George update
On Friday I had my six month checkup with my surgeon. She said she didn’t feel anything unusual in there, and she did a pap. I’ll find out the results in a couple of weeks.
She said she’s upset that a) the surgery didn’t provide relief and b) I won’t consider different hormonal treatments.
Further, she mused that she should have done a hysterectomy when she had the chance. I told her that if she took everything, I’d have to go on hormone replacement therapy (HRT), and I’ve already told her several times, no more hormones. She then said she could have taken the uterus, leaving the ovaries intact.
To which I replied that with the ovaries still intact, the Endo still has the chance to thrive, and as she can attest, I do have a stubborn case of Endo, so in my case, I’d call it LIKELY that the Endo would continue to thrive.
She winced and shrugged, and was forced to concede that I had a very good point.
Come on, I’ve been researching this shit for years. I told her I didn’t want her to feel like she’d failed me, because she has been the best person for me in all these years – she gave me an official diagnosis. I told her too that I actually DID experience some relief from the pain, in the sense that symptoms for months after surgery did not present as early as they had before.
It’s only this month, six months after surgery, that I’ve begun to have a hard time two weeks before my period again.
I’m sad about this, and my surgeon is also sad and frustrated, but honestly, there’s nothing else we can do because of my reluctance to try another hormone therapy. I’ve still yet to try acupuncture, and I’ve still yet to listen to the health counselor I’ve hired. So there’s changes on my end that I know I need to make, that I’m not living up to.
I’ve been keeping post-it notes of my symptoms and forgetting to type them up here. So here they are all at once:
August 6 – 8, 2007: light pelvic pain
August 8, 2007: dull upper thigh pain
August 15, 2007: intermittent prickly sharp cramps in the front of my pelvic region/uterine area. Painful ankles and calves due to bloat.
August 16, 2007: pain in thighs/knees/ankles due to bloat. Onset moderate low back pain, requiring Ibuprofen.
August 17, 2007: constant checking – feels like george could be here at any second. Very tired. Intermittent moderate low back pain.
August 19, 2007: severe nesting and restlessness – george is about to arrive – I vacuumed and swept and did dishes and laundry. Later in the day, my back from neck to waist locked up, bracing for the coming george pain. I took a muscle relaxer. Constant checking – why isn’t george here, yet? Mild to moderate intermittent pelvic cramping.
As I type, the back pain is getting worse, especially in the shoulders as they try to compensate for the internal swelling and inflammation that is slowing setting in at the lower part of my back and pelvic region.
My masseuse told me that for years even after she got a hysterectomy, her body went into this cycle every month like clockwork. She had to reprogram her body to make the muscles aware that they no longer needed to go into protective mode anymore!
Going back to my health counselor – she’s been trying, really she has. I saw her two weeks ago and she made me a batch of lentil soup. It was really good and lasted for three servings. Alas, I have not lived up to my end of the bargain – I continue to drink until drunk with my friends. I continue to not get enough exercise. I continue to eat junk food.
Having Endometriosis means I am at a slightly elevated risk for cancer of the ovaries, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and endocrine and brain cancers, according to Dr Anna-Sofia Berglund.
I’m already in a higher risk pool for endocrine cancer because I had acute pancreatitis with gallstones in 1993 after having been on antibiotics nearly every month for a year. I was always sick with sinus infections because I was working with children and my immune system is not stellar.
Drinking alcohol severely increases the risk of another attack of pancreatitis, and if I go chronic, I am also highly likely to develop pancreatic cancer, according to what I’ve read out on the Internet.
So..double whammy. I NEED to get my shit together and STOP drinking alcohol. Further, I NEED to ask my health counselor this week if she can help me do a gallstone flush – perhaps that will help lessen the pain of Endometriosis?