I have been slacking this summer, but I have a really good excuse. This past semester I have been having intermittent pain that seemed to pop up at the most inconvenient times. Such as, when papers were due or when there was a big family to do. I planned to go to the doctor after the events but the pain would be gone and I would not go. This worked until the weekend of July 4th. I was so sick on the Fourth that my family was extremely concerned about my paleness. I had no color in my lips and my family was begging me to go to the doctor even though I had an appointment in two weeks. I went to the doctor on the Fifth. After the usual round of questions they pushed on my stomach and said,"Huh." They prescribed pain meds and ran some blood tests with instructions to go to the ER if the pain got worse. The next day I got a phone call telling me I was severely anemic and they told me to take iron and to follow up with my doctor.
I went in and my doctor ran more blood tests depleting what little blood I had left. The day of my follow-up appointment I started getting several concerned calls from my doctor. My red blood cell count was 11 out of the usual 25-35. The doctor was surprised I was still on my feet. Though,the tests showed that I had the bacteria proving I had an ulcer. They suspected a bleeding ulcer causing all my problems so they started treating me for that and scheduled a follow-up in two weeks.
After a few days of medication my pain was getting much worse (we won't talk about what the meds were doing to my stomach, i.e. not much was staying down)and I called the doctor. He strongly suggested I go to the ER. I grudgingly went to the ER where the doctor promptly put me on morphine for the pain and deservedly sent me straight to get an cat scan. I was feeling pretty good at that point. I told the doc I was anemic and she said that she needed more blood tests, which totally baffled me. They wanted to take more blood from me . I even had the proof with me that I was severely anemic. As a side note I had my nieces with me. They were excited about the ER. They got to watch cable TV. Yeah.
The doc came back with the results of my cat scan. She said, "Well, you like to do things big." I had a 7mm kidney stone, which you can only pass a 3mm stone in normal circumstances. I also had fibroid cysts in my uterus the largest being the size of a baseball, about 7cm. So I have been to see many more doctors in the last week. On Fri. the 24th I went in to have the stone removed. After a search and destroy mission the found the stone and blew it up, you know, like the asteroid in the movie, "Armageddon". I felt like the asteroid, too. The recovery process was equally pleasant, refer back to what the ulcer medication did for me. I was so sick my poor mother was so worried she wouldn't leave my side. If she did have to leave she arranged for a babysitter. While it was humiliating I was extremely grateful. The doc said I could be back to work on Wed. Hah, what a joke, I am still laying on the couch wondering when I will feel better. There is a plan to take care of the cysts which have been described as benign growths. I am currently receiving shots to shrink the cysts. This will help with my anemia since the cysts have been taking up a good portion of my blood count. In three to five months I will have a more invasive surgery to remove the cysts. This will mean a longer recovery period. Then hopefully everything will get back to normal. Whatever that may be. But things are looking up. My scheduled vacation time has been turned into laying on the couch trying to hold down what little food I have been able to eat. Hence, I have lost 20lbs these last few weeks. Normally losing weight would mean a celebration but we all know with rapid weight loss comes rapid weight gain. You gain what you lost and then some. Though I will try not to put the weight back on.
There are many things that I am grateful for : 1. Power pain pills. 2. The support of friends and family. 3. Flowers from my co-workers. 4. My family who took me to doctors and babysat me. 5. The sense of humor of my family i.e. I went to family function shortly after my diagnosis and forgot my lovely pain meds so I took Tylenol on the way and when I got there I was pale and miserable. My family asked how I was doing I told them I was fine I had taken some Tylenol to which my sister,Katie, said, "Oh gee, I just got diagnosed with cancer. I'll take half a Tylenol. That will fix everything." My brother-in-law Michael keeps asking how my diet is going. I tell him that it's going so well I am going to produce an infomercial about it. My brother-in-law Jeff likes to hold pale things to my face asking his kids, "Which is paler, Aunt Heidi or this...?" The kids say, "Aunt Heidi!!!" 6. Cards from my tadpole class.
My strength is returning I will be back to work next week. I would like thank everyone for their support and help through all this!!!
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