The real beginning of the story was a couple of weeks ago, which I will add posts about later for my own benefit mostly, but this is where the story takes an unexpected turn. . .
I went to the hospital this morning for my cyst removal and DNC. John and I arrived at the hospital around 6 and went back to the prep room. After a short breakdown, I put on my surgery gear. When my pre-op nurse arrived, I was surprised to find out that she was the mother of one of my sister's best friends. We chatted for a bit, and I felt much calmer about the situation.
After what seemed like hours, I was taken to the OR. Along the way, someone took my glasses, which left me mostly blind, and I was left in a hallway for a while, unable to see, and with no one really around me to tell me what was going on. It was pretty terrifying, especially since I was already in a pretty rough place. My surgeon arrived, and I moved on to the operating table.
When I woke up in recovery, I felt really ill. I found out after the fact that people who have motion sickness, like me, also generally react poorly to many types of anethiesia. For some reason, motion sickness is not a question on the 800 pieces of pre-op paperwork we completed the day before, but I digress.
I was in recovery for about an hour, and then I was moved to my room. It was at this point that I found out that the surgeon had discovered ovarian cancer during the surgery. This discovery extended my surgery from one hour to many. It also made the procedure much more invasive, leading to more pain and a longer hospital stay. The surgeon wanted to do a complete hysterectomy after the discovery, but my husband (wonderful, wonderful person) told him to remove whatever was necessary but nothing more. In the end, they had tested many samples during the surgery and determined that only parts on my left side needed to be removed. Hopefully, this means we will have a chance at pregnancy in the future, but I can not even have that on my radar at this point.
So it seems that I will be in the hospital for about a week instead of the one night for which we had planned. At least they have large windows and cable.
I went to the hospital this morning for my cyst removal and DNC. John and I arrived at the hospital around 6 and went back to the prep room. After a short breakdown, I put on my surgery gear. When my pre-op nurse arrived, I was surprised to find out that she was the mother of one of my sister's best friends. We chatted for a bit, and I felt much calmer about the situation.
After what seemed like hours, I was taken to the OR. Along the way, someone took my glasses, which left me mostly blind, and I was left in a hallway for a while, unable to see, and with no one really around me to tell me what was going on. It was pretty terrifying, especially since I was already in a pretty rough place. My surgeon arrived, and I moved on to the operating table.
When I woke up in recovery, I felt really ill. I found out after the fact that people who have motion sickness, like me, also generally react poorly to many types of anethiesia. For some reason, motion sickness is not a question on the 800 pieces of pre-op paperwork we completed the day before, but I digress.
I was in recovery for about an hour, and then I was moved to my room. It was at this point that I found out that the surgeon had discovered ovarian cancer during the surgery. This discovery extended my surgery from one hour to many. It also made the procedure much more invasive, leading to more pain and a longer hospital stay. The surgeon wanted to do a complete hysterectomy after the discovery, but my husband (wonderful, wonderful person) told him to remove whatever was necessary but nothing more. In the end, they had tested many samples during the surgery and determined that only parts on my left side needed to be removed. Hopefully, this means we will have a chance at pregnancy in the future, but I can not even have that on my radar at this point.
So it seems that I will be in the hospital for about a week instead of the one night for which we had planned. At least they have large windows and cable.