me some medication to relax. I remember being wheeled into the surgery room. It was cold. I moved to the operating table and they began strapping me down...then I fell asleep.
I woke up post surgery with the nurse asking if I was okay. After a few minutes my husband came in. I started sipping apple juice slowly. My pelvis felt swollen and uncomfortable and there was a bag hanging out of me that was collecting blood. It looked like an IV bag with a tube going straight up my vagina. It was connected to the balloon that was allowing my uterus to heal into the right shape.
After some time, maybe an hour or so, everything started to hurt. The pain medication were wearing off and the pain was slowing getting worse. My husband said I was moaning a lot. The pain was not as bad as my miscarriage, however, it was constant. During the miscarriage, the pain was mimicking labor, it came every five minutes then went away. This pain was just there, all the time.
They gave me some more pain medication. It was making me feel loopy, but was not taking the pain away. They said they didn't give me the "good cramping" pain medication because I have a history of asthma and allergies. But the pain kept hurting worse. I felt like I had to pee, but nothing came out after sitting on the toilet for 10 minutes. The nurse checked my chart and said they drained my bladder in the surgery. The feeling of wanting to pee was probably because of all the pain in my pelvic area.
After some time they asked if I had any issues with aspirin. I have not, so they gave me the "good cramping" medication. That starting working right away. I feel asleep right away. After about an hour I woke up. Since the pain was better controlled I was ready to go home. I think by now it was 1:30pm.
So in at 8am, surgery at 9am, out at 1:30pm. The nurses said my post op. was longer than usual, so, for you other ladies I guess you'll be faster than me.
Post Surgery - June 12, 2009
I got home and went straight to bed. I spent the rest of the day and night sleeping, taking pain medication, and throwing up! Anesthesia caused major nausea, I could barely keep down water...that sucked!
Thursday, June 11, 2009
The Beginning...
My ordeal started in May of 2008. For some random reason, I decided to stop taking birth control pills. My husband and I were not trying to have kids at the time, however, I was just sick and tired of taking pills for years! I was tracking my periods and noticed that each month my cycles were getting longer and longer.
In November, I hadn't had a period for 2 months. I took a billion pregnancy tests and they all came out negative. Early December, I started experiencing a ton of pain while I urinating. First I thought I had urinary track infection, but with my lack of period I was afraid they were somehow related.
I went to the doctor and they suspected that I had PCOS. They took a bunch of blood work right before I went away for Christmas. Afraid that we couldn't have kids, my husband and I decided to start trying ASAP. I came back from vacation and had an ultra sound.
My blood work showed that I had a hypothyroidism and got sent to an endocrinologist. My ultrasound showed that I had a "mass" and needed more testing. That was sooo scary! I thought I had cancer.
While awaiting for my January 26th appointment, I was feeling really goofy. I felt jittery, like I had low blood sugar. The thought crossed my mind that I might be pregnant. I really didn't think I was. Every test I took in the past came out negative...but it came out positive! Wow, I was pregnant! My husband was really excited, I thought he was going to be kind off freaked out!
March 4th...our 1st trimester ultrasound. We were so excited...then bad news. The baby died. Then more bad news...the first ultrasound done in early January showed that I had misshapen uterus. They suspected a bicornuate. Why didn't they tell me earlier! I was so pissed! They didn't want to perform a D&C because of the bicornuate so I just had to wait...
March 8th, Sunday, was the first show that the process was starting. For the next two days it proceeded like a normal period. Then Wednesday morning came, I started cramping like never before. They came in 5 minute intervals and lasted about 1 minute long. I was at work and just camped out in the bathroom. Huge clots came out. The cramping lasted from about 10am to 1pm. Then poof, cramps were gone. I remember thinking, that must be the worst of it. I was sooo wrong!
At around 8 or 8:30 I started feeling cramps again. They came at the 5-1 minute intervals. Slowly the intensity started to increase. I tried lying down, walking around, over-the-counter pain meds but nothing worked. It was the worst pain I'd ever felt in my entire life! You know when you get a really bad leg cramp while exercising? Well it felt like that, but 100 times worse, and all over my abdomen! By 10pm I was lying in the middle of my hallway floor in tears. We called our doctor because I was in excruciating pain but nothing was coming out! Finally my husband got our doctor on the phone and she said that because the pain was so bad, and was not at all relieved with pain meds, I should go to the emergency room. Then BAM, I started gushing! Blood just started pouring out of me. I soaked 4 super absorbency pads in about 10 minutes. They said if you soak more than 2 in an hour, go to the emergency room because you could be hemorrhaging. So off we went to the ER...I thought I was losing all my blood volume!
Got to the ER. It took 3 doses of morphine to touch the pain. I remember being so thirsty, but they wouldn't give me anything to drink. I remember the big clock on the wall and knowing when the next cycle of pain was coming. I remember grasping the cold metal side bar of the hospital bed in one hand and my husbands hand in the other. They admitted me to the hospital to monitor my bleeding.
Luckily, I didn't need a blood transfusion or a D&C. They had me on a IV for awhile longer. They performed another ultrasound to make sure all the placenta got out. They make you drink a crap load of water so your bladder is full. I had to pee sooo bad that it hurt!
Got home and laid in bed for 4 days straight. I had no energy, probably from losing all that blood.
