Monday, November 28, 2011

Recovery Notes

What freaked me out most after the endometrial ablation wasn't anything I'd anticipated. The cramping has been minimal-to-nonexistent, all after-effects as far as bonding with absorbent devices is concerned has been minimal. All in all, it's been negligible... that is, except the weight gain. The first time I got on the scale post-procedure it was up near 145.

That's 8-10 pounds higher than it was pre-op. YIPES!! And yes, it was all fluid retention. Holy cow.

I guess because most of my recovery has been a non-issue, part of my brain has been thinking that the ablation was more or less a non-procedure. Nope, not true. My body at least recognizes that it's been traumatized, and from what I can figure it's been recognizing that by bloating like crazy. And not only was my abdomen bloated, but also my chest (I almost outgrew my bras -- eeek!), and additionally my lower back.

I think that last was the weirdest part. I'd put my hands on my hips, but sort of toward my back, and I realized it felt different. Fuller. I kept poking and poking at myself and wondering, "Huh... maybe I just didn't realize how much padding I have back here," even though I knew that something was off.

I should have trusted my gut. Because this morning, after having a weekend of having to run to the potty every hour or so, most of the bloat has vanished (including the majority of the back bloat) and put me at 137-ish.

Back bloat. Huh. Who knew?

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Hooray, I'm Conscious!

Followed by School Chicken News

Hey there everyone :) Yes, I'm alive and well after the endometrial ablation yesterday. My procedure was scheduled for noon, but because my veins behaved in their historic fashion by running away thus requiring the services of the nurse who is, apparently, magic with IV insertion, I ended up going in after the person who was supposed to go after me, but I did eventually make it in. First I was in the OR, chatting with the nurses, and next thing I knew I was waking up on the recovery side of the center.

The only thing I felt was dizziness and nausea after I woke up -- no pain whatsoever. Everything went smoothly, with no surprises found during the hysteroscopy portion of the procedure. YES! Choreboy and I left the surgical center in late/mid afternoon and went to my parents' house to pick up the Gum Zombie (who's been sick, bless his heart) and to feed me a little bit of my mother's homemade macaroni and cheese. It was good, but the dryness in my mouth (I figure it was caused either by the anesthesia, the fact that my mouth was cranked open with a tube in it, lack of oral fluid intake, or a combination of factors?) made it kind of stick. Still, nothing a little Diet Coke couldn't cure.

As soon as we got home I fell into bed and crashed. I woke up about midnight, still a little wobbly and "ooky", but nothing remarkable, and by 2:30 AM the wobbliness and residual nausea had mostly gone away. I was back asleep around 4:30 AM, after eating my microwaved Quarter Pounder with Cheese, and woke up for good around 7:00 AM today.

For the record, about my doctor saying all I would need would be aspirin: she was right! I haven't even felt a twinge of a cramp. From purely anecdotal reports I've read online (like on this endometrial ablation discussion board), easier recoveries tend to be more the norm with the NovaSure procedure*, which is what I had. Not every woman has as easy a time as I'm having even with NovaSure, and I know I'm under 24 hours out so things could change, but I have to say that at this time I'm tickled pink.

*Disclaimer: this applies to my experience only, remember "anecdote" is not equivalent to "data", and that any decisions regarding your health care should not be based on my experience or that of any other layperson, but rather between you and your chosen medical professional. I received nothing from NovaSure for this statement (although if the fine people at Hologic® want to change that I'm open to compensation :P).

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Now what's that chicken stuff about in the subtitle? Well, here's my Facebook status from about a month ago:


I live in central Florida, and contrary to popular misconceptions the entire area isn't one giant theme park. I'm in one of the larger towns, but we still have our rural touches especially in the unincorporated areas:


Charlotte (no, not that Charlotte!) is now the Gum Zombie's elementary school's official pet chicken. Yes, they love her so much the entire school voted on her name. Hee :)

Near as we can figure out, she wandered over from the pasture next door (which also contains an assortment of goats and two donkeys), decided she likes it just fine where she is right now, thankyouverymuch, and is not leaving. It's really kind of fun, as you don't know where Charlotte is going to show up next! Kind of like "Where's Waldo," with bonus chicken droppings.

