Tale of a Big-Boned Gal

Story of a woman undergoing gastric bypass surgery.

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Summertime Blues

I'm gonna raise a fuss, I'm gonna raise a holler
About a workin' all summer just to try to earn a dollar
Every time I call my baby, and ask to get a date
My boss says, "No dice son, you gotta work late"
Sometimes I wonder whatI'm a gonna do
But there ain't no cure for the summertime blues

Well my mom and pop told me, "son you gotta make some money"
If you want to use the car to go ridin' next Sunday
Well I didn't go to work, told the boss I was sick
"well you can't use the car 'cause you didn't work a lick"
Sometimes I wonder what I'm a gonna do
But there ain't no cure for the summertime blues

I'm gonna take the weeks, gonna have a fine vacation
I'm gonna take my problem to the United Nations
Well I called my congressman and he said "whoa!"
"I'd like to help you son but you're too young to vote"
Sometimes I wonder what I'm a gonna do
But there ain't no cure for the summertime blues

Beach Boys: "Summertime Blues"



Well, OK I didn't really have a fine vacation, but I did take some time off. Let me start in the Spring...

As some of you know I have an iron deificiency due to my gastric bypass. This situation is usually fixed by my having an IV iron infusion every few months at the oncologist. So this last Spring, I was having some fatigue, tiredness, crankiness, etc. Of course since I was working in Des Moines (and on contract at that) I didn't want to take time off to actually go to the Dr. (it's stupid I know). So the other thing that was happening to me is that I was getting light-headed whenever I went to Wal-Mart or the grocery store, really anywhere that I had to walk around and expend some energy. So one day, I'm in Fareway and I get up to the check out and I start to get light-headed. Well, I'll just check out and then I'll sit down on that bench over there before I go out to the car. So I pay the bill, get to the aisle and -- boom -- I'm out. Next thing I'm lying on the floor with the manager fretting next to me. Luckliy Anita was with me and waiting in the car. I called her and she came in and got me but I didn't go to the HOSPITAL. Partly because I just wanted to lay down and partly because I HATE the Marshalltown hospital.

Well, Anita convinced me to see the Dr. and he sent me to the lab for a blood test. I then got on the road for Des Moines. As I got to Bondurant, the cell phone rang and it was Dr. Demmel's nurse - "Where are you?"

"I'm on my way to work."
"Oh, no you need to be in the hospital."
"Oh, OK."

So I drove out to Hawthorne and got my laptop and then drove back to Marshalltown. I got in the hospital and my hemoglobin was 5 (normal should be 12 to 16) so my blood was super-thin like water - no red cells to carry oxygen. That's why I was passing out in grocery stores I guess. So they gave me 5 units of blood and I stayed overnight. I worked from home the next day and started to feel better! So I had another iron treatment after that and was doing OK.

Later I got a call from Dr. Demmel's nurse and she told me that since my HGB was so low, that they sent a sample of my blood to the pathologist. She told me that the report came back and the pathologist said I should see a hemotologist because my blood cells looked "sick." Now I didn't know what that meant, but I freaked out for the next 2 days until I got to the Dr. and he explained it was that the blood cells were small and mishapen because of the iron deficiency. Thanks Nurse Feel-Good for freaking me out!

I had to have additional blood transfusion the day I went to Dr. Prow. She suggested that maybe I was losing blood somewhere. Subsequently I had another endoscopy, EKG, Mammogram, and ultrasound of my heart. All tests came out fine.

So the hemotologist said I should maybe see the Gynocologist because I had been having some "female trouble." And by "female trouble" I mean I was BLEEDING ALL THE TIME. I guess the Dr. thought part of my problem could be due to that little deal.

So Dr. Gessner did some tests and as it turned out -- I have cancer of the uterus. Hmmm, so let's see. I guess I need to see a surgeon! So I went to see Dr. Turner in Des Moines. She's a Gynocological Oncologist (say that 3 times fast!) and she said yes I need to have an operation. So we scheduled it for July, but I just couldn't stand taking the hormones and bleeding anymore. So she re-scheduled for June 20. I had to have my hernia fixed at the same time because it was so big and she just couldn't close me up without having that done. I saw Dr. Roe (a cute little thing) who is a general surgeon in the same office.

June 20 I went into the Mercy hospital -- had a 7 hour surgery -- and I was out for a whole day and a half. Luckily Anita was with me to take care of me and be my advocate. Dr. Turner said she had removed the uterus, ovaries and tubes. She also did a lymph node disection to test that too. I was in the hospital for only 5 days with the standard morphine-induced hysteria, but I managed to get up and get to the bathroom so I could get the tubes out of me. I was released and Anita brought me home where I promptly had a long shower and went to bed for about a day.

The pathology report came back and incedibly, all the cancer was confined to the uterine wall so it was all taken out with the hysterectomy. I am thankful for all the Dr.s there and I feel like I was very lucky to have gotten that done at that time. And of course I'm thankful for Anita taking care of me since I couldn't really do anything for about 2 weeks.

At Grinnell Mutual, they were all very understanding about the whole thing and let me take the needed time off to have all this done! After 5 weeks of recovery, I was able to go back to work and now live a semi-normal life.

The weird thing was going through menopause in 3 months. I was hot, cold, sad, scared, angry, grouchy, depressed, hungry, and generally pissed off for 3 months. All emotions occuring within about 5 minutes of one another. Ugh!

So my "lady parts" are all gone now and I am doing better. I am currently having another iron treatment this month as I am now monitoring my hemoglobin closely. The bad thing is, my hernia was repaired using some kind of biometric material (Dr. Roe said it comes from a pig - EWW!) and so my hernia has returned. I have to wear an abdominal binder but I guess that's OK. He told me in about 6 months he could fix it permanently with some other mesh material. I guess I'll just wait and see how things go. Eventually I will have to have it fixed so I can have my extra skin removed at some point. Until then, it's one day at a time.

The whole summer wasn't a waste -- I had some good days. My friend Gregory comes over to visit and Greg and Mitch came back to Marshalltown over Labor Day weekend. Meantime, Eric and I watch movies and a great British TV show called "Secret Diary of a Call Girl." If you get a chance to catch it, do. It's great.

As an extra added bonus, while I was off work in July a family of kitties came to live on my back deck. But that's for the next episode: "I am . . . Ziggy."

1 Comments:

Blogger Unknown said...

Can I get a holla for memoirs?!! Girl you have been to hell and back in the past year and are still funny and brave and one heck of a writer! Keep it coming--I miss your sass ;)

11:04 PM  

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