fully functional (health/medical update)
Oct. 21st, 2010 03:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mamajoanThe other day I had a pelvic ultrasound, for screening purposes; my risk of ovarian cancer is higher since my mom's diagnosis with it last year. I saw my doctor for a checkup a few weeks ago, and it was the first time I had seen her since mom's diagnosis, so I told her about that and she recommended the ultrasound.
I wasn't really worried, because despite my mom having had ovarian cancer, my own risk is still pretty small; I'm pre-menopausal, for example. Still, you can google the symptoms of ovarian cancer, and the problem is that they are mostly like the symptoms of a dozen other things -- and also ovarian cancer tends not to be symptomatic at all until it has progressed pretty far. So by the time the appointment came around, I had pretty much convinced myself not only that I had ovarian cancer, but that it had spread to my brain. (The brain part would explain the headaches, which I'll get to later.)
Of course, most of that wasn't for serious. It's mostly just when I lie in bed at night that I start thinking, "yep, I definitely have cancer and I'm going to die the day before Halloween and not even get to see the kids go trick-or-treating." Then I roll my eyes at myself and try thinking about the bills I have to pay instead and go to sleep. ;)
Pelvic ultrasounds are "fun." They do it two ways: externally on the lower abdomen, and then what they call "transvaginally," I guess because "intravaginally" sounds too dirty. ;) You're instructed to drink a huge amount of water one hour before the procedure and then not pee, because they need a full bladder for the external part (I guess it makes it easier for the tech to orient herself or something). Those who have been pregnant may be familiar with this particular form of torture, as it's common to require the full bladder for early-pregnancy ultrasounds. Oddly enough, although as you may recall I had numerous ultrasounds during my pregnancy with Ruthie (because Isaac was premature for no apparent reason), I don't remember ever having to do the full-bladder thing. Maybe they had different machines for that.
Anyway, the tech I had was very good. I came in full to bursting, as instructed, and she did the external part first and did it quickly and didn't press down too hard with the sensor. Then she let me go and pee, and come back in for the transvaginal part.
So you lie down on the table, naked from the waist down, but with a sheet to cover you for modesty's sake (though if this were a pregnancy exam, now would be a great time for you to give up on the idea of modesty ;) ). The tech takes the probe (that's what she called it; I myself have always preferred the term "dildo-cam") and lubes it up. Then she holds it by the handle and puts it under your sheet, and you grab the "business end" with your own hand and put it inside. The tech can still move it around as needed, by the handle; but this way she never actually touches you, or sees any of your precious bits. Not that I give a care about that, but some people still cling to their modesty. ;) heh.
The whole thing just starts to feel kind of absurd, is all. I mean, and especially since the tech was a woman this time. It was like, here's this woman handing me a dildo which I stick inside myself so that she won't have to. And then she moves it around, and finally takes it out, but we remain entirely detached from each other; businesslike, formal. It's just weird.
Anyway...so that was all very fun and exciting. ;) The tech had an excellent poker face, so I knew nothing when I left there. But the doctor's office called this morning to tell me that the results were all normal. All is well with my ovaries. (and if I had any doubts as to whether they are functioning properly, today's delightful bout of menstrual cramps helped me out with that. :P ) I'm still supposed to call the oncology department and schedule a consultation with a doctor over there to discuss whether or how I should be monitored.
Another thing I discussed with my doctor at my checkup recently was these headaches I've been having. I had been thinking of them as sinus headaches, but then I did some googling and discovered that most people who think they have sinus headaches actually have migraines. So I googled migraines and started to think that I might be having those. I don't get a visual aura, but I get a lot of the other classic symptoms: light sensitivity, increased pain when I move my head or eyes, and mental fuzziness/inability to focus etc. So my doctor agreed that they sounded like they could be migraines, and she recommended that I start out by treating it with ibuprofen and caffeine -- the trick is to take 2-3 ibuprofen and a large serving of caffeine as SOON as you start to sense the onset, because if you wait too long it's too late. So I've been trying that and it seems to be working (though I've probably also medicated a few times when it wasn't actually necessary). I'm not sure how concerned I should be that these things seem to be becoming more and more frequent; although I do think they are related to weather changes, so maybe this is just the season for it. I dunno.
One thing I really like about my doctor is that she takes the time to review my chart before seeing me, so she remembers basic details about my life situation and stuff. So she asked me -- completely neutrally and non-judgmentally, which is another thing I like about her -- whether I'm still nursing Ruthie. I wasn't entirely sure what to say, though. At this point Ruthie nurses for literally about 10-15 seconds each night, at bedtime, and nothing is coming out; she just does it for comfort and out of habit. Usually what happens is that I tuck her in and give her a kiss, and then she says "can I please have nursie" and I say rather half-heartedly "remember, you're not going to nursie forever," and she says in her 4-going-on-14 voice, "Until I'm five!" and then I give her nursie for the aforementioned few seconds, until it becomes uncomfortable for me, and then I make her stop and go to sleep.
I'm pretty much fine with this system, really; it's just that I tend to obsess pointlessly over whether or not I should still claim to be breast-feeding or not. There certainly isn't any actual feeding going on. ;) But it doesn't bother me, and it does seem to help her calm down, so whatever. I'm not sure I want to keep doing this until her 5th birthday...which is five months from now...but who knows?