Got referred to a Reproductive Endocrinologist (RE). He put me on a small dose of levothyroxine for my thyroid, low-dose (baby) aspirin because of my allergies/asthma, dexamethazone for my DHEA? levels (I still don't know what that is all about), and set up another ultrasound where they inject me with saline & ink.
June 4th, they said I have a septum, not a bicornuate and scheduled me for surgery. So now it's June 12th, I have surgery in 6 hours, I can't sleep, I started this blog, I hope getting everything out helps me deal with it all. I hope logging all the details of my experiences helps those who are also search for information. Good luck ladies...
In November, I hadn't had a period for 2 months. I took a billion pregnancy tests and they all came out negative. Early December, I started experiencing a ton of pain while I urinating. First I thought I had urinary track infection, but with my lack of period I was afraid they were somehow related.
I went to the doctor and they suspected that I had PCOS. They took a bunch of blood work right before I went away for Christmas. Afraid that we couldn't have kids, my husband and I decided to start trying ASAP. I came back from vacation and had an ultra sound.
My blood work showed that I had a hypothyroidism and got sent to an endocrinologist. My ultrasound showed that I had a "mass" and needed more testing. That was sooo scary! I thought I had cancer.
While awaiting for my January 26th appointment, I was feeling really goofy. I felt jittery, like I had low blood sugar. The thought crossed my mind that I might be pregnant. I really didn't think I was. Every test I took in the past came out negative...but it came out positive! Wow, I was pregnant! My husband was really excited, I thought he was going to be kind off freaked out!
March 4th...our 1st trimester ultrasound. We were so excited...then bad news. The baby died. Then more bad news...the first ultrasound done in early January showed that I had misshapen uterus. They suspected a bicornuate. Why didn't they tell me earlier! I was so pissed! They didn't want to perform a D&C because of the bicornuate so I just had to wait...
March 8th, Sunday, was the first show that the process was starting. For the next two days it proceeded like a normal period. Then Wednesday morning came, I started cramping like never before. They came in 5 minute intervals and lasted about 1 minute long. I was at work and just camped out in the bathroom. Huge clots came out. The cramping lasted from about 10am to 1pm. Then poof, cramps were gone. I remember thinking, that must be the worst of it. I was sooo wrong!
At around 8 or 8:30 I started feeling cramps again. They came at the 5-1 minute intervals. Slowly the intensity started to increase. I tried lying down, walking around, over-the-counter pain meds but nothing worked. It was the worst pain I'd ever felt in my entire life! You know when you get a really bad leg cramp while exercising? Well it felt like that, but 100 times worse, and all over my abdomen! By 10pm I was lying in the middle of my hallway floor in tears. We called our doctor because I was in excruciating pain but nothing was coming out! Finally my husband got our doctor on the phone and she said that because the pain was so bad, and was not at all relieved with pain meds, I should go to the emergency room. Then BAM, I started gushing! Blood just started pouring out of me. I soaked 4 super absorbency pads in about 10 minutes. They said if you soak more than 2 in an hour, go to the emergency room because you could be hemorrhaging. So off we went to the ER...I thought I was losing all my blood volume!
Got to the ER. It took 3 doses of morphine to touch the pain. I remember being so thirsty, but they wouldn't give me anything to drink. I remember the big clock on the wall and knowing when the next cycle of pain was coming. I remember grasping the cold metal side bar of the hospital bed in one hand and my husbands hand in the other. They admitted me to the hospital to monitor my bleeding.
Luckily, I didn't need a blood transfusion or a D&C. They had me on a IV for awhile longer. They performed another ultrasound to make sure all the placenta got out. They make you drink a crap load of water so your bladder is full. I had to pee sooo bad that it hurt!
Got home and laid in bed for 4 days straight. I had no energy, probably from losing all that blood.
Got referred to a Reproductive Endocrinologist (RE). He put me on a small dose of levothyroxine for my thyroid, low-dose (baby) aspirin because of my allergies/asthma, dexamethazone for my DHEA? levels (I still don't know what that is all about), and set up another ultrasound where they inject me with saline & ink.
June 4th, they said I have a septum, not a bicornuate and scheduled me for surgery. So now it's June 12th, I have surgery in 6 hours, I can't sleep, I started this blog, I hope getting everything out helps me deal with it all. I hope logging all the details of my experiences helps those who are also search for information. Good luck ladies...
The night before my septum removal surgery
My post-surgery survival kit is set. I've done all the laundry, cleaned the kitchen and went grocery shopping. It just turned midnight, so now I cant eat or drink anything. Not eating!...that's just not part of my vocabulary.
I'm nervous. My doctor didn't give me much information. I thought the surgery was going to be simple and the recovery a snap. But I've been reading blogs of women who have gone through it and they tell a painful scary story. I called my doctor and asked more questions, I didn't know I was going to be out of work for an entire week! Was I just in total shock when I found out that I needed surgery that it all just didn't sink in?
I'm nervous. My doctor didn't give me much information. I thought the surgery was going to be simple and the recovery a snap. But I've been reading blogs of women who have gone through it and they tell a painful scary story. I called my doctor and asked more questions, I didn't know I was going to be out of work for an entire week! Was I just in total shock when I found out that I needed surgery that it all just didn't sink in?
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