I haven't had time to post anything sooner because I have had a lot going on a work lately. I'm in the process of hiring a new staff person, preparing for my presentation on automating authority control (which happened this morning and went well), and tying up loose ends at work. Plus I was out sick with a stomach bug that really knocked me out for a day; top that with two doctors appointments and it's been a busy week for sure. So now that everything seems to have wrapped up nicely, I can finally sit and write this post.
My first doctor appointment this week was to see an endometriosis specialist. I wasn't a big fan of his style, but he really knows his stuff. He explained everything about endometriosis- how you get it, what it is, what causes it to grow, pros and cons of different treatments, and studies on hormones. I had already learned a bunch of it, but there were a few new things I found especially relevant right now.
• Studies have shown that no hormones and estrogen only hormone replacement therapies have minimal impact on increasing one's chance for breast cancer. Estrogen and progesterone together increases the chances drastically. But estrogen gets the bad reputation for some reason.
• While a hysterectomy is not a cure for endometriosis, when combined by excision of what endo is visible, 90+% of patients have less pain. There are complications that can happen, but hearing that eased my fears that this surgery was a bad idea. I should expect to feel better afterwards, but there is a chance later in the future that I might need another excision surgery. I can live with that.
Overall, I feel like I'm on the right track. This appointment gave me more tools for advocating for my own health in the future.
My second appointment was my pre-op admission stuff. I got the insurance break down (the hospital alone charges a crap ton of money let alone the other parties involved). Then I answered what seemed like a million questions with the nurse about my health background. I felt pretty at ease most of the time, especially after the nurse said her son shares my exact birthday down to the year. If that's not a good sign, I don't know what it. She drew blood to run some tests and gave me all of my directions for preparing for Monday morning.
So come Monday, I'll be starting a new chapter in my life, surgical menopause. I will no longer have a uterus or my ovaries or my one remaining tube. No more periods but no more hormones either unless I want to add them back in. And hopefully a life with less pain. It will be a six week recovery process, during which I can't lift more than 10 pounds. The kids weigh about 26-27 pounds each, so it's going to be a long six weeks of not being able to carry them. We have tried working in getting them to walk on their own more the last few weeks and they are doing better. My hope is that they instinctively know they need to behave a little bit better during this time.
Overall, I'm feeling positive about my surgery on Monday. All of the signs the universe has thrown out there have been positive. I haven't seen one negative one. Everything just seems to keep falling into place. Of course, I'm not looking forward to being cut open, but this will be my fifth surgery in a little over 4 years so I know in general what to expect. I'm looking forward to the end result.
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