2018 has just sucked in some ways....and rocked in others....
ways it has be AWESOME:
1. My sister has been married for one year!!
2. I left the post office HALLELUJA!
3. I've been attending church more regularly now
4. My health is fully on track.
Ways that 2018 has sucked
1. my health was shit this year(it's better now but not before me needing 5 blood transfusions and a myomectomy)
2. Because I was out recovering for 6 weeks my job hired someone new so they let me go. I now have bills to pay and no job....
3. Unemployment said that I'm not eligible to receive benefits so I might not be getting any income until I get a new job.... :(
I was counting on the unemployment to at least give me something....UGH! At least my parents are giving me $185 bi-weekly so I'm not completely penniless but this is just sucky...
need to find a job and fast...hopefully it won't take 2 years like the last job...
Now that i've had my time to whine, it's time to get back to work....looking for work....
update- as of Aug. 1, still have no job. I've been looking, had interviews and tests, but haven't found another job. I think that some of it has to do with my work history. It's relatively short and my longest job was a part-time for 3 years. USPS was part-time for 2 years....so they might not like that.
Saturday, June 23, 2018
Wednesday, May 9, 2018
My Fibroid Journey
So this is my story to help other young women who are going through the same thing or might be going through it.
I had always had very long 7 day periods, with lots of heavy bleeding and cramps for the first day or two and then they petered off.
When I joined the Post office in 2015 they were still fine. Over the course of my time there, they started to get worse. I could not really do my job during the week of my period because I was bleeding through a super plus pad and a super plus tampon in the span of 30 minutes to 1 hour. I kept having to get towels during the night to sleep on so I would not ruin more sheets or my new matress cover and my clothes.
One day, I had used up all of my tampons and felt really close to passing out so thank GOD my supervisor for the day was female and willing to buy me tampons. She thought that I might have iron deficiency but I didn't believe that heavy periods could cause anemia.
Eventually, when my new health insurance kicked in, I went to my family doctor. I had experienced excruciating stomach pain, I could not move and I felt like I was going to throw up. When I went to my doctor, he ordered a blood test, and was shocked that I had never had a blood test before.
When we got the results back, the iron level was dangerously close to me needing a blood transfusion. I didn't though so they wanted to rule out an upper GI bleed. In January 2018, I went in for an upper endoscopy, which showed nothing unusual, so then that doctor wanted a lower GI scope done. The inital scope cost me $2,000, so I was very wary of spending additional money to possibly have a negative test.
January 2018 was also the first time I had a visit to the GYN's office. I have never been sexually active so I was told when I had asked before, that I didn't need to have anything done, so I never did. My first experience went fine. The nurse practitioner didn't feel anything when she examined me and because of everything, they prescribed a low dose birth control. I started it in Jan. and in Feb. it seemed to be doing it's job. My period was very light but lasted two weeks. Then the next period started and it was horrible. I was passing clots that I had never passed ever before taking the hormone. I called the nurse practitioner and told her and she said that was normal to have a heavier flow sometimes on hormones because my body was still getting used to it. She told me to keep taking the hormones until they ran out. In April, on tax day, I was bleeding so much and was passing palm-sized clots. I barely made it to the bathroom and felt so lightheaded. I weakly called my parents and they helped me. They were amazing. Once my new insurance through my new job kicked in, I was able to go to the doctors and get another blood test. While we were there, my dad called the gyno's office and told them we were coming in and that we wanted the doctor this time. We got an appointment the same day and when I went in, I was very close to passing out. The doctor took my iron level and said that I needed to be admitted to the hospital and have a transfusion and possible D&C as well. We went straight from the office to the hospital. I had to call my work and tell them what was going on. I spent 4 days in the hospital and had an ultrasound(very uncomfortable), an MRI, to confirm that they had found an 8 cm fibroid in my uterus that was causing my heavy bleeding, and I had fluids and 5 blood transfusions to get my iron levels up to a level where I could go home. My doctor came in that Wednesday and basically said that she wanted to do a histerectomy because it was the most effective and complete way to get rid of the fibroid and permenantly prevent them from coming back. That was a very hard day for me and my parents. We ultimately decided to just take out the fibroid but to do everything possible to save the uterus. My doctor had never seen someone so young have a fibroid so large.They wanted to do the surgery while I was still in the hospital but they could not so I went home and then went back to work the next week for 4 days. My surgery was scheduled for April 27. My veins are small so they had to have two ports ready. The surgery took 2.5 hours and it was successful. They were able to remove the fibroid and keep my uterus. I was not a good candidate for a laparoscopic or robotic surgery because my fibroid was too large so they did an open myomectomy. It takes the longest recovery time(8 weeks complete recovery) and is the most invasive. I spent two nights in the hospital and have only been home for a week and a half. I'm recovering and just wanted to write this story to hopefully help and encourage other women who might be going through the same thing.
