Ovarian Cyst Part II

What and where was Part I you ask? Well, that was back when I was pregnant with my son. A long tale for later. I've probably told it before.

Now, on to Part II

Last Saturday was the last day of my cycle. Hubby and I had a nice healthy romp in bed and at the end of it, I noted that I was cramping in my lower right abdomen. I just thought that he had stimulated additional cramps for the end of my cycle, and teased him about it before rolling over and going to sleep.

Sunday, it still hurt. I'm very tolerant of pain. I don't like taking pain medication and I tend to want to work through it and move on. On the worst days of my period, I take maybe 2 Midol for the discomfort. Well, on Sunday, I was taking 2 Midol every 4 hours for the pain. This frustrated me.

Then on Monday morning, I noticed that it STILL hurt. Again, throughout the day, I was taking Midol about every 4 hours when the pain hit again. Monday was a school holiday (Presidents' Day...yes, I'm shocked that we still take it off, too). Monday night, there was some blood...from the wrong place. Well, not that any place is a GOOD place to bleed, but at least in one place I would've written it off as an extended cycle.

I came out, looked some stuff up online (not a good idea, people, makes you even more nervous!) and thought, well, maybe it's my appendix or something? I told the hubby that I would be making an appointment for the doctor on the following afternoon.

Tuesday morning I woke up and the pain had extended across my entire lower abdomen. It was crippling pain. I told the DH and we decided that I would stay in bed (take meds, sleep), and he would take the kids in to school and make my appointment for me. The earliest he could get an appointment was 1 PM. I slept until around 12:30. I didn't eat anything, just in case surgery was in the cards and they fussed about fasting for 12 hours beforehand. They would be able to operate.

1 PM we went to the doctor's office. We waited over an hour before seeing the doc. After prodding my abdomen and talking for a few minutes, the decision was made to send me to the emergency room. He wanted me to have an ultrasound, a catscan, blood work, a urine analysis and ...um... I forget what else. To do that on an outpatient basis would take around 2-3 days. If I went to the emergency room, it would all get done that night. He actually had his receptionist call around to all the hospitals nearby (we live near 4 different hospitals), but the one downstairs from  his office was "moderately busy" and he has rights in the hospital, so we went with it.

It was 2:45 PM when I checked in at the ER. Hubby went to pick up the kids from school and get them settled with a friend who agreed to come over and sit with them during the ordeal. During the time he was gone (until 5:00), they had me do my paperwork and took my blood pressure and temperature...sending me back to the waiting room in between. I was still in the waiting room when he got back.

At 6:00 PM we went back to a room. I didn't even meet the doctor on duty at the time. The phlebotomist came to take my blood.

"Are you here to take my blood," I asked him. He told me he was. They needed 7 vials for all the tests they wanted to run. I warned him that I'm a hard stick. I told him that every other phlemotomist who has taken my blood has TOLD me to warn every other person who wants to take my blood that my veins dive! You might THINK you have a vein and as you put the needle in, it just won't be there. And then...you'll have to poke around (which HURTS!) They look good, they feel good, they give good blood for 1/4 of a vial and then the CLOSE SHOP! They refuse to give more. I told him that everyone else laughs it off and tells me that they're really good at. They all say, "Well, let me just see what you have here." I told him that everyone else has had to do a butterfly in the back of my hand. Regardless of whether it bruises more or supposedly hurts more, that is where my blood is happy to come out.

So, you can guess what he did. After all that explanation, he still thought he was hot shit with a needle and went at my inner arm. ...sigh... Before he was done, I got an "OH SHIT!" out of him ...not something you want to hear from someone with a needle digging around in your arm. I also had him literally sweating. In the end, he agreed that I'm a hard stick. :::roll eyes::: Yes, this is what I was telling you!

We were in a room without a remote for the little television. I know that seems petty, but it would've helped take my mind off of the pain a bit. Instead, I played solitaire on my phone. I tried to sleep, but was too uncomfortable. Just laying there seemed to make me focus more on the pain. And...I still hadn't eaten anything. We had to go through a shift change around 7 PM. We kept the little curtain open in our room to remind people we existed, but no one stopped in. 

Around 9:30 PM I was wheeled back to the cat scan room. I had to wait in line there, too...on my bed. That was my first cat scan ever. It was pretty freaky being rolled in and out of that big machine, holding my breath.

When I got back to the other room, they had found a remote for the hubby. He handed it to me and I flipped through all the channels, not finding anything to catch my attention. I was too distracted. I don't even remember what he settled on watching after handing it back.

At around 11:30, the doctor came in. She told me that what she believes happened is that an ovarian cyst burst inside of me. Because it has burst, they can't remove it. I just have to reabsorb it into my body. oh goody... She prescribed pain medication and sent me home on 2 days of bed rest. Hubby had me stay home on Friday, as well, to recover over the weekend.

And that...is that.