Experience the ENDURANCE of Foundation Breeding
HYSTERICAL-ECTOMY?
March 2007
Who would have thought that going to the doctor could be an adventure? Only in Dodie's life can things like this happen.
For many years, in fact since I've been going to a GYN doctor, I have not had good pap-smear test results. I study and study before each test, yet I fail each and every time. I have never been good at tests.
Almost nineteen years ago I had the last child I ever wanted to bring into this world and I begged for the doctors to remove all the female parts of me. No dice. What they did do for me was cut my tubes and stitch them up inside of my uterus during the cesarean that produced my loud mouthed son, Alec.
That was SO fool proof, that 6 years later I found myself pregnant. Hmmmm. Unfortunately, since I have been having female troubles since before I was born, this pregnancy proved more than my body could handle and the one and only child that Marc MAY have had didn't make it.
I begged for one more surgery to remove all the parts of me I didn't need anymore.
No dice. Besides, the doctors couldn't imagine why I'd care since I didn't have monthly cycles so I didn't have the mess to deal with. "Don't worry about it.", they'd tell me.
Then, in 1997 I was stricken with the most agonizing pain I have ever before (or ever since) experienced. It would come and go. When it came, it would literally knock me to my knees (you had to see this in action to believe it. One minute I'm minding my own business shopping for cat food and the next minute I'm on my knees puking my guts out. BAD PAIN!)
At first, they believed it to be appendicitis, so removed my appendix. The doctor told me that once he was in there, he saw that my appendix wasn't at all bad, but removed it anyway since I don't need it.
WHAT???
So off I go home to continued pain and agony. This only occurs once in a while, and only for several hours at a time, but continued for two years. I underwent some of the most embarrassing tests ever created by a man to give to a woman. I was told by a doctor that I was experiencing bladder spasms - take this medicine and you'll be fine. I told him I had five pregnancies and I know what a bladder spasm is, and this ain't it. He shove two prescriptions at me and sent me home. I filled the prescription, took one pill and was rushed to the hospital in distress. I almost died.
The next doctor told me I was imagining it and it was a "female" thing. I needed to get over it. That doctor will probably never sire another child.
The next doctor couldn't find anything, told me it was colon spasms ("Hey, doc - ask the last doctor what a foot in the crotch feels like.")
Now, 18 months passes and I end up at the emergency room. The pain is so intense, I have puked my intestines up on the floor and left small puddles of sweat on every surface I touch. A really old doctor comes to see me and sends me to a urologist.
The urologist does a little camera thing up into my bladder (scream) and promptly tells me I have an exploded ovary pushing into my bladder. The bladder is fine but the ovary needs to be removed.
WHAT THE??? I have seen three GYN doctors in the past 18 months and all THEY could tell me was that I was having spasms.
The urologist (who is about 99 years old) sends me to a good friend of his, a GYN who is also about 99 years old. I love these old doctors, they have more sense about things.
Yes, the ovary has to come out. I have surgery, he removed the ovary (which is slightly larger than a lemon and had attached itself to my intestine and urethra tube) and takes off a hormonal tumor from the left ovary (uh-oh). No more pain, but now I have a regular cycle every month. THANKS DOC (Not!).
While he was in there, he said I had some issues going on in the uterus but because he was only scheduled to do the ovary removal, he couldn't do anything more or the insurance wouldn't cover it.
WHAT??? Since when does the insurance company tell a doctor how to treat a patient?
So, things get progressively worse but the insurance companies will not approve a hysterectomy due to my age (too young). My doc tries a cervical conal surgery to remove the bad stuff. TO no avail. The only thing this did for me was create a "healing" process that closed off my cervix completely so the next time I cycled, the flow couldn't come out and i was in serious pain for two days until I got to the doctors office and he opened it up (SCREAM!)
My wonderful powers of healing close it off.
Doc opens it up (ouch)
Healed...
Opened....
Ouch....
Finally, in the fall of 2006 I get a pap back that is very bad and the insurance company reluctantly agrees to a hysterectomy. THANK GOD!
In the meantime, I lose my job, my father falls terminally ill, I get my first book published, the roof on my house falls in and costs $20,000 to be replaced and things are generally falling apart in my family. I can't take the time (or spend the money) to get this surgery so I put it off.
Until my father passes away on March 9. Then I decide it's time get this done. I go into my doctor's office to start the paperwork and my blood pressure is 180/130.
WHAT???
Okay, I've been under a lot of stress with the whole deal with my dad. The hospital most likely sped up the dying process by not diagnosing his "current" problem (colon shut down) and by letting him fall and lay in a pool of blood and piss for hours until a nurse found him (and he had a broken shoulder, ribs and cracked skull) then they gave him the wrong medicines and sent his blood pressure to 40/50 (yes, that is 40 over 50). Poor Dad. It was not a very glamorous way to pass tot he next world, but DAMN, he sure did make a stink getting out of this world!
