Well, THAT Was Fun...NOT.

Warning...this post contains graphic details of female reproductive problems.  If you gross out at such things, turn away now.  Run, run very fast.  If such things fascinate you, or you can at least bear it, or you just care about me and what's going on in my life...read on.

For years I have had problems with my periods.  Since I was 18, in fact, and I'm now that illustrious age of 40.  So, for the past 22 years, I've had to deal with period, no period, no period, no period, period - sort of, no period, no period, no period, period - sort of, no period, no period, no period, period, no period, no period, no period, no period, no period, no period, period - sort of....well, you get the point.  I've tracked my periods incessantly since 2002.  I've tracked EVERY SINGLE DAY what has happened to my body when it comes to bleeding out of that little orifice for the last 7 years.  Before that, I went years with just one period a year, if I was lucky.  Most women would say I WAS lucky!  But for someone who has wanted to desperately get pregnant her entire adult life, this was not lucky.  Doctors have told me, "You're too heavy - that's why you don't have periods" or "You're too heavy - that's why you can't get pregnant."  Well, I'm sorry, there are millions of women out there who are bigger than me and they get pregnant and they have monthly periods.  SOMETHING is wrong with me.  Why can't anyone find out what it is?!?!

Well, as I was saying...I've tracked my periods over the last 7 years.  There have been years where there is nothing marked on the chart.  There have been years where there is a "normal" period about every 45 days.  And then, there is the last year and a half.  There are more days that are marked as having bleeding than there are days marked with no bleeding.  Since January 1st of this year, I bet I could count probably only 30-45 days out of the what...322 days so far this year...that I have NOT bled.  Some days have been light, some a little more, some kind of heavy compared to the lighter days, and then the last 3 days have been just down right horrible.  The bleeding has been uncontrollable.  I've had a TON of clots.  I bleed out of a super plus tampon after about 75 minutes.  I (or Melon Man) have had to wash out I don't know how many pair of underwear in the past 3 days.  I am so tired, it's not even funny.  But, I can't sleep that well because I'm afraid of bleeding out in the night all over our beautiful mattress.  Every time I roll over, I gush.  The toilet...well, it's gotten so blood much on it, in it, and all over it that it's ready for a vacation.  I'm just so sick of this.

I called my gyno's office on Monday to see if I could get in to see her.  Nope, not until December 2nd.  Huh?  I'm bleeding horribly - actually hemorrhaging - and you can't get me in for 3 weeks?  I'm sorry...reschedule one of your appointments, come in a little early, stay a little late, I'll even just come in and sit there until you can finally squeeze me in - just do SOMETHING to get me in and find out what is wrong with me!  Nope, sorry, nothing until 12/2.  "If it's that bad, you need to go to the emergency room."  Well, I'm sorry, what is the emergency room going to do for me that you couldn't do?  Oh yeah...charge me $50 for the visit, do a bunch of tests, and send me home with a prescription....oh, and make me lay there bleeding out on a soppy pad for 4 hours, laying in my own pool of blood, clots constantly coming out, half covered, crying, scared that I might have uterine cancer like my mom did, just wishing for a hysterectomy right then and there.  Yeah, that was fun.  Not.  Oh, and don't forget about the vaginal exam, ultrasound, vaginal ultrasound, and the needle jammed up my hand which they didn't use again after the 5 viles of blood they took when I first got there.  Yes, I finally went to the emergency room yesterday afternoon - after deciding I just couldn't take it anymore.  And above is what happened.  I got sent home with a prescription for some medicine to try to slow down the bleeding.  As of 5 a.m. this morning, it still hadn't helped - but then they did say don't expect a miracle overnight.

So, I am home today.  The on-call doctor for my gyno's office told the ER doctor last night to have me call today and tell them to work me in.  So, I'm trying to make the appointment to get into the doctor.  I'm also just resting and dealing with the continuous bleeding.  So much easier to clean up at home and deal with this stuff at home.  I'm missing a big 2 day meeting today and tomorrow, but my health needs to come first - for once.  And personally, I'd like to get this worked out before I'm supposed to travel for work next week, if I even can.  Who knows...I may end up having a D&C and might not even be able to go. 

So, there it is.  Probably more details than anyone wants to know, but it's the "rest of the story" as Paul Harvey used to say.  Thanks to everyone for their calls and comments.  I truly appreciate them. 

I didn't want to forget a couple very special things that happened while in the ER....the doctor that was seeing me looked quite a bit like Wendy.  Her eyes just had something sweet about them.  And her voice, almost like Wendy's.  It was unreal, but very comforting.  Also, there was a moment when I was sitting there, but I saw them push a bed past my door.  The woman in the bed looked so incredibly like my mother that I almost couldn't believe it.  I guess that these were ways for me to know that Wendy and my Mom were there with me in spirit.  Melon Man was there with me for a while too.  He was very sweet and tender, even though he started not feeling well soon after arriving.

And...a short and sweet thank you to all of our veterans and current miliary servicemembers out there.  It's Veteran's Day.  THANK YOU for giving of your time, your families, your lives, to protect us.  I am am so GRATEFUL.