a (candice) medical update... skip if you're squemish...

I am learning a lot.
I've learned that what they did / told me at the ER on the 15th... not right. "Oh honey - it was only a cyst that ruptured. You're fine to go home."

I'm pretty sure that the cyst did not rupture. It definitely feels better in general than it did that day I went to the ER, but I have my own opinion as to why (and it is mostly related to a certain time of month). I could feel it a little bit on Sunday and Monday / had a symptom or two that was different than the previous week -- but I knew it hadn't gone away.

I went for another follow-up visit yesterday (Tuesday) and the reaction from that doc was a little scary, quite honestly. They were shocked at the size of it as it has gotten larger. The long dimension went up from 15 cm to 18 cm. The doc gave me two choices: 1 - admit me to the hospital 'til I could have the cyst removed at some point this week.... or 2 - go on bed rest / promise him that I wouldn't do anything / go visit a specialist (an ovarian cancer doctor) on Wednesday.

I opted for going home and for visiting the specialist. Todd came home from Asheville at a fairly decent time thankfully on Tuesday night. I had a couple of neighbors help me with Mercer 'til then. At this point, I was told not even to pick up the baby. Don't go to work. Clear my schedule.

We went this morning to the specialist (and I took an overnight bag thinking I may be admitted at this point?). His attitude -- way different. I guess b/c he does this all the time. He said that my cyst is considered simple (not complex)... it IS large -- and it IS a concern, but he did not see any complexity to the shape or consistency of it so he is 99% sure it is not cancerous. WHEW! It is still a danger of rupturing -- which can cause some major problems, but he's also told me to take things extremely easy. He told me that I could take care of the baby (with caution)... try to only do things that are at waist height or above (don't pick baby up off of the floor).

I don't know when I'll have the surgery, but it's not going to be this week, unfortunately. I'm pretty sure that he can't work me in that quickly. Honestly, though, I am of the mindset to go ahead and get it done... the longer I wait -- the more chance for it to rupture. I'm waiting on their call (certainly it will come tomorrow?!) for the schedule of pre-op and of the procedure. We've requested to have it done at the hospital near our house -- which we were told by one of his staff members has a likelihood of getting on the schedule sooner.

The procedure will be a high-tech procedure -- a form of laproscopy but with robotics. The recovery time is 2 weeks vs 6 weeks of a traditional procedure. The pain is supposedly less. (The cost is more, but with less pain and quicker recovery -- seems worth it to Todd and to me... it was an easy decision in that regard!) Don't know if this is too personal for you -- I'm ok posting this -- but they're going to remove my left ovary... and I keep my right one. Thank goodness. That means that I won't have to deal with hormone treatments later, as I'll still be producing them naturally.

Ok. That's about all I know now.

Mercer's doing something new and we tried to capture it on video... so the next post, I'll try to get that online and maybe do an update on what we know about my situation. Goodnight.