My first ever surgery took place today. Here's what happened leading up to it:
Back in January, we
discovered a cyst on my right ovary. Two weeks ago, I had to be seen in the ER for pain on my right side. It was decided between the ER doc, the in-house OB, and the OB from my practice (who the ER doc had called), that my uterus was still fairly large and the danger of torsion (the cyst twisting the ovary) was minimal and I would go in to be examined the following Monday. I was examined, another ultrasound was ordered, went to the ultrasound, and scheduled surgery to remove the cyst for later this month.
Early this morning--again--I started having pain on my right side. This time, I took my pain killers from the delivery, which is what the docs told me to do if the pain came back. They also told me if it got bad again, to come back into the ER (due to the worry about torsion). The pain killers kept the pain at bay, but didn't get rid of it completely, they're also so strong that I couldn't take more for at least four hours. In the time it took waiting to take more, the pain got worse, and it got to the point where I was throwing up. That was the point where we decided to go back to the ER.
Back in the ER, still early in the morning but after change of shift (for most positions, the doc wasn't in just yet), I ended up getting back almost right away but had to wait for the doctor. There were two people supposedly ahead of me, but I was in so much pain (and they knew it because they could hear me) and it was so much worse than last time, that the doc came and saw me first so we could get the pain medication going and get it under control. They gave me the same narcotic (that I can never remember the name of) as last time, and it made me sleepy right away, just like last time. The difference was, when I fell asleep, my breathing slowed way down, which concerned them. They eventually limited how much of the medicine that I got and gave me O2 so it wouldn't happen again.
I got sent for an ultrasound, just like last time. This time, the cyst was determined to have grown to 18cm AND the doctor came down and told me after the radiologist had read the results that my uterus had, in fact, shrunk and the pain I was having now (as well as the pain last week) was due to partial torsion. That explained so much. It explained why I was in so much pain and why the pain medication took several doses to make it go away completely (or it just kept the edge off). The doctor gave me a couple of choices. He wanted to take the cyst out, I had no argument. My choices were to go ahead and have the cyst out at this hospital, or to transfer me to Sinai where my OBs had privileges and let the OB on call remove the cyst. I just wanted the thing out in the easiest, quickest possible way, so I opted to stay.
They set a time for my surgery (3pm) and then wouldn't give me any more pain medication due to my drop in breathing from the ER--this decision was made at 11am! I had to sit for four hours with only mild medication and what was already in my system! I was not a happy camper, at all! I understand that they didn't want my blood pressure to tank in the OR with the anesthesia and narcotics in my system, but 4 hours was way to long to be sitting with almost no medication and a partially twisted ovary!
Both moms came and sat with Joey so Dan could go to karate (he had already missed way too much work between the delivery, the baby, and the episode two weeks ago), and I was so glad that they were there. Joey slept through the whole day because he was in someone's arms almost non-stop, I was also thankful for that. Eventually, they finally came to prep me for surgery and not a moment too soon because all the medication was wearing off and the pain was getting really bad again. I barely remember the OR. I remember going in, getting warm blankets laid over me, and I remember moving from the stretcher to the operating table thing (it had arms for my arms), and they pushed the meds on me at that point because the next thing I remember is waking up in post-op (also called the PACU--Post Anesthesia Care Unit).
Originally, the plan had been to give me a "bikini cut" incision which would be horizontal and lie below my waistline. The doctor told me in post-op that because of the size of the cyst, they weren't able to do that and I had a large, vertical incision from my bellybutton down. He also snapped a picture of the cyst (because it was one of the largest he's ever seen) with his iPhone and e-mailed it to me! That part was pretty cool, so here's the picture:
For size reference, it's hard to tell, but that white slip of paper is a six-inch paper ruler. To give you another idea of the size, Dan's mom got me a kid's soccer ball that is just about the same size, a size 3 soccer ball (I'll get a picture of someone holding it later).
So now I'm in a room on "the floors" and I'll be here until Sunday or Monday morning at the latest. I have to talk to the doctor and see what he says. The other, super sucky part of the whole thing is I have not been allowed any fluids. Zero. Not even ice chips. My last drink was this morning before we left for the ER, my mouth is so dry and foul-tasting. I can't have any liquids until tomorrow morning. I understood not having anything before anesthesia but after? That's just mean :(
(
Jump to Part VI of The Mega Cyst Saga)
