Post Surgery Update

Hello again friends and family! And people I don't know who read this too!

I'm home after having my surgery yesterday. I figured I'd give a detailed play-by-play of the day, and everything I know so far. =)

So, I talked to my main nurse on Monday, to make sure they had all my blood and EKG test results before my surgery yesterday. She said that they had everything they needed, told me to be at the hospital at 1030am for my noon surgery. I asked her about the no food or drinks after midnight, and she told me that since my surgery was at noon, I could eat and drink after midnight, but nothing after 6am.

We dropped the dogs off at my mother-in-law's house Monday night, she and her husband are really awesome with watching the dogs for us whenever we need them! Monday morning, I woke up at 530am to eat breakfast before 6am. We left for our 2.5 drive a little early, because it was raining. We still managed to get to the hospital for registration and check-in by about 10am. The hospital was so nice! The inside was a little fancy, very comfy, and every single person we talked to was polite.

I registered, and we had about a 45 minute wait until getting put in the pre-op room. Once in that room, I got changed into a gown, with my butt on display to the world! Haha! We waited a bit. I had a nurse come in to take my blood and put in my IV. Another nurse came in to take down my medical history and all the medications I'm currently on, and I signed all my consent forms. We waited a bit longer. I had the anesthesiologist come back and talk to me about what all he was going to do. He asked when the last time I ate was, I told him (at that point) about 7 hours earlier. He was concerned, he said you should never eat or drink the day of surgery. Nothing after midnight the night before surgery. He said it changed what he'd be doing a little bit. It's a bit more invasive if you've eaten too close to surgery, because you can run the risk of throwing up food while you're under anesthesia, and then breathing that food into your lungs. So I had to have a full on breathing tube, instead of the less invasive mode. But he was actually really great, because he said some of his colleagues would've sent me home and rescheduled my surgery for another day, all because my main nurse had given me incorrect information. I'm so glad he didn't! After that, my surgical nurse came in to give the knock out juice and wheel me back for surgery. I said goodbye to Brian, got a kiss, and was wheeled away. He took my surgery time to run and get himself some food, since he'd also eaten at about 6am, and was starving by the time they wheeled me back for surgery at about 1pm.

I remember moving from the bed to the surgical table, and they put the oxygen mask on me. The next thing I remember is waking up, very groggy, with an oxygen mask on in the first recovery area. Apparently, my surgery took closer to an hour instead of 30 minutes like the doctor had told Brian. So he was little concerned as he was waiting for the doctor to come out and tell him that I was okay. And then I was in the first recovery area for a whole hour before remembering anything specific. Coming out of anesthesia is not fun! I was FREEZING! My throat was all sore and scratchy from the breathing tube, and my head hurt so much! And I was sooooo nauseous. A new nurse asked me how I was doing, I told her that I was cold, my head hurt, and I was nauseous. She immediately got me some warm blankets, and gave me something in my IV for the nausea. I slowly started to get warmer, and stopped shivering. They took the oxygen mask off, and let me breath on my own. Apparently though, my normal breathing is too shallow, as the oxygen alarm kept going off and she kept telling me to take deeper breaths. The nurse put me in some super stretchy mesh panties, for my bleeding, and after about 30 minutes, they wheeled me into a recovery room and I was able to see Brian. =) I still felt a little wobbly, I told Brian that my arms and legs felt all limp like noodles. But I ate some crackers that helped the nausea. I took a little walk down the hall to the bathroom, with a little help from Brian. I was able to get dressed, got a prescription for pain meds, and a list of what I can and can't do. No driving, no signing papers, no making major decisions, no bathing/showering for 24 hours, those kind of things. Brian signed my discharge papers, and we could leave! He went and pulled the car around, as they wheeled me to the car. And we were headed home right around 4pm!

