I know I’ve been woefully remiss in updating.  I’ve just been waiting to see the next doctor and to get more information.  I saw the second gynecologist yesterday—she found a way to get me in before October!  I like her soooooooo much better than the first guy.  She treated me like I actually have a brain and can understand what’s going on.  That was the good news.

The not so good news that I got yesterday was that the MRI showed two more very small fibroids.  They’re each less than half an inch.  She said she didn’t even know if she’d be able to find them during surgery since they’re so small and in the walls of the uterus.  So, at this point, they don’t seem like much of a concern.  The more I think about it, the more ticked I am that the first doctor, who ordered the MRI and got the results of them, never said anything about them.  GRRRRRRRRR.

The worse news is that the very large fibroid that would like to take over my abdomen also appears intent on taking over my uterus.  After consulting with the radiologist, my new doctor learned that the fibroid takes up the vast majority of the top of my uterus—so much so that there’s less than half an inch of tissue between the bottom of the fibroid and the inside of my uterus.  That’s going to make saving my uterus much more difficult.  In fact, the doctor said she didn’t think she could successfully do the whole surgery and she would have to bring in a fertility surgeon to reconstruct my uterus.  Even at that, she didn’t know if it would be possible for me to ever get pregnant and carry a child to term.  I know my hopes of marriage and pregnancy grow dimmer by the day, but . . .

And then to make matters worse, my anemia is running rampant.  Because my numbers are so low, I’m going to have to get shots that put me into a chemical menopause before surgery.  Won’t that be lovely?  Ugh.  The thinking is that it will help deal with the anemia, reduce the size of the fibroid, and reduce the amount of bleeding during surgery, probably eliminating my need for a blood transfusion.

I’ve learned most of this today.  To say it has been an emotionally rough day is a bit of an understatement.  And to top it off, I’m at an education conference, so there’s no going to hide in my room for any length of time.  I’ve managed to fit in a good (albeit short and fairly quiet) cry a few times, but that’s about it.

So many emotions, so many factors, so many decisions.

photo courtesy of sundesigns