Friday, March 16, 2007

in the stirrups


so a couple weeks ago i went to the doctor for my bi-annual pelvic. (although i know better, i usually don't go to the doctor unless something is hanging out of me, bleeding.)

anyway, there i am, in the stirrups, being palpated by my doctor and missing the old cloth robes we used to wear during these kind of examinations.

then she goes, 'Hm.'
i think, Hm is never good.
i say, 'what's wrong?'
she says, 'did you know you have fibroids?'
'uh, no.'
'well, you do. do you know what they are?' palpate. palpate.
i say, 'big tumor-y things?'
she laughs while continuing to palpate. 'yes, big tumor-y things.' she snaps off the gloves and gets ready to do the pap.
'you got 'em. i'm going to recommend you get an ultrasound just so we see how big they are.'

i just nod and i can't help but think, wow, i really won't ever have children. i have fibroids! huzzah!*

god works in mysterious ways, doesn't He?

*for folks out there who may be befuddled at my logic re: infertility: fibroids keep growing back so i'd either have to get them lasered out all the time, take constant medication all the time, or get a hysterectomy. it's an inevitability. goodbye uterus.*

**and, indeed, god works mysteriously because my STD screening was totally clear! whoo hoo!!**

3 comments:

belledame222 said...

I don't think fibroids necessarily preclude having kids, although they can make things more difficult. your doc will know the answer to that better of course...

glad the rest turned out ok

Orange said...

Maybe you can ignore the fibroids until they cause symptoms? Of course, if you have periods that mimic the Red Sea with nasty cramps, then you may already be symptomatic. My sister-in-law learned she had fibroids at age 41. She had surgery to remove them (she had two big fibroids plus another thingie that needed to be surgically removed so it could be identified), plus an endometrial ablation. I believe she no longer has the hemorrhage-for-two-weeks periods she'd been having, but a woman's supposed to avoid pregnancy after an ablation--I think it's possible to get pregnant, but a bad thing to have something growing in a uterus that's had its endometrial lining stripped out. (But don't quote me on that.)

Side note: My SIL had this surgery before her new job's health insurance kicked in. Can we please have universal health care?

Delia Christina said...

well, i made a promise to myself that if i made it past 35 without kids, then i wouldn't be too broken up if they didn't happen so i'm sort of hoping, actually, that this fibroid issue will kick the kids issue off the table for once and for all. not *exactly* looking forward to any hysterectomy-like action, but if it's so, then it's so.

(i'm getting a little impatient with my dad and sister asking me about it. and the way they keep talking about it, it's not like they think i'll be a great mom, but that it's a sufficient 'punishment' to 'settle me down' because i've lived a 'bohemian' life. whatever.)

but i've been bleeding like the Red Sea for the past few years and it's only getting worse. good news, my periods are down to 5 days from 9 but i bleed so much i'm seriously anemic afterward.

i don't know; it's pretty clear that my inner plumbing has been irregular for years (since i was 18) so i wouldn't really be surprised if the news from my doc was, in fact, baby making is *not* in my future.

and, orange, yeah about the healthcare thing. if anything unusual pops up on this ultrasound on tuesday, i shudder to think what this is going to do to my insurance and what they're going to allow or not allow. if they can drop a pregnant woman because she's not 'profitable' then these insurance companies can do pretty much anything. (frakking bastids.)