Surgery, Back in November

For those curious as to the story that led up to this photo:

If you don't want to read about women's health stuff, then stop reading. :) I am doing this more for my benefit/record keeping than anything else, really.

So after I had Tanner, I decided to get a Mirena. It all went well and I loved it!!! So, when the time came to decide if I wanted one after Charlotte, I figured why not? It worked well before!

Well... there were some issues the day I got it placed. It was fine, but it hurt this time, when it didn't after Tanner. Not just that, but for the rest of the day I was in serious pain--it felt like I was in labor. I was curled up in a ball just miserable in so much pain. I took some meds and the pain eased up. But for the next few days I would continue to have sporadic pain/cramping that wasn't normal. I decided to give it a week and see if it let up. It didn't. So I decided it was going to come out.

I went into the doctor to get it removed. It should have been an easy appointment. It was no big deal when I got the last one out. Well, about that. The Dr couldn't find the strings the pull it out. So she was using the grasper tool blindly trying to find the strings. Let's just say I was super not comfortable, It hurt, a lot. After some time they decided to take an ultrasound to see where it was. They could see it on the ultrasound. So she said I could stay and she could continue digging around to try and find it, or I could come back the next day for a more in depth extraction method (I'll spare all the details). Since I was already in so much pain, I opted for the more in depth version that would include pain killers.

Well the rest of the day I was super crampy/ in pain from all the digging around she did. I called my Mom to come and help because I just couldn't handle things. She is so wonderful and dropped everything and came to help. Which, turned into an extra huge blessing.

That night I was laying on our recliner, holding Charlotte, and I noticed my right side start to hurt. It felt like a massive side-ache that went from my hip all the way up my rib cage. And it got worse. As the boys were headed to bed, I stood up, walked a few steps and immediately felt like I was going to pass out. I had the sense to get Charlotte safely on the ground before I did, and then I just lay there myself. I suddenly felt like I was going to be sick so I tried to get to the bathroom, but couldn't walk. So I started crawling, very slowly. It was at this point that David realized something was very wrong.

I eventually made it to the bathroom, and just lay on the floor shivering and feeling awful. After some time, David called our friend Nathan Gilbert and gave me a Priesthood Blessing. They then helped me to the bed.

I spent the night unable to take a deep breath because my muscles in my torso would spasm painfully if I did. It was a long night. And still, I couldn't walk for hours. I had to crawl to get anywhere.

Keep in mind Charlotte was not even 2 months old at this time. So my Mom was there to help with her and feed her a bottle, etc.

The next day I went in to the Dr for the more in depth procedure, which also turned out to be unsuccessful. They couldn't find the Mirena anywhere. So they sent me for an X-Ray at the hospital. The X-Ray showed it was turned sideways and at the top of my uterine area, but they couldn't tell if it was inside or outside the uterus. So I had to schedule a Ultrasound at the hospital.

After a couple days of waiting I finally got the Ultrasound and it confirmed what I had feared--the dumb thing had moved itself outside of my uterus and surgery was going to be required to get it out. The Dr said I could let it hang out there, it won't do any harm and people walk around with things like that all the time. However, it was still causing me pain so I wanted it out. We are pretty sure that the whole experience of almost fainting, etc was my body going into shock when the Mirena punctured through my utuerus.

I had the surgery on November 12. They found the place where it had punctured through my uterus. It had moved even lower so rather than just 3 small incisions, like lathroscopic surgery is supposed to be, I have an additional 3 inch scar at the base of my abdomen. It was supposed to be a 1 hour in and out and done surgery--it took over 2 hours. Poor David was a wreck.

But, blessing in disguise. They found, and were able to remove, a mass on one of my ovaries. Turns out it was a Fibroma--only about 4% of ovarian cysts are fibromas and they usually occur in women 40-50. So I was beating all kinds of statistics with this whole experience.

But I am recovered now and grateful for a good Dr, a supportive husband and Mom who once again came to take care of us while I was recovering from surgery.