Anyway, to sum up: I just wrote an entire LJ post about my fiddly little medical issues. I am officially a senior citizen. ;)
I wasn't really worried, because despite my mom having had ovarian cancer, my own risk is still pretty small; I'm pre-menopausal, for example. Still, you can google the symptoms of ovarian cancer, and the problem is that they are mostly like the symptoms of a dozen other things -- and also ovarian cancer tends not to be symptomatic at all until it has progressed pretty far. So by the time the appointment came around, I had pretty much convinced myself not only that I had ovarian cancer, but that it had spread to my brain. (The brain part would explain the headaches, which I'll get to later.)
Of course, most of that wasn't for serious. It's mostly just when I lie in bed at night that I start thinking, "yep, I definitely have cancer and I'm going to die the day before Halloween and not even get to see the kids go trick-or-treating." Then I roll my eyes at myself and try thinking about the bills I have to pay instead and go to sleep. ;)
Pelvic ultrasounds are "fun." They do it two ways: externally on the lower abdomen, and then what they call "transvaginally," I guess because "intravaginally" sounds too dirty. ;) You're instructed to drink a huge amount of water one hour before the procedure and then not pee, because they need a full bladder for the external part (I guess it makes it easier for the tech to orient herself or something). Those who have been pregnant may be familiar with this particular form of torture, as it's common to require the full bladder for early-pregnancy ultrasounds. Oddly enough, although as you may recall I had numerous ultrasounds during my pregnancy with Ruthie (because Isaac was premature for no apparent reason), I don't remember ever having to do the full-bladder thing. Maybe they had different machines for that.
Anyway, the tech I had was very good. I came in full to bursting, as instructed, and she did the external part first and did it quickly and didn't press down too hard with the sensor. Then she let me go and pee, and come back in for the transvaginal part.
So you lie down on the table, naked from the waist down, but with a sheet to cover you for modesty's sake (though if this were a pregnancy exam, now would be a great time for you to give up on the idea of modesty ;) ). The tech takes the probe (that's what she called it; I myself have always preferred the term "dildo-cam") and lubes it up. Then she holds it by the handle and puts it under your sheet, and you grab the "business end" with your own hand and put it inside. The tech can still move it around as needed, by the handle; but this way she never actually touches you, or sees any of your precious bits. Not that I give a care about that, but some people still cling to their modesty. ;) heh.
The whole thing just starts to feel kind of absurd, is all. I mean, and especially since the tech was a woman this time. It was like, here's this woman handing me a dildo which I stick inside myself so that she won't have to. And then she moves it around, and finally takes it out, but we remain entirely detached from each other; businesslike, formal. It's just weird.
Anyway...so that was all very fun and exciting. ;) The tech had an excellent poker face, so I knew nothing when I left there. But the doctor's office called this morning to tell me that the results were all normal. All is well with my ovaries. (and if I had any doubts as to whether they are functioning properly, today's delightful bout of menstrual cramps helped me out with that. :P ) I'm still supposed to call the oncology department and schedule a consultation with a doctor over there to discuss whether or how I should be monitored.
Another thing I discussed with my doctor at my checkup recently was these headaches I've been having. I had been thinking of them as sinus headaches, but then I did some googling and discovered that most people who think they have sinus headaches actually have migraines. So I googled migraines and started to think that I might be having those. I don't get a visual aura, but I get a lot of the other classic symptoms: light sensitivity, increased pain when I move my head or eyes, and mental fuzziness/inability to focus etc. So my doctor agreed that they sounded like they could be migraines, and she recommended that I start out by treating it with ibuprofen and caffeine -- the trick is to take 2-3 ibuprofen and a large serving of caffeine as SOON as you start to sense the onset, because if you wait too long it's too late. So I've been trying that and it seems to be working (though I've probably also medicated a few times when it wasn't actually necessary). I'm not sure how concerned I should be that these things seem to be becoming more and more frequent; although I do think they are related to weather changes, so maybe this is just the season for it. I dunno.
One thing I really like about my doctor is that she takes the time to review my chart before seeing me, so she remembers basic details about my life situation and stuff. So she asked me -- completely neutrally and non-judgmentally, which is another thing I like about her -- whether I'm still nursing Ruthie. I wasn't entirely sure what to say, though. At this point Ruthie nurses for literally about 10-15 seconds each night, at bedtime, and nothing is coming out; she just does it for comfort and out of habit. Usually what happens is that I tuck her in and give her a kiss, and then she says "can I please have nursie" and I say rather half-heartedly "remember, you're not going to nursie forever," and she says in her 4-going-on-14 voice, "Until I'm five!" and then I give her nursie for the aforementioned few seconds, until it becomes uncomfortable for me, and then I make her stop and go to sleep.
I'm pretty much fine with this system, really; it's just that I tend to obsess pointlessly over whether or not I should still claim to be breast-feeding or not. There certainly isn't any actual feeding going on. ;) But it doesn't bother me, and it does seem to help her calm down, so whatever. I'm not sure I want to keep doing this until her 5th birthday...which is five months from now...but who knows?
Anyway, to sum up: I just wrote an entire LJ post about my fiddly little medical issues. I am officially a senior citizen. ;)
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no subject
Date: 2010-10-21 07:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-10-21 08:04 pm (UTC)I don't think I've ever had to do the full bladder ultrasounds, but I had several of the outside and the inside variety. My techs have always put the dildo-cam in, as well as moving it around when it was inside. Since generally dildo-cam===chane to see my baby, I didn't really mind.
And yeah, it's odd in college I was so much more modest, but after visiting a few naked baths in Japan I've lost some of my modesty and I just want everything checked out properly.
no subject
Date: 2010-10-22 05:40 am (UTC)The ibuprofin worked very well for my mother's migraines when taken as soon as she felt one. Good luck!