Pelvic Laparoscopy...

I am having Pelvic Laparoscopy surgery on Friday April 9th (which happens to be the one year anniversary I was sent to the hospital for my Pulmonary Embolisms). I started having severe abdominal/pelvic pain on my left side last Monday. I decided not to go to the ER or Urgent Care knowing they probably could not do anything about it. I stayed up all night in pain and went to school 3 hours early to try to occupy myself. I called my OBGYN as soon as they opened Tuesday morning. They got me in with the nurse practitioner that afternoon. She did a pelvic exam and said my left ovary was enlarged. She thought that maybe I had an ovarian cyst. She ordered a pelvic ultrasound and it was scheduled for the next day (Wednesday). I had a follow-up appointment Thursday with the actual OBGYN for the ultrasound results. I was shocked that it was negative. He asked me about my symptoms and did another pelvic exam. He then said he suspected that I might have Endometriosis (a debilitating medical condition in females in which growth of cells similar to those that form inside of the uterus, flourish in areas outside the uterine cavity. Most commonly on the ovaries, cervix, fallopian tubes, and bladder). He said in order to confirm we needed to do pelvic laparoscopy surgery. Here is some info on it. It is really quite a minor surgery especially considering I have had like a million surgeries ha ha.
Pelvic Laparoscopy Surgery:

Pelvic laparoscopy is a surgical procedure that examines and treats pelvic organs through a small surgical viewing instrument (laparoscope) inserted into the abdomen at the navel.

While you are deep asleep and pain-free under general anesthesia, the doctor makes a half-inch surgical cut in the skin below the navel (which may be kind of hard due to scar tissue from a previous surgery). Carbon dioxide gas is pumped into the abdomen to help the doctor see the organs more easily.

The laparoscope, an instrument that looks like a small telescope on a flexible tube, is inserted so the doctor can view the area. Other instruments will be inserted through other small cuts in the lower abdomen to get tissue samples or do other procedures. After the laparoscopy, the carbon dioxide gas is released, and the surgeon closes the cuts with stitches or staples.

The surgery should only last an hour, I get to go home about 2 hours after the surgery is over, there are only small external scars, only moderate postoperative pain that includes some shoulder pain due to irritation from the gas, and taking it easy for only a few days with complete recovery in 2 weeks. If the surgery shows Endometriosis the hope is that he will be able to remove it all during the surgery. If I do not have endometriosis my hope then is that I just had an ovarian cyst that ruptured and is causing pain for an unusually long period of time. I will find out soon.

Fibro Fog...

Lately Stephen and I have been laughing at the things I have been saying and the things that I forget. It can be pretty hilarious but at times frustrating. Here is some information on fibro fog. Stay tuned for the quote of the day!

While the most predominant symptoms of fibromyalgia include widespread pain and persistent fatigue, the resulting cognitive impairment of this condition may be its most maddening. Commonly referred to as fibro fog, this symptom is a conglomeration of cognitive challenges.

Symptoms of Fibro Fog

Just as no two individuals experience fibromyalgia in the same way, fibro fog also has a varying range of indications, some include:

· Mental confusion

· Fuzzy thinking

· Short-term memory loss

· Inability to concentrate or pay attention

· Language lapses

Fibro Fog Cause

Most experts agree that sleep deprivation is the primary culprit of fibro fog. Occurring at the deepest level of the sleep cycle, individuals with fibromyalgia typically lack sufficient restorative sleep. We know that at the deeper levels of sleep, called delta wave sleep, a person’s mind conducts internal housekeeping. During delta wave sleep, newly acquired information is assimilated and integrated into the brain. The inability to get sufficient delta wave sleep impairs the ability to recall information and operate at a normal level of mental efficiency. (I don't get any REM sleep until about the 9th hour of sleep).

The researchers found that people with Fibromyalgia do not have the same mental agility as healthy people of the same age. Their verbal fluency, long-term memory, and working memory (how much information you can use, manipulate and store at one time) was at the same level of capability as those in a much older group. The people with Fibromyalgia performed even worse, scoring lower than the older group and showing a serious deficit when it came to vocabulary, a cognitive function that doesn't normally decline with age.

The findings of this research is important in two ways: First, it validates cognitive deficits in people with Fibromyalgia. Second, whatever is going on to cause the cognitive deficits in people with FM, it is not the same as that which occurs with natural aging.

Last week Stephen called me in the morning and this was our conversation:
Me: Hello
Stephen: There you are. I called you like 5 times.
Me: Did I answer?!

I don't to this day even remember having that conversation with him. I don't remember quite a few conversations. Stuff like this is going on with me all the time and my most common words are "I don't remember". I just have to sit back and laugh about it!

Chronic Daily Headache Syndrome...

We recently found out that my sister Amanda has been misdiagnosed the past 2 and a half years. She was told she had Myasthenia Gravis but after seeing an MG specialist she found out that was incorrect. She endured so much because of this misdiagnosis. Her first doctor only had to do one simple test to confirm the MG diagnosis and he did not do it. She found out about this test when she saw the MG specialist. He did this test twice and it was negative. Because of the first doctors lack of knowledge (or whatever)...blah blah blah, Amanda had to have her sternum cracked open, her thymus removed, part of her lung removed, and now has her ribs put together with wire. The surgery which could have killed her was done for no reason at all. She has been on medication for no reason and will need to have her organs checked for signs of damage from this medication. She was also a few months away from getting her court date for disability after 2 and a half years which she will not get now because she was misdiagnosed. My poor sister has been through SO much. Her new neurologist is getting her in with the right doctors for the right tests. All her problems started 2 and a half years ago when she had laser eye surgery. She got a headache that day and has had a headache every single day since then. She is weak, tired, and has problems with extremity pain and it is probably all from chronic headaches we now find out.

Long-duration CDH (Chronic Daily Headache) is a significant public health concern. Approximately 3% to 5% of the population worldwide have daily or near-daily headaches. The disability associated with this disorder is substantial, as patients have a significantly diminished quality of life and mental health, as well as impaired physical, social, and occupational functioning. The article states that the headaches start “out of the blue”; and has occurred daily from onset. The mayo clinic says no one knows what causes them but a couple of possibilities are:

• You develop a heightened response to pain signals (this is seen in Fibromyalgia patients)
  
• The part of your brain that suppresses pain signals isn't working properly (this is seen in auto-immune patients)