Packing Up Clothing

Today while Little E was in her Mamaroo I was packing up her 0-3 month size clothing.  I swear the past three months has been a blur.

Little E turned 11 weeks old today.  Next week she'll be 12 weeks or 3 months if you do the calculations.  But I won't be saying to everyone she is three months old until the 8th of October.

It looks like J won't be having to leave after all.  Those budget cuts are on my side this time.  Now if only he could get a huge pay raise so I could afford a maid and a nanny.  I'd like to get a night's sleep.

Little E is now preferring my company to that of her dad's.  I guess that is a good thing but it makes J feel like crap.  He'll just have to do more with her than fall asleep with her in his lap.  I play with her on the floor.  I take her for walks.  I read a loud to her.  Oh and I feed and change her and do her laundry but I doubt she notices the laundry part.

Tonight J was feeding Little E and he kept on feeding her without a burp break.  He is trying to rush through her feedings so that he doesn't fall asleep.  So yeah she paid him back.  She blew dinner all over him and the carpet.  He yelled for help.  Yes he is a bit dramatic.  He acted like her milk spew was toxic waste.  Just two weeks ago she spit up, more like barfed there was so much of it, down my v-neck shirt.  I just tucked a flannel wipe in the boob area and kept taking care of her.  When she was settled down again I took care of me.  I tell Little E that I'm washable so she isn't too feel bad when she can't control her spitting up.

I turned on sesame street today.  What happened to that show?  Scary how some of the characters are now cgi.  Flying trolls!

Well my brain is melting.  I have a GYN appointment tomorrow morning.  Hoping I get some answers as to the bladder issue.

Oh and tomorrow is my 9th wedding anniversary.  Where the heck has time gone?

Visit with the Oncologist

Sorry if this post seems a bit choppy.  I'm so tired right now I could fall asleep on the keyboard.

This morning's first appointment went well. J drove us to the oncologist office in Savannah at Candler Medical.

The two hour appointment was actually less than the allotted time giving me a chance to stop by my old OB office to show them the baby.  They had wanted to see her and requested that I bring her in after she was born to see the "end product" as they only ever get to see the babies on ultrasound.  I found out I was the first patient to actually ever bring in their baby.

At the oncologist office I got to meet my arch nemesis again; Wanda.  The doctor asked me to strip from the waist down so he could do an exam.  I asked if it was transvaginal and he said yes.  I said I thought I'd meet up with Wanda again.  He had actually never heard it called that before and liked the name.

So yeah, I'm abnormal.

How many of you gals out there have been told by your OB that you'll not have endometriosis grow while pregnant?

Yeah I know there are at least a few of you out there.

Mine grew but I knew that.  That lovely 4.5 cm pocket of tissue grew to 9 cm during the pregnancy while I was at JBLM.  It wasn't monitored when I got to Ft. Stewart though it should have been.  No it was brushed under the carpet.

So I now have not one but two, yes 2, endometriomas growing on my left ovary.  Dr. R offered me surgery right off the bat to remove them.  He was astounded to find out that I'm only 10 weeks postpartum and have endometriosis growing rampant.  He found other evidence of endometrial growth in the pelvic cavity too.

I said to him take it all.  He said he was just about to tell me that if doesn't take the ovaries too that it will grow back.  I already knew that.  Thank you bloggers for all that information.

He will also be taking the cervix and all other adhesions and endo he can find.  Since J isn't going to be around for a few months I'll be having the surgery early next year.  It can wait.  I am in pain and there is always a risk of ovarian torsion if one of the cysts should twist.  That went without him telling me as I had already told him I've had large cysts before.

The surgery will hopefully be done with the four small incisions that he thinks might do it.  But since I had the zipper surgery recently there might be too much scar tissue and he'll have to do another zipper surgery again.  I say zipper because it was a vertical incision with 19 staples in it.  Dr. R. said he would have used even more staples.  Great.

But he told J he would write him what ever note he needs to ensure that he gets the time off to be at home with me (lol) because he will have to care for the baby, do the house work (LOL) and prepare me meals (bigger LOL there).  Sorry but J doing any of the above and getting the time off would be nigh impossible without a congress.

Next week I see my gynecologist about the bladder issue.  More on that when I find out why I started leaking after the follow up appt. internal exam.  I didn't leak during pregnancy or after until that day in August.

New PCM

Yesterday was my first visit with my new PCM (primary care manager).  The doctor was rude.

He came into the exam room and told me to give him my life history in two minutes because that was all the time he had for me.  Sheesh.

He asked how old my son is.  Mind you SHE was dressed in a camouflage dress and bib but she also had a pink headband on her head with a pink flower on it.  I corrected him.  He said, "well you never know with today's army".  Really?

He then says I don't have spinal stenosis according to the MRI he looked at.   Well it would be nice if he looked at the newest one taken a few years ago and read the report from the neurologist I went to at JBLM.  He didn't even know that I had been to see a neurologist.