My nausea didn't completely go away, and my headache was awful, I ended up staying awake long enough to text family and close friends that I was okay and headed home. After that, I silenced my phone and fell asleep for the entire 2.5 hour drive home! I woke up about a mile away from home, still with a pounding headache. I took some aleve, which didn't help. Brian dropped me off at home, and then went to pick up the dogs and dinner. I had a caffeinated drink in the fridge, so I drank a little of that, thinking that my headache felt more like a migraine than a regular headache. Then I fell asleep on the couch for the hour that Brian was gone. I woke up feeling a little better. No more nausea, but still with a bad headache. I ate a burger and some fries, they tasted AWESOME! I stayed up for a little longer, and then headed to bed. I had moderate bleeding and minimal cramping at the hospital, and a little bleeding once I got home. But the bleeding completely tapered off overnight.

I didn't sleep very well, between my headache and the caffeine I drank, I woke up this morning with a very sore and scratchy throat, and I felt like all my neck and shoulder muscles were sore. But I was still feeling pretty well! I called my doctor, because he hadn't stopped by to talk to me after surgery about how it went. My main nurse said she'd call me back after she talked to him. I felt pretty good throughout the day, ran errands with my hubby, and spent the rest of the day resting at home. I didn't have any bleeding or cramping all day, and no more headache!

My main nurse finally called me back around 3pm. She said that according to my surgical chart, a moderate amount of tissue was removed and sent to pathology for testing. She said that my doctor was very thorough and didn't find anymore tumor in my uterus!! According to him, it's all gone! I don't have to take to cancer pills anymore! I have a follow-up appointment in three weeks, at that point all get checked out to make sure I'm all healed from surgery, and I'll get the results from my tissue pathology. But as of right now, it's looking like the cancer is gone! Fingers crossed and all the good thoughts that it's true!

I'm doing well right now. Mostly tired. No bleeding or cramping. My nurse said that the bleeding might come and go, or I might not bleed at all until my next period. She said that they're only concerned if I start bleeding too much. My throat is still sore. Mostly I feel like I'm sick, cough and sore muscles. But I don't have to go back to work until Tuesday, so I have plenty of time to just relax and heal. But with the good news my nurse gave me today, I'm feeling pretty great! I'm so excited for my appointment in three weeks, I kind of wish it was here already!

Thank you to everyone for your thoughts, prayers, and well wishes! They're certainly coming through loud and clear! You are all great, and I can hardly wait to update you all after my follow-up appointment in three weeks!

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! =)

Medical Progress Report

Hello again everyone! I'm back with a little progress report. =)

General update - I saw my primary doctor this morning, after getting some blood drawn and tested last week. My iron levels are still very low, but they are higher than the previous test. Good progress there. My thyroid function is still low, but higher than it was previously. Good progress there too. My cholesterol is fine, in the perfectly normal range. I also had my sugars checked, for diabetes. Sugars were great! Not diabetic, not even pre-diabetic. Awesome news there! Especially since diabetes runs in my family. I will continue to stay on all my current medications, and I'll go back for more blood work in 3 months.

Cancer update - I have an appointment with my oncologist for the last week of August. At that time, I'm going in for a minor out-patient surgery. 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. After that I might be off work for a couple days to recover, but then I should be good! 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. 

Besides that, I'm working on losing weight and being healthier. We're hoping that I'll be cancer free at the year mark, and that we'll get the all clear to try to start having babies then, and I want to be healthier when that time comes! Thank you guys for reading and keeping updated with my crazy health stuff! 

Until next time! =) 
#notallcancerispink

Health Problems..

A little back story – My husband and I have been trying to get pregnant since we got married in March 2010. We stopped using any sort of prevention, but didn't have any luck. A year after we got married, I decided to go to a doctor, just to see if anything was wrong. My monthly periods had been all over the place since before we got married, never regular, never normal. I saw a doctor who just told me that I needed to lose about 150lb, and then I'd be able to get pregnant. He didn't examine me or run any tests, was rude and mean. It turned me off from going to another doctor for a while.

