Top Ten

Well, today’s the big day. In just a few hours, I’ll be on the table for abdominal myomectomy surgery. While I’m really not thrilled about: having a big cut in my up-until-now surgery-free, nature-given body (I don’t even have my ears pierced!) possible scarring and internal adhesions from having my uterus messed with being exposed [...]

Anxious Mother

My parents arrived last night for a ~2-week visit. It originally was going to be a 5-day visit, but they moved their arrival date up once this whole myomectomy surgery plan materialized. It’s very nice of them to help me out during my initial post-op days, but I’ve been doubting whether telling my over-anxious mom [...]

Colored Glasses

This experience has given me a whole new perspective on a couple things: Whenever I used to see women with poochy tummies, I would think it was a result of having been pregnant, or having a genetic tendency to collect fat there. Now I think, oh poor thing, does she have fibroids? In the supermarket [...]

Self-Entertainment

When I’m poking the left and right edges of the fibroid to check how wide it is, I can push the fibroid on the left side with my left hand, and instantly feel the fibroid nudge my right hand on the other side. (I swear it has grown wider – but not taller – in [...]

Size Matters

When I told my mom about my fibroid on Friday, she replied in surprise, “YOU (as in a non-medical professional) can feel it?” Apparently she has a number of fibroids, but they are too small for her to identify. (She also said her sister had a hysterectomy because of fibroids. This was the first time [...]

Laundry

I have to be more diligent about doing laundry now Do I have enough clean large-waisted (“fat”) pants to get me through the upcoming week?

I, Radiologist

Before my appointment with the gynecologist, I stopped by the hospital to pick up the films from my abdominal/pelvis CT scan. They were brought out to me in a whopping 18″x15″ envelope. While I was at the hospital, I figured I’d pick up my mammogram films from last year too. Having these images for my [...]

Wow

The radiologist who did my CT scan report has impressive credentials – Brown undergrad, Harvard med school, Stanford residency and fellowships This thing is bigger than a large roll of toilet paper

Disbelief

So I really have a mini-watermelon growing inside me? Some kind of parasite that is greedily hoarding an inordinate number of blood vessels? pushing other well-behaved organs out of the way? pressing on them and interfering with their jobs? I’m sure it looks ugly. The fact that this thing is growing in my core, in [...]

Cells Gone Wild

Results of my abdominal/pelvic CT scan: Large, exophytic, hypervascular and heterogeneous mass extending from the left aspect of the fundus of the uterus, measuring 12 x 14.4 x 9.7 cm in diameter, compressing the ureters and resulting in a mild degree of hydronephrosis; either a large uterine fibroid or sarcoma. The ovaries are separate from [...]