Sayonara, Aunt Flo

To my male, reading audience. Unless you care to know more about female anatomy and the purpose of it, you may want to quit reading.

I originally planned to leave all of this off of the blog, but decided that since this is my journal, I wanted to go ahead and document it. I also thought it may be of help to others who may have to go through this. That being said, bear with me.

On Tuesday, I went in for a D&C and an endometrial ablation . When I had a C-Section six weeks ago, I had a tubal ligation or commonly referred to as having your tubes tied. Because of the bleeding disorder I knew I would wind up back on the pill, just to control the bleeding. The D&C and ablation were to help with the bleeding problems I have. The D&C cleans out your uterus while the ablation burns the lining of the uterus using a drug or chemical called Novasure. This means we are officially done having kids.

Because of my bleeding disorder, I have dealt with horrible menstrual cycles in my past. When I first went on the pill (a couple months before my marriage), I bled nonstop for about 4 months. Just what you want to deal with being a newly wed. I finally was put on two packs of birth control pills each month to control the bleeding. I could tell that the hormone levels surging through me were high, but it sure beat the bleeding. Eventually I heard of a drug called Depo Provera. It is a shot you get once every three months and it stops you from having a cycle. I jumped on the opportunity to be off all of the pills and still control the bleeding. For years I received the shot. It did a great job of keeping me un-pregnant and stopped all of the bleeding.

When we were ready to try our hand at conceiving, I went back on the pill for one month to get myself regular again. Seven days after the last pill, Sweet Pea was conceived. At my six week post delivery appointment, I began receiving the shot again. I continued on it until we were ready to try again. This time, with Peanut, it took more like eight months to get out of my system.

Depo does a great job preventing pregnancy and stopping the bleeding, but it does have some negatives. One is that it is totally unpredictable as to how long it will take to get out of your body. If you are planning to have kids after Depo, you have to be prepared for that. I am not sure I was. The second issue that affected me is the weight gain. I had talked to my doctor about it and he said it was just me and my lousy diet. Once he retired, I switched to a new doctor. She informed me that you can put on an average of 10 pounds per year that you are on it. Hmmm......10 pounds X 7 years......yeah, not cool! I am not saying that my weight is all the fault of this shot, but it sure wasn't helping any! I have also heard of people having bad hormonal issues (moodiness, depression, etc) from the shot and there is no way to reverse it for those three months. I am prone to moodiness and depression and didn't have any troubles in that department. Anyway, that is the history leading up to now.

Tuesday I had to be at the hospital at 8:00 am with all of the typical surgery prep: nothing to eat or drink after midnight, comfortable clothes, a ride home, etc. We got to the hospital at 8:00 and I was taken right back. My husband went with me so that he could drive me home and we brought Peanut with us so that I could feed immediately prior to sedation. All of the pre-op stuff went fine. Got the gown on, got the IV, was read my last rites, etc.

The lactation consultant came by with a book of drugs and we looked up the drugs I was to be given. She informed me that while they did carry into breast milk, there weren't any real risks. The drugs were listed in the same class as a Vicodin, which I would be getting for pain later. She explained that once the anesthesiologist is ready to wake you, they inject a binder. This binder is made to "collect" all the drugs that were used to put you under. If this binder does it's job well enough, you wake up. So in theory if those drugs have been bound and in so doing, left the body, they shouldn't hurt the baby either. It is no different than putting the baby to the breast immediately after a C-section with general anesthesia. There was some argument amongst the nurses and doctors. The doctors said to pump and dump for 24 hours. I think this is an insurance safe answer because they didn't even look it up. I am sure that 24 hours would have made it perfectly safe to nurse, but I really am excited about how well nursing is going this time and I didn't want to do anything that may get in the way of it. I went ahead and nursed Peanut, not knowing if it would be the last time for a while.

A few minutes later, they came in with my IV margarita. This is the good stuff. The stuff that makes you totally loopy, while crippling your ability to remember anything, including your name. I remember them giving it to me. I remember going into the operating room and scooting onto the table. I remember them giving me a mask with some gas in it and then BOOM....I was out.

The next thing I remember is waking up in the recovery room and feeling very "drunk". I still had something in my mouth or throat, but am not sure what. It hurt and I couldn't speak. I could hear the nurses griping about the lactation consultant. They finally came over and pulled whatever was still in my mouth out. My throat hurt, my mouth hurt and my hips hurt. My mouth and throat hurt from the breathing tube and my hips from "the position I was in". That left a lot to my drugged imagination. I am kind of glad I don't know on that one.

As soon as I was alert enough to hear, I could hear the argument at the nurse's station about she said, he said. It was a lovely way to wake up. The nurse came in to check on me and immediately started in on why I shouldn't do this, that and the other. She then proceeded to discuss it with the other nurses while someone brought my husband and baby back. I had warned my husband that I don't usually tolerate general anesthesia very well and can be quite a bear when coming to. By the time he got back there, I was in tears. Crying because I was tired. Crying because I wanted to nurse, but not hurt my baby. Crying because I didn't know what to do and am a horrible decision maker even when sober. Crying because I wanted to go home, but didn't want to have to get up and get dressed. Crying because I didn't even know why. He comforted me for a little while and we discussed what to do.

At this point a nurse had called the lactation office again and the lactation consultant showed up with a pump, just to shut them up. She told me to do what I was comfortable with, but it may be good to pump once, just to get them off my back. She said to check with the pediatrician before I threw away the milk. I wasn't really that concerned about the milk, as I had quite a bit in the freezer at home. To me the concern was strictly bottle feeding for 24 hours. This would definitely be enough time for my baby to learn how much easier it was and I was terrified she would reject the breast after that time. I pumped and we headed on home. My husband stopped to pick up a sandwich for us on the way.

As soon as we got home, I heated up some milk for Peanut. She took the bottle from Daddy like a champ. With this child, I think it could have been goat's milk in a dirty shoe and she would have sucked it out of the laces. She loves her food! I had a lot of difficulty eating my sandwich because my throat was so dry and felt like things weren't in the right place. Breathing tubes always mess me up. I also had a split and swollen upper lip and a very sore chin. I intend to ask the doctor what in the world I said to get back handed in there. I am sure it is all part of the breathing tube stuff. After eating, I went to bed. I slept on and off all day, in between feedings and a very fussy baby, a seizing dog and a cranky toddler.

Some of the side effects that they warn you about with these procedures are cramping and some pain. I didn't have a whole lot of either. Since I am used to Mega Menstruation, maybe I expected it to be that bad. I didn't need any pain medicine after I got home. I did have some bloating and swelling, but I think that is common in any surgery. All in all the worst part was the split lip and the sore throat. There are no incisions with the procedure which is nice, considering I haven't fully recovered from the last gash across my abdomen. We will see how successful the procedure was in due time.

At this point in time I can't say whether or not I would recommend this procedure. I don't know for sure that it took yet. I can say that the surgery itself was very easy to go through. There is a slim chance that it won't take or that my uterus will try and heal itself. Hopefully it will all do it's job and it will be sayonara to Aunt Flo.