Now, That three weeks of hell may have contributed to my blood pressure being high...hard to say. My blood pressure has always been a very nice 120/65. In fact, on February 24, 2007 it was 120/65. So how in the hell did it get to 180/130 in three weeks?
Of course, my GYN is very worried and sends me to my family doctor.
My family doctor immediately schedules me for stress tests with a heart doctor, and gives me a prescription for blood pressure medicine. Once again, the doctors try to kill me with meds. The medicine sent my blood pressure from 180/130 to 100/40 in less than 48 hours. GOOD GRIEF! No more meds for me, ever!
I went to do a stress test and my heart not only tested out to be very strong and able to handle hard work, the doctor was also MOST impressed that I didn't wheeze or get winded during the test considering that I smoke like a chimney. BUT, he found a heart defect that I was most likely born with and is most likely the cause of my high blood pressure. he said that I probably have a high blood pressure on and off and I just was never at the doctors office when it occurred.
Great.
He wants to do more tests. He says he can fix it but it requires open heart surgery.
NOT!!!!! Get the f**** out of town, doc...you are NOT opening me up.
And in the meantime, all this running around between doctors and hospitals has given me a knock-down cold that has me unable to get out of bed, running high fevers, and generally feeling miserable. And my GYN won't do the surgery while I am ill or until he knows for sure that my heart won't give out on the operating table.
Thanks! I was feeling MUCH better before they told me I was sick.
UPDATE: I passed my pre-registration on Wednesday the 4th so the surgery will go on time (April 9th). Please don't think I'm whining, I am THRILLED to be having this surgery, I've needed it for several years and when I'm done - NO MORE MONTHLY MESSES! YEA! Think of all the rides I won't be missing any more! Whoo Hoo.
On Friday, my heart specialist prescribed me medication to bring my blood pressure down enough to get through the surgery. He is still continuing the tests to determine what exactly has caused my blood pressure to go through the roof. My heart is fine (except for a defect in my left ventricle that is apparently birth related but has nothing to do with the blood pressure issue - though it does need to be monitored as I get older), my renal artery is fine, something else they tested is fine. So all in all, there has to be something else going on, so I'll take these meds for now, get through the surgery, and this heart specialist will figure it out sooner or later.
(NOTE: The medicine I received from the pharmacy was Dilantin - an anti-seizure medicine. How odd?) Remember this for later in the story.
April 13, 2007 (Friday the 13th - Whee!)
I have never been inundated with so many emails wanting to know "The Rest Of The Story". WOW! I'm must really be a celebrity, now! Ready? Get your coffee and smokes, here we go.
04/08/07 - Easter Sunday and all I'm allowed to eat is clear fluids and jello. Happy Easter to me. I shaped the jello like a ham and deviled eggs, but it was still green jello.
04/09/07 - I wake up starved. Nothing to eat or drink after midnight, they instructed me with vehemence. I'm gonna die.
Being an authority of Dodie-time, I know exactly how much time I need to get myself tot he hospital for my 8:45 AM check-in time. I take into account my mother is driving, in a strange place, and I have to stop by the barn to check on Dusty who is fully dilated and ready to foal any second now. Even knowing I should have been resting and preparing for the surgery, I did run over twice last night to check on her. Dusty looked at me like I was mean for interrupting her sleep. SO SORRY!
My mom is in a panic now, we've been too long looking at Dusty, who happens to be in stage one labor (E-GADS!). Michelle shows up at the barn as we're leaving and I tell her all the things she can expect to see should Dusty continue her labor into stage 2 and stage 3. I also let her know that stage 1 labor can start and stop for several days, depending on the mare. I whispered to Dusty to hold off until I got back from the hospital on Tuesday, just in case she needed me. I surely don't think Dusty was listening.
Off we go. We arrive at the hospital, park and go inside to the check-in - "Look, Ma! It's 8:42 - we had three minutes to spare."
They are actually pretty efficient (I guess they almost have to be since I pre-registered on Wednesday.) We are quickly put into a waiting room where I'm told to get naked, put on these fashion defying hospital gowns and...
WAIT
and wait
and wait
(sigh)
Nurse comes in and my blood pressure is 180/120.
WHAT??? I am religiously taking the meds the heart specialist prescribed for me. He assured me that this would bring my blood pressure down. In fact, I had to tell the nurse that they started me on meds because during my check-in last Wednesday I stated I was not on any meds. I told her Dilantin, and she said, "What? Why?"
