Thoughts from the T-Shirt Lady

In a previous post - I mentioned that I was going to have a ct scan to see something in my pelvic area. Well the results were a mass that was about the size of an orange or larger.

Things happened fairly quickly after that. I had an appt with a gyn oncologist - based on my history of cancer.  That appt was on the 5th of Feb.

I then had an appt with my oncologist - who is also my hematologist - since I have a blood clotting deficiency. That was on the 8th.

I needed to get plasma on the 11th, and then surgery on the 12th. So things were on a fast track.

Monday the 11th, I had to be on a liquid diet and included in that was 64oz of Gator-aide - with miralax. What a delight!

My plasma was supposed to start being given to me at noon. So off we trucked to the local hospital for that process.

The first thing they gave me was benedryl. Last time I got plasma, I developed hives. So the benedryl was supposed to prevent that. It also puts me to sleep.

I was scheduled for 4 units of plasma. The first went well. The 2nd unit was running a few minutes when the hives started showing up. So it was more benedryl, blood taken to see if there was a problem with the unit, and wait….. My hematologist decided to have me given hydrocordison (sp) and Tylenol. Then a new 2nd unit, and a 3rd were given. More benedryl and then the 4th unit. Then an hour wait to make sure that everything was fine. By this time, it is 9:30pm.

My dh picks me up - I get about 4 hours of sleep and then it’s off to the other hospital for the surgery. By this time, I am exhausted and starving.

Nurses and the anesthesiologist all try to use my right arm as a pin cushion as they try to find a vein that will work for the iv. It ends up being put in my foot. (I kept telling them to try that first!) You should see all the bruises on my right arm. My left arm can’t be used as I had lymph nodes taken out during the cancer surgery.

Had the surgery - the cyst was grapefruit sized. The procedure was a laproscopic one - tiny incisions that are already healing. It’s amazing what can be done!

The surgery was at 7:30am, and I was home by 1pm. Other than a little discomfort, I have not taken any pain meds and I’m looking forward to getting back into the swing of things.

The results are that the cyst was benign - my ovaries and tubes were removed as well.

I still am not eating very much - one full day of liquids and another half day with no eating really shrinks your stomach. What a way to lose weight! 

Sandi