The stomach specialist wasn't helpful. He looked at my ultrasounds very briefly, told me that I needed to lose twenty pounds, and to stop drinking. I don't drink. At all.
He also claimed that I have IBS and that my problems with my stomach stem from that. I can get flare ups from eating certain foods. He gave me a list of things that wouldn't hurt my stomach. They mostly consisted of things such as skinless chicken and rice. No garlic. No tomatoes. No caffeine. It's going to be a hard diet to stick to.
It's hard to imagine that I'm going to have to eat only plain foods from now on until the rest of my life. That everything I try something even remotely flavorful I run the risk of extreme pain. Part of me feels like it's worth the risk. But the practical part of me thinks that maybe being layed up in bed because of the overwhelming pain is not worth forgoing burgers and dairy and soda and the like.
I got a call from the hospital. They have results from the biopsy and would like to talk to me about it. And run more tests. I have an apointment. Halloween of all days.
God I hope it's not cancer.
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Monday, October 17, 2011
Biopsy
I didn't get as lost this time, though I did get turned around a bit. And I ran into the hypochondriac again. He screamed at me about disease. I did eventually make it back to the proper room, though. There they made me wait for twenty minutes, then go back to the room, change, then wait some more. For a while it was a lot like the last visit. The doctor called me in, and after some feeling around, did an ultrasound of my breast.
That's where things began to differ. First he stuck some anesthetic into my breast. I have had the sort of localized numbing stuff before, but it is usually at the dentist. I've never had something inside my body numbed before. It was weird, and it didn't get rid of the pain entirely. I was still rather uncomfortable and I could feel the pressure from the needle.
The doctor got out a bigger needle, which he placed into the same hole and told me to stay still. I tried to, but the needle made a big clacking noise and caused a great deal of pressure. It felt like a mix between a gun and those machines people use to pierce your ears.
He did this three more times, each in the same opening that the first needle went through. After that I had to wait some more, than they had me do another mammogram. Apparently two of those needles had been trackers, and the mammogram was to make sure that they were in place and functioning. Which means I have tiny microchips in my boob now.
I have an ice pack tucked into my bra right now. There's also a waterproof bandage I'm supposed to take off in two days protecting another layer of bandages that I'm supposed to wait until they fall off. They are going to call me when they have the results.
Aside from that, I have an appointment with a doctor in three days about my stomach.
That's where things began to differ. First he stuck some anesthetic into my breast. I have had the sort of localized numbing stuff before, but it is usually at the dentist. I've never had something inside my body numbed before. It was weird, and it didn't get rid of the pain entirely. I was still rather uncomfortable and I could feel the pressure from the needle.
The doctor got out a bigger needle, which he placed into the same hole and told me to stay still. I tried to, but the needle made a big clacking noise and caused a great deal of pressure. It felt like a mix between a gun and those machines people use to pierce your ears.
He did this three more times, each in the same opening that the first needle went through. After that I had to wait some more, than they had me do another mammogram. Apparently two of those needles had been trackers, and the mammogram was to make sure that they were in place and functioning. Which means I have tiny microchips in my boob now.
I have an ice pack tucked into my bra right now. There's also a waterproof bandage I'm supposed to take off in two days protecting another layer of bandages that I'm supposed to wait until they fall off. They are going to call me when they have the results.
Aside from that, I have an appointment with a doctor in three days about my stomach.
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Mammogram
The doctor I went to see for my mammogram actually had all of his machines and stuff at a hospital. It was big and I got lost, which made me about five minutes late. They were pretty nice about it. I think it happens a lot. All the walls are clean and white and all the rooms look the same. I ended up crossing paths with a crazy guy who was yelling really loudly and demanding to get a surgery of some sort. A passing nurse told me that he did this every once in a while, although nothing was ever wrong with him. They didn't know if he was a drug addict or a hypochondriac, but whenever he came in there they politely try to send him off.
The whole thing was kind of disturbing, actually.
It did not get better once I got to the right place. I waited for fifteen minutes in a lobby full of people at least twenty years older than me watching the cosby show. Then I got called back, and asked to take off everything above the waist and put on an itchy, not particularly protective hospital gown. Then I waited some more until a nurse came and got me, then waited for the doctor.