About 2.5 years ago, I went to visit an ob/gyn for a normal pap smear, and to talk to him about why we hadn't been able to get pregnant after over 4 years of trying. That doctor told me that I had PCOS, polycystic ovarian syndrome, meaning that my eggs were turning into cysts in my ovaries, instead of dropping down to be fertilized. He told me to focus on losing weight, even though it would be hard with PCOS, but after I lost some weight we could focus on helping me get pregnant. He didn't run any tests, told me that my pap results came back normal, and just told me to work hard at losing weight.

We moved to Corpus Christi about a year and a half ago. A few months ago, I decided to find a new ob/gyn. I had lost some weight after seeing the last doctor, but then I'd gained it all back after we moved down here. I decided I just wanted to see a new doctor, since it had been a while.

I went to the doctor at the end of April. She was really great. I told her that my previous doctor had diagnosed me with PCOS, but hadn't done any tests to confirm the diagnosis. She told me that it was stupid and lazy to not confirm a diagnosis, so she'd run some tests to try and find out what's going on with my body. My periods had still be completely random, longer than they should be, more frequent.

She gave me a pap/pelvic exam, and told me that I had polyps on/in my cervix. They're small growths, fairly common in women of fertile age. She said she wanted to schedule another appointment to biopsy the polyps, just as a precaution. She also told me that my uterus was large for someone who had never had children, so she recommended an ultrasound. She made a joke that I could already be pregnant! She had my blood taken, first to check for pregnancy, and to check me for anemia, check my thyroid levels. With my weight, and my difficulty in losing weight and keeping it off, she was actually upset that none of my previous doctors had ever thought to check my thyroid.

I went in just a few days later to get the polyps removed and biopsied. She also had the results of my blood work back. I'm not pregnant, but I am anemic, and I should start taking iron supplements immediately. She also says that my thyroid level is off the charts in a bad way, so I need to start taking thyroid medication the next day. But having a crap thyroid is one of the reasons my weight has been hard to control and hard to lose. This thyroid medication isn't a weight loss medication, but I should have an easier time being healthy and active once it levels out my thyroid. I was so excited to finally have a doctor who was taking me seriously, who wasn't just telling me to lose weight and all my problems would be fixed!

They scheduled my ultrasound for week later, a Friday. The Wednesday before my ultrasound appointment, my doctor called me and said she had the pap and biopsy results in, and she wanted to see me the next day. She said the results were concerning. They moved my ultrasound appointment for the next afternoon, since I was already going to be coming in to talk to the doctor about my results. Brian took off work to go with me, because he is awesome. We go in the next afternoon, and my doctor decides to do the ultrasound first, and then go over the results after. First, she tells me that she doesn't think I have PCOS. Then She tells me that I have a mass in my uterus. It's a rather large mass, and the reason my uterus is larger than it should me. She also told me that my pap and polyp biopsy results came back, and they aren't good. I have AGUS results, which are atypical glandular cells of undetermined significance. Those results only show up in 0.18-0.74% of all pap smears. The biopsy showed that the mass is stage 1 adenocarcinoma, endometrioid type. Meaning, the mass in my uterus is a tumor. And it's cancer.

My doctor recommended that I go get an MRI done immediately, and scheduled me for the next appointment they had, the following Monday. Once she got the MRI results, she'd call me back in. I went to the MRI, and saw my doctor the next day. She had bad news, and a little good news. The bad news – it's definitely a tumor. It extends from my cervix all the way to the back of my uterus. And the results definitely point to a malignant tumor. The good news – it hasn't spread. It's completely contained in my uterus. She said that she believed I'd either have to have my uterus removed, or they would remove the tumor and treat me with chemo or radiation. Both of those options pointed to us not being able to have children in the future.

She referred me to a gynecological oncologist that she knows in San Antonio, who would be able to get me in soon. I had to wait and get a referral from my primary care provider, but they were able to get me in the Monday after I called. He wrote up my referral right away, and said he'd expect the oncologist to give me a full hysterectomy within the month. Not really what I was hoping to hear, but thanks to his immediate referral, I had an appointment with the gynecological oncologist this past Friday.

