Pre-Surgery Update

Hello world! Here is another quick update about the medical fun stuff I've been working with lately! My surgery is scheduled for next Tuesday, August 30th.

I had to go to my primary doctor yesterday for an EKG, just to make sure my heart is healthy before surgery. And it mostly is! The last time I was at the doctor, he said that I have a heart murmur. He thought it was just because of how severely anemic I am, so he wasn't concerned. I asked him if the murmur pointed to an aortic aneurysm, because I have a biological father and sister who both passed away from an aortic aneurysm fairly young. He said no, a murmur isn't a sign of that at all. He said high blood pressure is a sign, and my blood pressure is great! But he went ahead and referred me to a cardiologist for an echo (ultrasound of my heart), to look for an aortic aneurysm, just in case! And the cardiologist will also look for a reason for my murmur, to make sure it's only from my anemia and low blood count. But the actual heart function is great, very healthy! I am good to go for surgery on Tuesday! I also had some blood drawn today, but I can't imagine anything they're testing will come out poorly and prevent me from having my surgery.

Just another explanation on what my surgery actually is, since I've been getting more questions about it lately. It's called a D&C, dilation and curettage. Basically, they are going to dilate my cervix and cut away part of the tumor/uterine lining for further testing. They'll also measure it to see how much the tumor has shrunk, and gauge my progress with my cancer shrinking pills. My doctor mentioned that the best case scenario would be for the tumor to have shrunk so much that when he goes in to take part of it, it will be small enough that he can just remove the entire thing. It's not expected though, so we'll see! We'll get to the doctor's office at 10am, my surgery is at noon. I'll be under general anesthesia, the procedure is supposed to take about 30 minutes. I'll have to hang out at the doctor's office for a few hours after, to come off the anesthesia and they will monitor me for excessive bleeding. I took the rest of the week off work, since I'm not sure how much I'll be bleeding and I don't want to deal with that at work. But then I'll be good to go! If they aren't able to just remove the whole tumor then, I'll stay on my cancer pills and most likely have another appointment in another couple months. 

All your thoughts and prayers are appreciated! I'll post another update after I have my surgery, to let know everyone know how it went! Thanks for reading! =)