November 2008 - More Trauma & My Doctor

A couple of days after the Lupron shot, I started bleeding again. Since you can't be on BCP while on Lupron (they cancel each other out, essentially as BCP puts estrogen in your system and Lupron blocks it) and that was the only thing preventing me from bleeding, I started bleeding. I wasn't surprised. After having the Lupron, they say you will have one last 'period' about two weeks later and then no or very light bleeding the rest of the three months. In the meantime, we had to use alternate form of BC - condoms.

In typical form, my bleeding came with a vengeance for a full week. It was full throttle with clots, can't leave home, etc. It was no fun, but at least this time I knew it was temporary, thanks to the Lupron.

A few days into my bleeding episode, I passed some particularly large clots. I wasn't feeling real well and was working from home that day. I went to the restroom to change my pad/tampon and sat down on the toilet. I started feeling incredibly woozy. That wooziness got worse and worse. I eventually laid my head down on the sink next to me and tried to breathe through it. I've experienced this kind of dizziness before and I typically can just deep breathe and pull myself together enough to let it pass. It didn't quite work this time.

Next thing I knew I was waking up pushing myself off the floor and ended up up sitting on the edge of the bathtub. I was sitting there not intentionally. In my clouded state, I thought I was pushing myself back onto the toilet. In a split second, I realized I wasn't on the toilet, but on the tub. So I jumped back over onto the toilet and just sat. Fear rushed over me when I realized I had just passed out and no one was home. I broke out into a cold sweat.

I cleaned myself up as much as I could, all the while still very dizzy and gripped the walls and door jams as I wobbled into the office for my phone. I called my husband who works about 10 mins away. I squeaked out that I had passed out and was scared and could he please come home immediately. He dropped everything and rushed home. In the meantime, I slowly dragged myself to the nearest couch and laid down with him on the line.

When he got home, he helped me call the advice nurse who after a zillion questions felt I was okay for the time being, but she did want me to go in to see a Dr. There was an appointment with my original Dr (the one who didn't follow up with me and whom I was slightly annoyed at). But I wasn't in any position to be picky. So, that afternoon, we went in. It just so happened that my new Dr/Surgeon had called me to verify some surgery dates a bit after the passing out episode and I filled her in on what was happening. She asked me to have the Dr looking at me to verify that the fibroid hadn't started to separate or something like that and to run a blood test to check for anemia again.

When I went in for my appointment, the Dr seemed to think everything was okay. I went for a blood test - "stat" - and they requested I wait for the results while I was there in case I needed a transfusion. It came back low but not significantly. The bleeding had significantly reduced by then. She seemed to think I might have a sensitive cervix and was possibly passing a large clot at the time. It seems I have a pattern of passing out when the cervix is traumatized, like when I had the hysteroscopy a few years ago.

My original Dr saw that I had a myomectomy scheduled with my New Dr and I detected a slight undercurrent of annoyance from her. She was getting ready to go on pregnancy leave, so she used that along with the fact that the New Dr was going to know my uterus best for future surgeries/pregnancies/C-sections and decided to turn me over to her as my primary Dr. Thank God! It worked out perfectly. It also worked out that my original Dr was able to give me a second opinion on my scheduled surgery, also. She agreed that the myomectomy was the best route for me if I was planning to have children in the future.

Another thing I wanted to mention about my New Dr/Surgeon is the fact that she is incredibly knowledgeable. I found out from her assistant that she used to work under a Fibroid Specialist for 3 years in her past experiences. She also wrote articles on Fibroids. This made me feel so many times better in putting my trust and confidence in her.

Also, everyone I spoke to around the Dr's office and hospital all said "Oh, she's your Dr? She's great! She's one of the best. She's mine too!" My cousin, who works in the business side of the hospital even said she was great and was three times over her quota of patients. Somehow I managed to become one. I feel like God definitely had His hand in working this out for me. I really do feel like I'm in good hands. And when I talk to her, I feel like she really cares. That's a good thing.