We drove 2.5 hours away to see the gynecological oncologist. He was great. He looked over the biopsy results, and the MRI results. He said the MRI results were a little confusing, so he also examined me and gave me an ultrasound. Just so he could also get a sense of what was going on in my uterus. He said that I DO have PCOS, polycystic ovarian syndrome. And one of the problems with PCOS is that it limits my body's production of progesterone, and gives my body too much estrogen, which caused this cancer and tumor. But his first concern is taking care of the cancer, and then we can start treating the PCOS. He said that, with women my age, he's had great results with treating this type of cancer without surgery, without chemo, without radiation. I start taking a pill twice a day, and if everything goes right, this medication will shrink the tumor until it completely rids my body of the cancer! It usually takes about a year of taking this medication, but at the end, I should be cancer free and maintain my fertility! Short of them telling me that this was all a mistake, this was the best possible news I could have gotten!

I started taking this new medication Saturday, and I'm scheduled to go back to the oncologist in 3.5 months. At that appointment, I'll have a cell biopsy test and they'll measure the tumor again. Hopefully, it will have already started shrinking. Now, there is a chance that it won't shrink on this medication, and if that happens, we'll discuss other options like surgery at that time. But in my oncologist's experience, a woman taking this medication has never had tumor growth or spreading. So, that's where we're at right now. I'm living with cancer, taking my medications, and going back in 3.5 months. I'm going to focus on being healthier and losing weight, and kicking cancer in the ass! =)

30 Day Plan

     It's been a while, little blog. I haven't been in the mood to blog lately. I don't even know why, actually. I wanted to start off the new year with a better attitude on eating right and working out. And I didn't, not really.. I didn't take it seriously. I want the weight to fall off on it's own. And it didn't. Unfortunately.. How awesome would that be though?? And then, I was in vacation mode! My husband and I took an anniversary to New York City! It was AMAZING! I might write a post about it soon. We have some wonderful pictures, it was so much fun. =) We're already planning on going back at some point, and we're already excited about it!

     So, back to weight loss. It sucks. Haha! When we got back to real life, after vacation, and my hubs and I got serious. We have committed to a year without. He is doing a year without alcohol, and I'm doing a year without sweets. It's a big commitment! And it hasn't been easy so far, but we're doing it! We started right after we got back, so it's been a month so far. For the first two weeks, I stuck to my diet and walked with the baby while I was at work. And I lost 6lb in those two weeks! After that, I wasn't as serious as I should've been. Luckily, my weight stayed the same. But I decided to try again! It's not failing if you keep trying!

     My little sister and my best friend are both graduating in May. My sister is graduating high school on May 14th, and my best friend is graduating college on May 16th. So, I'm road-tripping to Albuquerque and then Tucson next month. I have two weeks (and a couple days) until I leave! Sadly, hubby can't come with me. He's way too busy at work. I'm bummed, we love to road-trip together. 

     Anyways, yesterday I made a plan! A 14 day plan and a 30 day plan. A workout plan, with some eating goals. I'm alternating cardio and strength training. The 14 day plan is for the next two weeks until I leave for graduations. The 30 day plan is for right after I get back from the graduations.

     For the first 10 days, I'm doing 30 minutes on the treadmill and 10 reps of 21 different strength exercises. For the second 10 days, I'm bumping it up to 45 minutes on the treadmill and 20 reps. And for the last 10 days, an hour on the treadmill and 30 reps of each strength training exercise. After my 30 days, I'm going to reevaluate my plan. Make changes, maybe mix up the workout. I'm not sure. But that's what the 30 day plan is for, to see how things go!

     I'm also going to be following a low card diet. I'm not eating bread/pasta/rice/potatoes/etc, except with dinner. Breakfast is eggs with meat and cheese. Lunch is either salad or leftovers. Snacks can be fruit, cheese, nuts, etc. And then dinner is whatever I make for dinner, as long as I keep my portions correct.