Nurse runs out of the room to talk to my doctor about the BP AND about the Dilantin. I know they're not going to let me have surgery with the BP this high, so I start some Aikido Ki Meditation (and tell my Mom to shut up about the BP while I concentrate on relaxing.
and wait
and wait
And here comes the burse again with the BP cart. It's been 45 minutes and she wants to take it again. Remarkably, my mother DID calm down and let me do my breathing exercises. BP is now 147/84.
Nurse is absolutely stunned. Takes the BP again to be sure that it's correct. I just smile. My Shihan taught me well! Those Ki breathing exercises really work. She says the anesthesia doctor is calling someone about the Dilantin. You know, this is very bizarre that everyone is questioning the meds.
It's now 10:30 AM - this is my scheduled surgery time. Obviously, since we're still in the waiting room, I'm not getting my surgery on time.
(sigh)
At 10:45 AM I ask the volunteer that comes in my waiting room to find out what's going on. She no sooner leaves the room than another nurse comes in the room with a BP cart and a clip board.
"Are you Dodie Sable?"
"Yep." I grin. "At least I was the last time a nurse came in and asked me that question."
My ma gives me a dirty look. HEY! I'm not in too good a mood right now, okay?
The nurse is totally unfazed by my lack of manners and hooks me up to the BP machine. 149/88 - Oops, it's going back up again. Probably has something to do with the irritation I am feeling.
She instructs me that we're going up to pre-op to get ready, tells me what will be happening up there and what I can expect. Instructs my mom on where she'll be waiting for me on the third floor and that the doctor will come out and talk to her once the surgery is over.
Good! We're finally on the move. Dodie in motion is a much happier Dodie.
11:18, they start an IV drip and that's all I remember until 9:00 PM. Just about the time I am starting to recover from being put to sleep, my mom and Marc are leaving.
Of course.
As I drifted in and out of a daze (I don't recover well from anesthesia) I heard my mom and Marc and the nurse all frantic over my BP. Apparently it was up as high as 185/140 at some point, they were rushing around giving me different meds trying to get it down. Marc said it would go up, then go down, then go up , then go down. I told him that's what it was doing while I was in the office with the heart specialist and that's why that fella knows it's something other than my heart causing it.
Finally they found a mix of drugs that was working to keep it at a steady 120/60 ... I came home with those prescriptions. (NOTE: The pills make me very dizzy for the first hour after taking them. Yuck.)
Night time.
Nurse wakes me up every hour.
04/10/07 - Today is my anniversary with Marc. Nice way to have an anniversary, all cut up and sore. (chuckle) Could be worse.
Since I wasn't allowed to sleep all night, I was wide awake and ready to rock-n-roll at 4:00 AM. I removed the stupid nose thing that wasn't even pumping O2 anymore and no-one seemed to notice that it was off my face. Good.
4:05 AM - I asked the nurse for something to eat. She said the breakfast was around 8:00 AM.
NO WAY AM I WAITING - Go fetch me some food woman!
She gave me a dirty look and said she'd ask the doctor if I can have anything.
Suddenly, those every hour visits stopped cold. If I'd been smarter, I would have demanded food at midnight, then they would have left me alone to sleep. Or maybe it was because I removed the O2 hose from my face and now I didn't look sick anymore. (shrug)
4:30 AM - no nurse, no food.
5:00 AM - no nurse, no food.
5:30 AM - I ring the bell for the nurse.
6:00 AM - the bell is lit, no nurse, no food.
6:15 AM - I ring the bell again (even though it's still lit)
6:30 AM - no nurse, no food and the nurse light is still lit.
Twilight Zone, everyone in the hospital has been zapped into a new dimension. I've been left behind to forge for myself, living on the trays of food left behind in the cafeteria.
6:45 AM - Dr. Miller comes in the room.
YEA!
Checks me over, asks me questions, removed the wadding they had shoved up inside my coochie to absorb any residual bleeding (He was very pleased, the wadding was dry and blood free but MAN that hurt like hell coming out. I think there was about 18 yards of that stuffed up inside me.)
Says I can go home as soon as I get a prescription for the blood pressure medicine. He left me two prescriptions for pain killers (Percacet and Tylenol 3 with codeine) Also said he doesn't want me to take any more Dilantin until I talk to my heart specialist. What?
And, no antibiotics?
Nope, said they only do that if I showed a discharge, which I didn't, so he was going to let my body do the healing.
WOW! That never happens anymore in this day and age of drug-happy doctors.
7:00 AM - STILL NO FUCKING NURSE.
I call my mom - "Come and get me, I'm starving to death in here."
She's on her way.
7:20 AM - nurse comes in. I beg for food, she says it will be along around 8:00 AM. I beg for the catheter out so I can go home and she gleefully causes me pain to remove it.