Only in my county, folks. Visit Legoland, and see Charlotte the School Chicken! Y'all come back now, y'hear?


Thursday, November 17, 2011

Update

Hey everyone, just a quick heads-up to let you know I'm alive and all that happy stuff. Still 135-136 on weight, it's just so depressing that I'm not bothering to record it even though I weigh in every other day or so.

The last 5-ish pounds sucks.

I have the endometrial ablation in the morning (Friday) and I'm freaking out at the moment. I hate general anesthesia but, in spite of my insistence on deliberately birthing #2 son at home, I'm not hardcore to the point where I just want a local and a bullet to bite on.

So on the one hand, aspirin only?* Am I to take this seriously as a surgical-ish procedure? But on the other hand, general anesthesia. Riiiight...

Freaked out would definitely cover it. I'll update tomorrow after I get home. Or sometime this weekend. Here's hoping I'm like the women I've seen who've had the EA (Novasure is the exact procedure I'm having) who barely even cramped, rather than the ones who woke up in the middle of the night for pain meds to stay on top of it.

Nite, y'all. I hope someone sleeps tonight. It isn't going to be me. If the anxiety doesn't get me, the Cytotec will. Yippie.

*edited to add, this is what my doctor is recommending for post-operative pain relief. No prescription, which is fine, I'm just scared that she's too optimistic and I don't want to be curled up in the fetal position praying for death.

Friday, November 04, 2011

WW Weigh-In, Week 35

Weight: 135.75
Mood: weirdly relieved

Because it could have been worse.

And for the record, I did weigh myself yesterday and I even posted the weight in my sidebar. Unfortunately I ran out of time to get up a blog post. But the weight was entered.

Now I just need to stay on track as much as I can, and get my exercise in for the next two weeks because I'm going to be pretty sidelined after that for a bit. No, not forever, but I don't yet have word on how long I'll be out of commission for anything more than light walking (research tells me 2-6 weeks, depending on ablation type and physician preference). So best get it in while I'm able, and and afterward pay attention to what goes on in the kitchen because I'm not going to have much else to help me!

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In other aging news, today's whine is my current Facebook status:


One of my friends suggested coloring in the hair with an eyeliner pencil. Not that she's ever had to do this herself...

Have a great weekend, all!

Wednesday, November 02, 2011

Let's See if I Remember to Weigh In Tomorrow...

And why would I, a perfectly rational, sane adult forget to weigh in tomorrow?

For the exact same reason the Gum Zombie "forgot" his math book after I told him Tuesday morning that every night would be Math!Night here at Casa Justice. That is, until he nails multiplication/ division facts into his amazingly gyrating brain and tops it off with a heaping helping of fractions.

Poor kid. It took me until I was almost 30 to figure out that math is just another language. And I'd like for him to finish 3rd grade in well under twenty years.

So... yeah. Remembering to weigh in, and to put that number up here. Post-Reese's and post-vacation.

Ugh.

Oh, and just to cheer everyone up endlessly with more of Amanda's TMI-Fest, I finally have my ablation scheduled. Yay! It's set for November 18th, which means I'm both relieved and freaking out. My period or whatever it was this last time lasted 26 days. Sheesh, I should update my sidebar. So... yeah. I'm about done with that. We'll see how bad the recovery is. I have an appointment to get my roots touched up on the 19th, so I'd better be minimally functional the next day.

I am not missing that hair appointment, y'all. I had 3-month-long roots last time I went in for a touch-up and there will be no repeating of that travesty. Bad enough I'm feeling like some dried up useless husk of an aging female (and the kicker is that I know better than that! And I'm done having kids anyway, so what do I care that fertility is out the window? And... and... and... *headdesk*); I will NOT be some useless old husk of an aging female with multiple months of grey hair growth at her roots.

If I'm going to be a husk, at least I'll be a blonde one. Dammit.

So there.

Now I'm going to shuffle off and remind myself that chocolate* isn't going to solve this.

*Problem is, I'm pretty sure that the combination of chocolate and peanut butter might.