     I'm 75lb away from my goal weight. Last Christmas, I told my hubby that by next Christmas I either want to be pregnant or at my goal weight. So, I need to get to it! =) I can't really do anything to get pregnant, unless I lose some weight. I can control one of those things! Also, my uncle is getting married the weekend of Thanksgiving. I don't want to be at this weight the first time I see my extended family in over 5 years. I don't want to be this weight now, so I definitely don't want to be this weight in almost 7 months from now.

     I feel like my 30 day plan is a good start. Today was day one, and I feel pretty good! I walked 30 minutes on the treadmill, and I guess all the walking when did on our vacation to NYC helped me kick up my walking pace a little. I used to only be able to keep pace at 2.5 mph, with sporadic bursts of 3mph. Today, I walked the full 30 min at 3mph. That might seem like a big deal to anyone else, but it's a change for me! =) I weighed myself this morning, and I'm not going to weight myself again until my 2 weeks are up. I'm hoping to lose 5lb! I guess I'll update my blog again after I weigh myself again. Yay!

New Year, New Me - Blah, Blah, Blah..

Everyone talks about starting new and starting fresh in the new year. Like it's a automatic do-over or restart button. And this year, for the first time, that's exactly how I'm going to treat it! I'm not saying I'm going to magically be a brand new person when the clock strikes midnight on New Year's Day. But I'm going to start making changes. I want 2015 and to be a better year for me, for my husband, for my family. We have all these plans, all these dreams. And unless we make changes, and stick with them, we're going to be in the this same boat at the beginning of 2016. So, I'm making changes! I want to lose weight, I want to be healthy, I want to get pregnant, I want to be a mom, I want to be out of debt, I want to have money in savings, I want to start living a better life. And it's going to happen! =) I'm going to try and post on this blog more often, updates on life and crafty things. I'm still knitting and have a couple big projects that I'm working on. They're gifts, but neither person reads my blog, so I should be able to post about them. And I might use this blog as a place to vent about dieting and budgets.. haha! We've moved twice in 15 months, so we're having to work our way out of debt. I might bitch about it here. Pardon my French.. And I have to go back to low carb dieting, so that might come up too.. But when I look back on the year 2015, I want to be proud of the changes I made this week. I don't want to look back and think about how different things would've been if I had stuck with my changes. I've done that before. And it sucks. So, not this year! I know it will be hard, I know I will want to give up, I know I will try to make excuses. But with my strong will (believe me, I'm a bit of a pain) and my wonderful husband to back me up, this is going to be our best year yet! =)

Nerdy Baby Hats

Hello blogging world! I know I have been pretty absent lately. I got sick of blogging about my diet and exercise, especially since it seemed to plateau recently. I took a break from blogging and focused on crafting. A few weeks ago, a friend announced on Facebook that he is going to be a dad in January! My wonderful husband had the idea to talk to my friend about making a bunch of nerdy baby hats for him to add to his baby registry. I talked to my friend and he liked the idea, so I go to work! I just finished a couple days ago, and posted all the hats in my etsy shop. I actually hadn't been keeping up with my shop, so I'm excited to have things for sale again. I'm actually going to clean out all the things I've made over the last few years, and post a bunch of stuff fairly cheaply, to free up some space! I have scarves, hats, a couple baby blankets, and cowls.. I need to clean out my stash! =] But I also want to share the adorably nerdy baby hats I made.

First, a Link hat from Legend of Zelda.

 A very cunning Jayne hat from Firefly.

 Aang from The Last Airbender

 Kirby from Pokemon, with felt eyes and cheeks.

 A Pokeball! With felt detail on the front. 

Yoda hat! This might be my favorite, I used a seed stitch to make it thick and "knobbly".

And then a boobie beanie, for breastfeeding mom! My future kids will wear these, I think they're awesome! 

Check out my Etsy Shop to see all these, and message me if you'd like one! I also plan on posting a bunch of stuff, so keep an eye for that too! We're moving and I need to downsize the amount of stuff we have! Plus, we're moving farther South again, into the heat. Not much need for a lot of knit items..