back to the doctor...

BRIGHT AND EARLY at 6:40 this morning so I could make it to Ft. Collins on time! Man, what a bummer way to spend a Saturday.

I went back today for a follow-up ultrasound. Dr. B has decided he doesn't think it's a cyst. Or an endometrioma. Or endometriosis. He now believes that it is a dermoid (a non-cancerous tumor; click on that if you don't know what it is- I didn't!). He said there are no rewards for hanging onto it, and it's best to get it out ASAP because it could grow so big it could kill my ovary. It's already causing my ovary to be 3x the size of normal. And sore. Especially tonight, after walking a lot today.

I woke up the other night with SEVERE pain in that area, and in my back too. I asked if that could be related and he said absolutely because my ovary is now so heavy that it's twisting on itself, causing severe quick onset of pain. As it twists back (he described it as like a hanging Christmas tree ornament twisting) the pain would go away. And it's true- mine did, after about 3 hours! (I almost made Josh take me to the ER- I'm glad I know what it is now!)

SO, I will be calling his surgery person on Monday to schedule surgery. He said it could be done as soon as next Monday (the 7th) but then we realized that was Labor Day. It sounded like he only does surgery on Monday, so it might be the following week. Which would be OK- I really, really don't want to miss Brecken's birthday. It will require an overnight stay in the hospital and then TWO WEEKS off work- yikes!! He said he'll go in laproscopically to make sure everything looks OK (and can take out any scar tissue and endo if he finds any), and then, if everything looks like it should (non-cancerous) he will stop laproscopy and cut me open- he prefers to do it that way so he's not yanking out good cells out of my ovary. My sister, a nurse, was with me today (Josh had a football game today) and I asked her what she thought of that approach, and she said it sounded VERY good to her, like he really cared what he took out and what he didn't, so that was nice to hear from a medical professional's point of view. :)

So anyway, there's the update. Dr. B said he'd rather me have this dermoid than endo, so I'll believe him! :)

Kristen and I were kid-less today and took the opportunity to go shopping! It was so nice to be able to do that without kids. And we were able to SIT and EAT lunch without having to rush or tell children to sit down and eat. :) It was like a mini-vacation and a lot of fun! Great sales down in Ft. Collins today...


edited to add: Dr. B did not think this was the cause of my infertility. We saw more immature eggs in that ovary, peeking out around the dermoid, than we saw in my healthy ovary! Most likely, this is just something we "came across". It's not causing it, but it's not helping the fertility issues, either. So we still don't have any answers!