Gynaecologist

Thursday:

I saw the gynaecologist this morning. The summary is I am on a three month waiting list for surgery to fix part of the problem, then we'll see how I go before taking further steps. I'll go into more detail now, mainly for my own records while I still remember, so if you find women's issues TMI don't read on!

We decided a hysterectomy was a bit drastic while there were other options available, even though it would solve both problems at once. Instead we are starting with fibroid removal with newish MyoSure technology, like a tiny vaccum cleaner on a stick that goes in through the cervix, under general anaesthetic in day surgery. I have one small intramural (inside the tissues) fibroid tucked away that isn't causing any problems, which won't be touched, and a larger submucosal one sticking into my uterus (looks a bit like a grape but it has lots of blood vessels) which they will remove. It has tripled in size lately and probably causing most of the heavy bleeding and pain.

The second problem is my adenomyosis, I though I had one or the other but apparently I have both. Adenomyosis is where the uterus lining grows where it shouldn't, into the muscle wall. My muscle there is all riddled with pockets of this lining stuff. It's quite common (so are fibroids) but in my case it is probably causing some of the pain/bleeding etc. It's a bit hard to tell which issue is causing what problem! In a nine month period between ultrasounds my uterus has enlarged from 84 x 50 x 30 mm to 106 x 82 x 45 mm. The gyno can't do anything about the adenomyosis (except hysterectomy) until the fibroid is removed because the treatment is insertion of a "Mirena" hormone delivery system which releases hormones directly into the uterus. She can't put one in with the fibroid taking up all the space. So I have to wait.

The gyno came up with a third possible issue which had not been considered. The pattern of my pelvic pain does not quite match either of these diagnoses and she is sending me for a bone scan of my pelvis to see if I have an infection there. She did not say so, but this might be supported by the unexplained raised lymphocytes (white blood cells) in my last three blood tests. I have booked that in for Monday, it looks like it takes a few hours altogether, they give you an injection then do the actual scan a couple of hours later. I'll have to remember to take a book.

One funny/not funny thing today... My foot was hurting really badly today and the long drive made it worse so I was limping badly, you might say hobbling. It probably looked like my gynaecologist had been a bit rough with me!

Pointless

Thursday:

Eating clean in June lasted a whole day.

I had a particularly bad night; starting with lying awake for two hours trying to get to sleep, then three trips to the bathroom (unusual) and one calf cramp (also unusual), and culminating in waking early with pelvic pain. So I was tired and unmotivated all day. I did use my CPAP for about four hours again, but as at least two of those were lying awake I don't know how much good it did.

I saw my doctor today to see if she could refer me to a different gynaecologist so I didn't have to wait another two months for an appointment. The original one was about 20 minutes away, female, and my doctor particularly recommended her. Turns out the only other ones she knows of are more like 30-40 minutes away, and male. If it was a one-off visit I'd go to whoever could see me first but this might be an ongoing relationship so I decided to stick with the recommended (female, closer) one. So I just have to wait.

I also asked her about this plantar on my foot which often makes it quite painful to walk. We discussed last time her freezing it off if the other home treatment (my third) didn't work. After a week that has made no difference whatsoever, I decided to go for the painful freeze. But she had run out of freezing liquid! So I have to wait another week. The whole visit to the doctor was completely pointless.

Tim is getting a week off work soon and a hotel we like to stay at on the beach in Queensland is currently having a sale. But I can't see the point (for me) of going. I can't go for walks along the beach and even walking a few blocks to restaurants would hurt, I certainly can't envisage walking around a theme park all day, I'll be tired but can't sleep which isn't very relaxing, and these horrible unrelenting heavy extended periods mean I wouldn't be able to get in a pool. And I'm always on a diet (or should be) so wouldn't even be able to indulge in food (or not without guilt). I could sit in the hotel room and watch TV.

Well as you can see I'm a bit disappointed in the day. I'm ready to write this one off and crawl into bed.

Weight up

Monday:

This morning I weighed 81.6 kg, up  2.1 kg from last Monday. So slow to leave, so quick to come back.

I've had two nights in a row of poor sleep due to pelvic pain. I think I will try to find a gyno who can see me sooner than two months away. Last night I tossed and turned, and when I did sleep I dreamed I was trying to sleep on a hard floor! Very tired and grumpy and headachy today. I'm always on the edge of insufficient sleep anyway, so two extra bad nights affects me a lot. I fell asleep sitting up in the afternoon, but only for about 10 minutes as the kids were home talking to me.

I thought my book club was tomorrow, but now I'm pretty sure it was last Tuesday and I missed it. 4th Tuesday of the month. Damn. The book was "The Palace of Tears" can't remember the author (Australian). I don't read a lot of what you might call modern fiction, I usually read fantasy genre or classics, and I'm enjoying expanding my repertoire but it's a shame missing out on the human interaction that I joined the group for. I've marked the next date in my diary this time. Next month it's "The Dressmaker" which they recently made a movie of, but you wouldn't have heard of it unless you're Australian.

Everything I want to talk about today: pain here, pain there, tantruming toddler in supermarket, Foxtel crashing just as Game of Thrones started, long list of tasks I didn't get done... is pretty negative so lets just say I struggled to cope a bit today and leave it at that. I got through the day.

Results and referrals

Friday:

I saw my GP Dr Miller again today. The results for the glucose tolerance test are in, down to 8.9 mmol/L after being 10.8 last year (11.0 is diabetes). Still in the pre-diabetic zone but much better. My blood sugar diet and losing a bit of weight seem to be helping.

She has referred me to a gynaecologist about the fibroids but they can't see me until late July.

We also discussed my mood and she has referred me to a psychologist(?) who will see me in about three weeks. She seemed to think I have a tendency towards depression, exacerbated by recent major life events i.e. the deaths of both my parents and then the move to another state where I have no friends. I lean more towards the hormonal explanation and I feel a bit of a fraud in a way because I'm not really that depressed. I know what depressed is like. And I'm a lot better with anti-menopause tablets. But I am very willing to go and talk to someone about it. Can't hurt.

She also told me off for not using my CPAP.

I like this doctor, it's a shame she's only at the clinic until the end of July.

Ate well again today. I don't know how to number this anymore. It's supposed to be an eight week diet. I did eight weeks back in Jan/Feb but by the end I wasn't really sticking to it at all. I started again seven and a half weeks ago - two days left of this eight week cycle. But I had nearly a week off with the carb loading so I haven't really done eight weeks... oh bugger it whatever. I'll just keep going.