catchup
The last glue plug fell out on March 9th. It was the first glue plug to go but apparently not all of it ever came out, and therefore the area got a little infected. Ew.
The belly button is still healing, but despite that, I was finally able to wear jeans on March 9th for the first time since surgery (which was Feb 1st). Granted, they’re the largest size jeans I could find in my drawer (size 33-inch waist), but still. It may be another month before I’m able to wear my 32’s or my 30’s. That’s okay.
I did my homework on the hormones and found out that I was wrong. I’m not on progesterone. That’s the naturally-occurring hormone in one’s body. I’m on synthetic hormones of course, and the names for those in the Yasmin pill are Progestin (synthetic progesterone) and Ethinyl Estradiol (synthetic estrogen).
And, it’s the synthetic estrogen that’s making me a raging psycho hosebeast, not the progestin.
My surgeon was sorry to hear about my side effects and wanted to put me on Micronor, a progestin-only hormone, instead. She called in the script for me. Once I found out that it’s the synthetic estrogen that’s causing me the emotional imbalance, I was ready to try the progestin. But the doctor warned that I have to take the progestin EXACTLY at the same time every day OR ELSE I’d get cramps and breakthrough bleeding. And the progestin isn’t a good source of birth control, whereas the progestin/estrogen is.
So I started studying side effects for both Micronor and Yasmin.
I found askapatient.com and read peoples’ reactions to Micronor, rather than the usual Generic side effects noted in the lab website I’m so fond of.
Reading these peoples’ experiences terrified me. I mean… getting hairy arms, legs, chest and back? If I wanted that, I’d have started taking Testosterone shots to become a boy back in 2003. I’m no longer having that gendertastic episode. I do not want hair growth.
And there’s the other stuff – the painful periods returning and lasting up to 3 weeks at a time, for example.
So then I read about the Yasmin. I saw exactly the issues I’m having show up in other women. And I saw that they stuck with the Yasmin in most cases. And things got better.
So I called my primary doctor and explained the surgery, the Yasmin, the side effects. I requested a refill of an anti-anxiety pill, Lorazepam. I was happy that I didn’t have to come in for a visit – they just called in the script for me.
Then I called the pharmacy and told them to disregard the Micronor and to refill the Yasmin. So here I go, month two coming up on the Yasmin. We’ll see how it goes.
And george is due next Saturday, on my half-year birthday (everyone should celebrate their half-year birthday!). My great gift would be that george doesn’t show up to spoil the party like he was always so fond of doing.
I’m still a ball of energy on the Yasmin. But now the weight is all over the chart. I was down to 153lbs (69kg), and within four days I shot up to 157lbs (71kg). And yet I’m still coming home from work and dancing til I sweat in the living room. My knees and back hate me for it, but I can’t stop. When I sit down, I bounce my legs. The Lorazepam will help calm some of this down when I’m at work and can’t get away from my desk. This will in turn lessen the anxiety and rageyness.
In fun news, I got to spend the weekend with my man for the first time in like, EVAR. We lazed about and watched X-Files on Friday. We went to our friends’ house for an awesome feast and silliness (more Redneck Life board game playing!) last night, and today we sorta slept in with the time change and all – and we hope to get some bicycling in before sunset. If so, it will be the first time I’ve gotten back on the bicycle since surgery.
Regarding the early Daylight Saving Time (DST) switch this year, let me first rant to say that it’s all bullshit. Its real intent is not to “save energy” but to continue enriching the oil kings – notably DUBYA – because – as cited on NPR, with an extra hour of daylight, people are bound to go out after work…in their cars….which requires MORE oil and gas to buy to operate the cars. Is there any way to stop this madness? How soon til I have enough money to get an electric car?
*adds “electric car” to list of savings goals to prod this into action*
The only problem we had in our household with the early DST switch was that I forgot to update my linux box before the time change, so I had to do it manually. No big whoop. However, there are going to be some small businesses out there who didn’t patch their computers, and their systems will be horked. Even people I talked to last night didn’t understand that they had to manually go and get a patch this year for the time change. So there will be some frustrations floating around when people realise that the patch affects more than looking at the little clock on the desktop.
Right. I’m off to shower and start my day… at 1pm!