He felt around my breast for a little bit. He was impassive and clinical and I didn't feel like a person at all when he did it. Which in some ways is good. I don't really want a seventy year old man leering at me. But then he did another ultrasound, this time on my boob. It turns out I don't have one lump there.
I have two.
In order to get a clearer look at it, they sent me off to a mammogram. Which involved more waiting until a nurse got me again. She put a sort of sticker marker where my masses were, then guided my breast onto the tray of the mammogram. She pressed me into several fairly painful positions in order to get the best picture. Then she squished my boob as tight as she could against the machine. I had to stay this way for maybe ten seconds. Then she would pose me again and do another picture. We did this three times.
They then sent me to a room where I could at least change back into my shirt, and I waited more. The doctor came in and told me that while he wasn't worried, the mammogram and ultrasound picked up the two lumps, and he wasn't quite sure what they were yet. So I have to do a biopsy. I scheduled that for next Friday.
I also have to see the specialist for my stomach. I have yet to get that appointment.
I don't know if this is ever going to end.
The whole thing was kind of disturbing, actually.
It did not get better once I got to the right place. I waited for fifteen minutes in a lobby full of people at least twenty years older than me watching the cosby show. Then I got called back, and asked to take off everything above the waist and put on an itchy, not particularly protective hospital gown. Then I waited some more until a nurse came and got me, then waited for the doctor.
He felt around my breast for a little bit. He was impassive and clinical and I didn't feel like a person at all when he did it. Which in some ways is good. I don't really want a seventy year old man leering at me. But then he did another ultrasound, this time on my boob. It turns out I don't have one lump there.
I have two.
In order to get a clearer look at it, they sent me off to a mammogram. Which involved more waiting until a nurse got me again. She put a sort of sticker marker where my masses were, then guided my breast onto the tray of the mammogram. She pressed me into several fairly painful positions in order to get the best picture. Then she squished my boob as tight as she could against the machine. I had to stay this way for maybe ten seconds. Then she would pose me again and do another picture. We did this three times.
They then sent me to a room where I could at least change back into my shirt, and I waited more. The doctor came in and told me that while he wasn't worried, the mammogram and ultrasound picked up the two lumps, and he wasn't quite sure what they were yet. So I have to do a biopsy. I scheduled that for next Friday.
I also have to see the specialist for my stomach. I have yet to get that appointment.
I don't know if this is ever going to end.
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Ultrasounds
I got my ultrasounds back a few days ago. I've been puzzling through it over the weekend. It is a whole lot of things I don't understand, but from the way the doctor was talking I don't think it was good.
The ultrasound itself wasn't fun. I had to drink like a gallon of water and wait for an hour so that my bladder got really full, in which case they told me I wasn't allowed to pee. Then they poked around with really cold gel and an uncomfortable wand thing in silence, taking pictures of weird lumps I didn't recognize at various intervals.
And then they stuck an ultrasound up my vagina. They never show that on television.
Anyway, it was an embarrasing, uncomfortable experience, and I wasn't really going to talk about it but now I'm sort of freaking out. The ultrasound, according to the nifty little papers they gave me, says that my liver does not look healthy. Despite the fact that I never drink. My gall bladder is also bigger than it should be, and there may or may not be cysts in my lower abdomen. I hear cysts and I sort of have a panic attack. I already have to deal with my breasts, I do not need more possible cancers.
So I've got an appointment with a stomach specialist scheduled. And Thursday is when I get my mammogram. So, here's hoping that they don't find something really bad.
The ultrasound itself wasn't fun. I had to drink like a gallon of water and wait for an hour so that my bladder got really full, in which case they told me I wasn't allowed to pee. Then they poked around with really cold gel and an uncomfortable wand thing in silence, taking pictures of weird lumps I didn't recognize at various intervals.
And then they stuck an ultrasound up my vagina. They never show that on television.
Anyway, it was an embarrasing, uncomfortable experience, and I wasn't really going to talk about it but now I'm sort of freaking out. The ultrasound, according to the nifty little papers they gave me, says that my liver does not look healthy. Despite the fact that I never drink. My gall bladder is also bigger than it should be, and there may or may not be cysts in my lower abdomen. I hear cysts and I sort of have a panic attack. I already have to deal with my breasts, I do not need more possible cancers.
So I've got an appointment with a stomach specialist scheduled. And Thursday is when I get my mammogram. So, here's hoping that they don't find something really bad.
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