where you been?

just kidding, as per usual, its me that has been remiss. i have to say though, i have a pretty good reason. see what i didn't tell you, dear reader, in my last post and the post before that is that i was gearing up to get surgery. nothing major yall, don't worry.

so when i went to turn in my dissertation last month, i also made a visit to the girl doctor. i have been having some spotting during ovulation (for like a year) and after SEVERAL of my friends said "you should get that checked out" i did. so long story short, mr. doctor found what he thought was an ovarian cyst during a routine ultrasound. i was a little "wha???" but tried to keep it in check. from there he sent me to get a mac daddy ultrasound and from that he found that i not only had a cyst i ALSO had two polyps on my uterus (i mean b/c really one thing isn't enough). to take care of it all at once, he suggested i come in for some outpatient surgery.

after much planning, we worked it out so that i could to atlanta to get the surgery during the same time jes was going for spring break and for summer internship interviews. my sister also agreed to come for a few days before jes could get there and so that they could kind of tag team during my recovery. i have never had surgery really (i did have tubes put in my ears when i was four but i don't think that counts...) so i have to say i was pretty apprehensive about it. what i was most worried about was going under. i do not like the idea of not knowing what is going on when i am very vulnerable (naked, someone up in my parts, etc). luckily my doctor told me i could take a happy pill the morning of surgery so once i took that, i really relaxed and just let them do their thing.

about twelve seconds after the anesthesiologist gave me the "happy drugs" (her term not mine) i was OUT. i think i may have woke up for one second when we got to the operating room b/c i remember seeing the big lights. after the surgery this resident came and talked to me, the nurses took great care of me, and thirty minutes later, i was out the door. and by out the door, i mean wheeled out in a wheelchair after chatting with another patient about the color purple on broadway-random. i got a little queasy from the drive home but was able to hold it together enough to pass the fuck out for several hours in the bed. for the next day or two, kath and jes took good care of me and i pretty much just laid in the bed with breaks for the bathroom. because my belly hurt from the laproscopic surgery i kind of wobbled to the bathroom which jes thought was HILARIOUS. while i felt like someone had punched me right in the bellybutton (and i have bruises to further support this theory), the hardest part for me was the gas that they fill your belly with during the hysteroscopy (what they did to remove the polyps). they basically blow your belly up so its easier to see (i think that is why they do it). either way i felt like i was ABOUT six months pregnant and my belly hurt. the worst was saturday night. there i was, watching "stranger than fiction" (a really good movie by the way) trying not to laugh b/c it hurt (did i mention will ferrell is in the movie- so that was hard to do). i was standing up holding on to the back of chair rocking back and forth. again, jes found this HILARIOUS.

so it has been a little over a week since i got the surgery and i am feeling pretty much back to normal. i am still a little bit achy and not too keen on heavy lifting just yet, but other than that, i am golden. what the surgery taught us is this:

1. the cyst WAS NOT an ovarian cyst, that is, it was not attached to the ovary (which is good). it was a paratubal cyst just hanging out NEAR my right ovary. that also means that i have probably had this cyst for my whole life. how crazy is that? what is also crazy is that the cyst was bigger than they thought (originally it was measured at 7cm) and it was TOTALLY pushing my uterus out of the way. like the cyst was way bigger than my uterus. you would think i would have felt this. not so much.

2. after doing the polyp removal it also became clear that i have a mild case of endometriosis. you'd a thought that in twenty years of menstruating i would have known that too. again, not so much.

if these in depth details about my reproductive organs are not enough for you and you want to see pictures, send me an email and i will send them to you. yeah, that's right, i asked him to make a copy of the pictures for me. i mean how often do you get to see pictures of the inside of your body? not often. originally i was going to post them here, but then i thought maybe they are too gory and i don't want folks to get sick reading my blog.

on a happier note: while in atlanta jes and i got to see our friend dawn for coffee one afternoon AND we got to eat at el myr with kim and sarah one evening in celebration of sarah's birthday. her actual birthday was on friday. Happy Birthday Sarah!

ok enough from me. happy sunday yall.