It's Back

Last week I started to feel that same low back pain that prompted me to go to the doctors 1 year ago. It then led to that TERRIBLE surgery that caused my intestines to become blocked, tube down my nose and unbearable pain as I laid throwing up in the hospital for a week. The cause of my severe back pain before was from an accumulation of scar tissue from previous surgeries I've had. The doctor cleaned it all out but warned me that it would probably come back.

Well...it's back and I'm really struggling, especially because I really want to start exercising again to get in shape before our first trip to New York in April for my sister-in-laws wedding. I can barely walk or move quickly because it kills me! It's SO frustrating...I feel like a little old lady or something. I absolutely refuse to go to the doctors again though so I think I'm just going to try to stretch (a lot), get a few massages and pray that it goes away.

We'll see.....

Elijah's Surgery...Oh Mickey You're So Fine!

It was dark out as the alarm buzzed in my ear, my first thought was...my phone's buzzing I need to see where it is before it stops! Then I realized that Anthony had set his phone alarm for me since I lost my phone and ALL my numbers on Sunday. Who gets up at 5:00a.m.? I jumped out of bed, surgery day...I practically dragged Elijah off the bed by his arms, he is the worst kid to wake up! Ponytail, sweats, throw on a little makeup and then out the door.

What are all these people doing out and about at this time of the morning...traffic at 5:45am? Arriving at the surgery center, wow, only five minutes late...a new record for me! We get inside, of course we are the first one's there (1st surgery scheduled), she squeezed us in and I'm sure no one else would ever request a 7:30 surgery on purpose.

I look for the most comfortable fluffy couch and sit down preparing for a long wait. We get taken back rather quickly, I look over at Elijah, "Are you nervous?" "No, I've watched those surgery shows on t.v." The nurses are very nice and thorough. They go through everything in detail and even tell him that several people will be asking him the same questions over and over again to verify everything.

Dr. Bayati comes in to mark his foot. She looks more like a fashion model than a Dr. She is young, shoulder length brown hair, pulled back away from her face with a leopard print headband. She is wearing a stylish black button down cardigan, black top and super cute dark True Religion jeans with tall pointy boots. I had to take a second look because I swear she looked like she just stepped off of a Vogue magazine add. I think Elijah thought her name was Dr. Hottie! Don't worry, she did change into her scrubs and no they weren't designer (I checked...hahaha). The anesthesiologist came in and got him all hooked up, I requested an extra dose of anti-nausea medicine (don't want him losing it in my car...mama would be throwing up right along with him from the smell).

I headed back out front to wait...yay no one had taken my comfy couch! There were quite a few older ladies waiting and an older husband and wife. Just as I sit down, they call the husband back for his procedure, he jumps up and heads towards the open door. His wife yells out, "HEY, wait a minute, aren't you forgetting something?" We all turned to look and see what he had left. She sat upright at the edge of her seat, hands on her hips, staring at him. He quickly turned around and shuffled over to her, leaned down, smiled and gave her a big kiss, then heads back. We all start laughing, she grinned and with a New York accent said, "Oh that's nothin, he forgot to kiss me on our weddin day! He just started headin down the aisle to get congratulated for gettin married! I had to yell out, GET BACK HERE AND KISS ME!"

I don't know if you're supposed to be quiet, in a surgery center, but we all burst out in loud, boisterous laughter. We could just picture her yelling at her poor nervous new husband. I told her, "At least he's consistent!" The lady behind the glass looked sternly at us. I'm sure she thought, "What is the matter with this rowdy group?"

I was so entertained that I lost track of time and before I knew it, Dr. Hottie came out to tell me it went well and he should be ready shortly. I knew they would have trouble waking him up...it was about another 45 minutes. They wheeled him out to the car, helped him inside and seat belted him in. He kept saying, "Hey, where are we...Hey, my foots numb...Hey those nurses were super nice...Hey I'm hungry. I stopped and got him some french toast sticks (thinking the bread would be okay on his stomach). We finally pull into the driveway, I quickly gather up all his things and my paperwork, get out of the car and rush around to help him out. As I open the door, he is loudly singing, "Hey Mickey you're so fine you're so fine you blow my mind, HEY MICKEY...HEY MICKEY!" I was laughing so hard! How does he even know that old school song?

So the theme of today is...Hey Mickey by Toni Basil...now sing the first verse and you'll have it stuck in your head all day!

The Hidden Danger of Endometriosis

I suffered for years from endometriosis and it almost cost me my life! Endometriosis is a silent, often undetectable problem for many women. I had been suffering from severe lower abdominal pain for a year. It became so bad that I started getting a fever and having trouble going to the bathroom. I went to the doctor who passed it off as some type of flu. He prescribed pain medication and told me it would pass. My stomach started to become severely bloated. When I went back to the doctor, he made me feel as though it was all in my head.

Finally, after eating a large meal one evening, I found myself hunched over on the bathroom floor, with a stomach the size of a five month pregnant women. The pain was excruciating and unbearable. My husband drove me to the emergency room. I was immediately rushed in and they stuck a large tube through my nose, down to my stomach to drain the contents. After endless tests, CT scan, MRI, Ultrasound and blood tests, they said they “thought” I had an intestinal blockage.

They took me up for surgery. After opening me up, they found that endometriosis had gotten outside of my uterus and wrapped itself around my intestines, thus creating a blockage. Two surgeons worked on me, one cutting away the endometriosis in hopes of saving that area of my intestines, the other performing a complete hysterectomy at the age of 34. The worst part was that if I had not made it to the emergency room that night, I would have died due to the toxins that were backed up in my body for a month.

I cannot stress the importance of listening to your body. If the doctors are unable to find anything, then ask them to look for endometriosis. I had little knowledge of the damage that endometriosis could cause to my health. I trusted my doctors to “see the signs”. I hope that my experience will help bring attention to the life threatening dangers of this hidden problem.