Ovarian Cyst

Onslaught
I had planned to spend my Saturday with my mom and sister, we were going to get pedicures before mom had her surgery. I got to my sisters house a bit before 11:30. My sister was complaining a bit about cramps, and I noticed that I seemed to be having them too, or at least pain in that region. I laughed it off - joking that I was having sympathy cramps with my sister. Half an hour later, I was not laughing anymore, I called the Fresno Women's Medical Group (Dr. Beinguesser's office) and was told the doctor on call would call me back. At 12:05 she called - after telling her my symptoms she told me to come straight to emergency.

Drive and ED
Boy was that an exciting drive down Temperance to Clovis Community Hospital. I think I yelled the whole way. In the ED waiting room I yelled the entire time - I was called back very quickly - likly because the doctor I spoke with had already gotten things started. When I was in with nurses to do a pain evaluation and gather information - who were  the same nurses from my appendicitis in September, I told them I had never felt pain like this. They recalled I was not nearly in this much pain when I was there in September. They didn't give me pain meds this time, they said I would be back soon and it would go right into my IV.

Into an ED room
I went back into a room within 15 mins (I think it was record time! Maybe it was all the screaming and yelling in pain). The nurse putting in the IV did a fabulous job - I didn't feel a thing - or maybe I was just in too much pain to notice. They gave me something they said was stronger then Vicodin. It didn't touch my pain. The doctor herself came in not long after (Dr. Kristin Kroeker - she was amazing!) after seeing the pain I was still in, she had them administer another dose - a double dose actually. This dulled the pain a tiny bit - but made me a little more loopy, so I didn't seem to care about the pain as much. She ordered imaging done. I was suppose to pee in a cup to make sure I wasn't pregnant. Problem was I didn't need to pee at all. I managed a tiny bit. My yelling (mostly me saying 'oh God, oh God!' loudly) was starting to freak out other patients so they kept my door closed.

A nurse was about to come cath me to get a urine sample for the pregnancy test (at least I think that was what was going on - but I was drugged up at the time) but the results from my tiny bit of urine earlier came back just in time and were negative. The Dr came to see me again, was worried that the imaging hadn't been done yet - she had the OR getting prepared for me. She decided I could just skip the imaging and go straight to the OR, she was certain what was going on - ovarian torsion. After she left a nurse came in to take me  to imaging after all.

Imaging
The imaging sucked, it hurt the entire time she pressed the wand thing to my abdomen. She wasn't getting a clear picture and had to go internally - which sucked even more. I just let the drugs take me to my happy place, I was in pain, but I tried not to care about it. The imaging nurse confirmed that there was no blood flow to the ovary.  Right as she finished Dr. Kroeker came in, she had been looking for me, the OR was ready and when I wasn't in the room where she expected me, she came to find me herself.

Off to surgery
She wheeled me down the hall at a fast pace - warning me  that she didn't usually drive these things (did I mention that she was awesome?) I told her no worries, I would just make sure to keep my hands and feet in! This time I wasn't scared, I was looking forward to not being in pain. I was glad this time when the anesthesiologist put the mask on and I went under.

Waking Up
I woke in recovery feeling pretty good. The absence of pain was amazing! The nurses said I was doing very well and could be discharged from recovery. My mom and sis came in. The Dr. had show sis a picture of my ovary. Apparently Helga (my cyst) twisted, tore my fallopian tube, and killed my ovary. She said the picture showed a big white cyst and my ovary and fallopian tube were black and dead.

Going Home
I was in much less pain than I was after the appendicitis. We went to Walgreens to pick up my prescriptions. I texted my manager to let him know I had yet another emergency surgery and I didn't think I would be in on Monday. I decided to sleep sitting up on my sisters couch while I recovered the first day. Nice comfy couch :)

Ovarian Imaging

Well there was some confusion over the imaging. They were thinking it was abdominal, but did not realize it was for an ovarian cyst. Fresno Heart doesn't usually do that sort of imaging but they happened to have one guy who had experience with it, so he did the imaging. He pressed much harder then any person doing imaging had done on me before, it was actually rather uncomfortable. The cyst was still huge. As I left I snapped a picture of the display -  the  big black circle is my cyst!  Lisa and I named it Helga.

Consultation appointment with Bariatric Surgeon

So, though Dr. Beingesser recommended Dr. Swartz, and I do trust her opinion, I decided to go with Dr. Higa. Kim has been super with providing information and suggestions. Higa recommended the vertical sleeve gastrectomy (VSG or 'sleeve) over Roux-en-Y gastric bypass. I really had gone into this thinking I would just do the Roux-en-Y like my sister did, but I trust Higa, and this procedure can be converted later if I do not have the desired results long term. He was uncertain of the ovarian cyst removal at the same time, and so added imaging of that to my list of pre-op appointments:

• Nutrition Class
• Psychological Evaluation
• Blood Labs
• Manometry
• Upper Endoscopy
• Ovarian Cyst Imaging

I am happy with my decision, we will see where this takes me next...

Surgery Ahead

I had an appointment with Dr. Beingesser, who informed me that my huge ovarian cyst should really be removed. She suggested surgery in February. She also mentioned that if I was thinking of bariatric surgery, I might be able to have both done at the same time. This sounded like a prime opportunity, like the universe was saying 'Now is the time Morgan - you have to have surgery anyways, lets get this done!' And so I left her office with a surgery date in February set and a referral to Dr. Swartz for bariatric surgery. 

Thus begins my journey.