So after explaining to him in the little time I had why I was there and asking for the lab results, of which, he said were normal, he put in the referrals that I requested.

I will be going to see a pulmonary specialist and getting the sleep study done.  He listened to my lungs and asked me how long I've had asthma.  Since 1997 and the hospital there noted that my O2 stats dropped into the 80's when I was sleeping.

I will be going to see the neurologist but will be needing a referral off post to get the MRI and EMG done.  Yes they could in theory do them at Winn but they don't allow the dependents to use the MRI and EMG testing facility now.  Why? I wondered.  It costs the government more to send us off post for testing.

I will be getting an ultrasound done on my thyroid to see if the cysts are shrinking.  It has been a good three years since the last one was done.

None of my questions were answered as to the blood work.  I wanted to know about the Large and Giant Platelets they had found and why it is so rare.  I wanted to know if the iron issue is back to normal. All he said about the iron was that it wasn't tested on the 2nd of September.  Really?  The internal med doctor specifically requested that test.  Oh I've booked an appointment with my internal med doctor for next week as the PCM told me I should follow up with that doctor instead even though my PCM had no idea why I was seeing him to begin with.  UGH!

The PCM did agree to prescribe me the lasix and the statin.  My cholesterol was high he said but he didn't tell me the numbers.  Hopefully I'll remember to ask next week.

As for the GYN visit I was supposed to have on this past Monday; GYN called late Friday last week to cancel it.  My doctor had to go on emergency leave.  He won't be back until early October.  I'm now rescheduled with another GYN, one I've seen before and liked, for next week to address the urinary incontinence issue that suddenly started after the pelvic exam in late August.

Little E is doing well.  My days are running together and I can't remember if I mentioned her weight and height from last visit.  She is 10 weeks old now and weighs 11 lbs 2 oz.  Length is 22.4 inches.

Here is a new photo of her from yesterday

Tomorrow is the oncology appointment in Savannah.  It is a two hour appointment.  Not sure what they are going to do but I can guess it won't be all medical history.  Hopefully this Savannah doctor will be on time because I have a dental appointment in Hinesville in the afternoon to have my new crown put in place.

So the Endo Continues to Give

Today was my follow up appointment with my OB/GYN that did my hysterectomy after I gave birth 6 weeks ago.  All is not well.

He has now referred me to the oncologist for gynecology.  He has also told me that I'll be needing more surgery soon and that the oncologist will most likely be doing the surgery robotic style.  Is that a good thing?  I wonder.  But I'll be getting more information as soon as I get a call back from my new doctors at Internal Medicine.

Tricare has deemed it necessary to send me to Internal Medicine for my primary care and not a general practitioner.  I should have realized it would happen sooner or later.  I'll also be needing to see someone for pain management but I was told at Internal Medicine that they only see active duty in their clinic for pain management and that I'll be referred out.  Endometriosis just keeps on giving!

During my exam today the pain was bad when the doctor palpated my pelvic region.  He said it is healing well.  Okay but the pain just sucks.

What My Gynecologist Didn't Know

Last month when I had my well woman appointment, at my local Army hospital, my husband and I discussed various things of importance to us with my male gynecologist.  I was surprised to learn that my gynecologist didn't know that the uterus elevates and contracts much as would the human male penis.

"The process of orgasm in females is basically similar to that in males.  It is a series of rhythmic muscular contractions of the orgasmic platform.  The contractions generally occur at about 0.8 second intervals; there may be three or four in a mild orgasm or as many as a dozen in a very intense, prolonged orgasm.  The uterus also contracts rhythmically, with the contractions moving in waves from the top of the uterus down toward the cervix.  Other muscles, such as those around the anus, may also contract rhythmically."  Janet Shibley Hyde PhD., Understanding Human Sexuality, 3rd edition p.204

How did he get through med school without learning something I learned in my freshman year of college?  I pulled the diagrams directly from one of my textbooks. 

I'm not a doctor by any means but I've taken a lot of science classes.  This concerns me greatly that my own gynecologist would be so ignorant. 

I'm also wondering if many of the male gynecologists decide that a woman should have a total hysterectomy without giving consideration to the role the uterus, cervix and ovaries play in a woman's sexual response.  I come from a family of women that have had to have hysterectomies or so they were told.  Now that I think back I wonder if some of their female reproductive parts were just yanked out to save time.  My mom didn't have cancer, she did have fibroids in her uterus.  She was told after they took her uterus that in a few years they'd have to take her ovaries because of a possible risk.  She didn't care she said since she was done with child bearing.

Well whether or not a female is done with child bearing is no good reason to take out the reproductive organs.  Would a male who is done with child bearing opt to have his reproductive parts removed?  Would a doctor even recommend the removal of the male reproductive parts if he had say a cyst on one of his testes?

I plan on keeping all my reproductive parts as long as they don't become cancer ridden or need to be removed to save my life.

I wonder, how many of you have had to have your reproductive organs removed and how has it changed your sexual response?