Freakin' nurse.
7:45 AM - my mom is here. "Ma? Did you bring me some food?"
Nope (sigh)
8:15 AM - FOOD! Yea! And you know what, I'm so starved, it isn't even that bad. I ate it all.
8:30 AM - call the nurse again. Let's see if she can break her old record of 3 hour response time.
8:32 AM - The nurse appears. Must be because I had food she's not terrified I'll eat her alive.
"Can I get this IV out? I'm ready to go home."
She glares at me. "I have to ask the doctor."
"Hey." I sit straight up in the bed (ouch) and glare right back at her. "Dr. Miller was already here and said I could go home. He gave me these prescriptions," I wave them in her face.
She shrugs. "I have to ask the doctor."
GADS! These nurses are actually highly trained torturers. I know it.
8:50 AM - All by herself, the nurse returns. TElls me that as soon as they have the prescriotions for the blood pressure medicine I can go home.
"SO?" I ask, very politely. "Are you going to take this IV out?"
"I'll be back." she remarks as she's leaving the room.
I'm fuming now.
9:30 AM - we wait. The hospital only gives you one channel on the TV and it's like the morning show channel. How god-awful boring is that?
10:00 AM - we wait.
10:30 AM. I am done waiting.
"Ma, give me my clothes out of that bag."
Oh no, now my mom is panicking. She knows me very well.
"Dodie, you can't do that."
"Ma, just give me the clothes, I'm checking myself out of here."
She looks at my face and it must have been scary. She gave me the clothes.
I get off the bed (ouch) and get dressed (double ouch). I sit in the chair and start removing the IV contraption they have on me.
"Dodie!" my mother is in a panic. "You can't do that."
"Oh, yeah? Watch me."
IV is out. Mom runs out of the room and asks the nurse for a bandaid. The nurse comes in, sees me dressed and holding a paper towel on the spot where the IV should be, and runs back of the room. She immediately returns with a bandaid, puts it on the hole in my hand and practically runs back out of the room.
10:55 AM - I march out of the room to the burses station. "I'm leaving."
The nurse has my discharge paper work all ready. And lo-and-behold, there are two prescriptions for BP medicine there, with a date and time. Guess what time the prescriptions are? 8:58 AM. I could have gone home TWO FREAKIN' HOURS AGO!
(Grrrrrr)
The nurse asks if I want a wheel chair?
"Do I look like I need a freakin' wheel chair?"
She doesn't say a word.
I walk my ass out of the hospital and get into mom's car.
Ah - freedom.
I ask my mom to run me to the barn to check on Dusty. No baby yet. Good, she waited.
I am now home in my own chair and my ma lets me sleep. Thank goodness.
Mom reminds me (about 8 times) to call the heart specialist and find out about the Dilantin. I finally get tired of hearing the same question from her over and over, so I call.
They freak! That's not what he prescribed. They call the pharmacy, who apparently fucked up the script and gave me the wrong drug.
Good thing it didn't kill me. They're giving me a refund. Hmmm - maybe I should sue? Forget about it, I don't have the energy to invest in it.
Wednesday early early morning, I wake out of sound sleep and ask my mom to run me to the barn. Dusty had a filly. She's so cute.
Now, I can rest. Everything is done that I needed to take care of.
The week long process of healing was fun (NOT!) Between my mom and Marc fussing over me, I got spoiled like a little princess, but at the same time it is frustrating because I can't push the clutch (Oh, yes, I tried to escape on Wednesday) so I'm kinda at the mercy of their generosity. They ran me to the barn to check the filly and Dusty and they kept me entertained.
I'm much better now and ready to get back into my routine.
Thanks, Mom! You're wonderful! (She also cleaned my house!)
Sat 04/14 - Mom leaves. I wait ten minutes then run to the barn (FREEDOM!)
Sun 04/15 - Ow - too much work at the barn on Saturday. Think I'll sleep in today.
Mon 04/16 - Back to work. They love me! (Not to mention they missed me all last week.)
Tues 04/17 - (One week) - I teach my Tuesday night Aikido class and the guys are all babying me like some prima-donna. (chuckle)
Wed 04/18 - Ow - too much at Aikido last night, but that's okay, I'm gonna ride Bee-Bee and loosen it all up.
Thurs 04/19 - Back to Aikido class (YEA!) I missed it.
Fri 04/20 - Everything is A.O.K after Aikido class. Yea! I go riding again. Yea!
The end. Dodie is back so stop pestering me about it.
Instructor/Manager: Dodie Sable
Located in New Smithville PA at 37 Fenstermacher Road, 3 miles north of Kutztown University
Call us at 610.756.3836 or email us at dodie@newpromisefarms.com