All the Weird Tests leading Up to Surgery

Scott accompanied me to the ultra-sound appointment, for which I made my first visit to MCV downtown (Nov 7th). By the time they realized that the whole screen of the ultra-sound was basically one big black mass (with a moon-man scary kind of face, actually, Scott called it the hellspawn) staff was coming in to see the screen. Nothing like being the celebrity patient. It's strange to be in a building where all the other women are running around with ultra-sound pictures of their unborn babies happy and smiling while you wait for what cannot be good results.

They could not identify or find my uterus definitively, not from outside or inside, and decided I must have an MRI so they could see what was going on. They also expressed some concern, after a phone conference with Dr. O, that there was degradation of the huge mass, presumably a fibroid, and that it could be a rare form of cancer that fibroids hardly ever get. The doctor said it would be like hen's teeth and not a logical conclusion, but that they were worried a bit. First clue, but not one to raise huge red flags. As usual Scott recommended hearing all the facts once they knew definitively before drawing my own conclusions.

Ah, the MRI. So, apparently I have developed quite a case of claustrophobia and cannot be in an MRI tube for any length of time (read: 30 seconds) without panicking. Dr. O ordered three tests, abdomen, pelvis and brain, since the lactation was being caused by sky-high prolactin levels, almost always caused by a pituitary tumor. This would require me to be in the tube for a minimum 1 1/2 hours, something that was not going to happen while I was awake. They sent me over to Stony Point on Nov 10th (near my house) for sedation, but I was still aware and could not tolerate the tube. The worst part was this postponed my test by four days, All the time I was taking pain meds but was feeling worse and worse and missing half of my days or more at work. The nurse made me an appointment downtown for anaethesia, but due to a terminology mix-up they just wanted to do the same thing as at Stony Point. Eventually I got the test on the third try (Nov 14th) under general anaesthesia. Yeah, I know it seems lame, but thats how it is. I tried to go in the machine every time to be brave and get it over with, but just couldn't do it without feeling like my brain would explode or I would try to claw my way out. So let's see what they found...