I had always had very long 7 day periods, with lots of heavy bleeding and cramps for the first day or two and then they petered off.
When I joined the Post office in 2015 they were still fine. Over the course of my time there, they started to get worse. I could not really do my job during the week of my period because I was bleeding through a super plus pad and a super plus tampon in the span of 30 minutes to 1 hour. I kept having to get towels during the night to sleep on so I would not ruin more sheets or my new matress cover and my clothes.
One day, I had used up all of my tampons and felt really close to passing out so thank GOD my supervisor for the day was female and willing to buy me tampons. She thought that I might have iron deficiency but I didn't believe that heavy periods could cause anemia.
Eventually, when my new health insurance kicked in, I went to my family doctor. I had experienced excruciating stomach pain, I could not move and I felt like I was going to throw up. When I went to my doctor, he ordered a blood test, and was shocked that I had never had a blood test before.
When we got the results back, the iron level was dangerously close to me needing a blood transfusion. I didn't though so they wanted to rule out an upper GI bleed. In January 2018, I went in for an upper endoscopy, which showed nothing unusual, so then that doctor wanted a lower GI scope done. The inital scope cost me $2,000, so I was very wary of spending additional money to possibly have a negative test.
January 2018 was also the first time I had a visit to the GYN's office. I have never been sexually active so I was told when I had asked before, that I didn't need to have anything done, so I never did. My first experience went fine. The nurse practitioner didn't feel anything when she examined me and because of everything, they prescribed a low dose birth control. I started it in Jan. and in Feb. it seemed to be doing it's job. My period was very light but lasted two weeks. Then the next period started and it was horrible. I was passing clots that I had never passed ever before taking the hormone. I called the nurse practitioner and told her and she said that was normal to have a heavier flow sometimes on hormones because my body was still getting used to it. She told me to keep taking the hormones until they ran out. In April, on tax day, I was bleeding so much and was passing palm-sized clots. I barely made it to the bathroom and felt so lightheaded. I weakly called my parents and they helped me. They were amazing. Once my new insurance through my new job kicked in, I was able to go to the doctors and get another blood test. While we were there, my dad called the gyno's office and told them we were coming in and that we wanted the doctor this time. We got an appointment the same day and when I went in, I was very close to passing out. The doctor took my iron level and said that I needed to be admitted to the hospital and have a transfusion and possible D&C as well. We went straight from the office to the hospital. I had to call my work and tell them what was going on. I spent 4 days in the hospital and had an ultrasound(very uncomfortable), an MRI, to confirm that they had found an 8 cm fibroid in my uterus that was causing my heavy bleeding, and I had fluids and 5 blood transfusions to get my iron levels up to a level where I could go home. My doctor came in that Wednesday and basically said that she wanted to do a histerectomy because it was the most effective and complete way to get rid of the fibroid and permenantly prevent them from coming back. That was a very hard day for me and my parents. We ultimately decided to just take out the fibroid but to do everything possible to save the uterus. My doctor had never seen someone so young have a fibroid so large.They wanted to do the surgery while I was still in the hospital but they could not so I went home and then went back to work the next week for 4 days. My surgery was scheduled for April 27. My veins are small so they had to have two ports ready. The surgery took 2.5 hours and it was successful. They were able to remove the fibroid and keep my uterus. I was not a good candidate for a laparoscopic or robotic surgery because my fibroid was too large so they did an open myomectomy. It takes the longest recovery time(8 weeks complete recovery) and is the most invasive. I spent two nights in the hospital and have only been home for a week and a half. I'm recovering and just wanted to write this story to hopefully help and encourage other women who might be going through the same thing.
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