Hysterectomy

 

Back in January, I finally went to see a doctor about pain I was experiencing every month. Yep, the girl kind of pain, but worse. 

Doctor #1 sent me for an ultrasound and then called me on my way out the door to catch a plane to inform me that I had a birth defect - something called a septate uterus. The best way to describe this is to say that if a woman's womb is the home for her unborn child, then I have a duplex without enough square footage on either side for a kid to live safely. She suggested something called an oblation.  She also said this would not explain my pain at all so this explanation did not sit well with me. Her non-chalant attitude in telling me that I was deformed also didn't charm me much.

Doctor #2 looked at the ultrasound results for a second opinion, and correctly diagnosed me with something called a penduncular fibroid. This thing was apparently pushing into my uterus and splitting it in half (without breaking it). THAT explains the pain! She ordered a laparascopy and hysteroscopy to be sure. 

Surgery #1 was in April (with Doc #2) and confirmed this diagnosis along with the discovery of endometriosis. Conclusion: I need a hysterectomy.

After reading up on all the different kinds of hysterectomy (total, supracervical, laprascopic, abdominal, etc. etc.) I made a decision to go with an LSH (Laprascopic Supracervical Hysterectomy) - the conservative choice with the least scarring and recovery time. When I informed Doc #2 of this, she said it was a newer operation and she did not perform it and promptly referred me to Doc #3.

Doctor #3 was a laid back but thorough and knowledgeable guy who made me feel instantly comfortable and confirmed that I had made the right choice about which kind of surgery to have. He even scheduled my surgery on his day off since I had been waiting a while. Of course, he loses points for saying when Randy came in to the room for my pre-op appointment/exam, "Oops. I forgot to do a breast exam! I'll just do that now." AWKWARD!

Monday, the surgery went very well and I was done by 1:00pm. They told me I could go home as soon as I "peed." Of course, with nothing to drink or eat for 12 hours, this was no easy task. The anesthesia made me incredibly nauseated, and I had a migraine going in, so I wound up there until 5:00pm because they maxed me out on nausea drugs and I was still sick as a dog. At last, I lost my liquid lunch and felt okay enough to get out of the backless gown and head home.

Once home, the process started again and it was a long night of migraine, nausea and soreness. Randy is taking amazing care of me. Our church is bringing meals by three days a week right now, and lots of love is being sent my way. I feel lazy and spoiled but very glad to have this behind me.

This morning I looked at all the photos from my surgery. Randy is easily freaked out by this stuff, but I am fascinated. They're really gross though. I found some other photos from a similar surgery online tonight that helped me figure out just what I was looking at, and I feel like I have a good understanding of why my body felt the way it did for so long. I look forward to much better health in the coming year. 

I'm sure there is a lot more to say about the emotion of losing something as significant as my womb, and the finality of it all, but for now, I'm just grateful to have a solution without major complications.

Postcard from Invesco Field

Last night, I worked a teambuilding event for RBC (Royal Bank of Canada) who rented out Invesco Field. Part of the fun was a relay race covering lots of the stadium. My job was  HEAD CHEERLEADER. (I have never been a cheerleader, but I did play Patty Simcox in our high school production of Grease.) 

I sat alone in the Visitor's Locker Room, most recently inhabited by the New Orleans Saints, and waited for teams to find me so they could perform their cheers for me. If I approved, they got a hole punch on the score  card. I get paid for this stuff!

One or two middle-aged male bankers who may have had a few beers or perhaps just didn't possess the greatest social skills looked me up and down and said with a little frown, "Oh, I was hoping to meet a REAL cheerleader." Yeah, well, I was hoping to work with a gentleman, but such is life. You have to live with me--some people love fake cheerleaders.

Afterwards, I had Bob, the photo guy snap my picture in one of the quarterbacks lockers. Why not? 

Life Happening at the Airport

I'm kind of an airport geek. When I was a broke college kid, I used to go to the airport just to watch people. Parking was the only expense and parking was pretty cheap back at Stapleton. On September 12, 2001, Randy and I rode the blue line to O'Hare to see how airport life had changed overnight...

This is where I have been spending a lot of my time lately. Meeting and greeting people -- just to the right of that fountain at the top of the escalator by where the train lets people out at Denver International Airport. This kind of work suits me just fine.

Greeting people changed a lot (probably forever) in those 24 hours following 9/11. Suddenly no one got to meet their sweetheart at the gate with roses. Since that day, all the greetings (from domestic flights anyway) happen in one place at DIA--right there by the fountain. This means I don't have to roll the dice to see where I think something interesting might happen. I'm right there. Here's just one day:

-met Doris, a tour director with a British company who may be the only person I know who moved from Wheaton, Illinois to Colorado Springs, Colorado in the mid-1990's without being relocated by a Christian organization!

-greeted Eric, whose wife is back in Houston waiting for the power to come back on after hurricane Ike swept through town more than a week ago.

-saw a Colombian exchange student meeting his host parents from Kansas for the first time.

-learned that the French onion soup at Pour le France pretty much rules!

-asked my local police lieutenant to stop by and let my dog out and he agreed! (It helps that he is married to my college roommate).

-met Sheila & her husband who moved to Glenwood Springs 35 years ago to build ther dream home. They said I could stop by anytime.

-talked to a man who had been in Moscow in 1981 with the federal government...Hmmmm.

-watch a grandparent and three young siblings give the sweetest welcome home to parents and the new addition to their family from China.

-saw a lot of Saints fans coming to cheer against the Broncos.

-talked to people from Brazil, Spain, Japan, USA, India, Indonesia, Kazhakstan, Tajikistan, and Viet Nam.

And I used to sit at a desk all day.

This House is Not a Dome.

One question I get a lot when giving tours of Invesco Field is why the field does not have a dome. The Broncos play in all kinds of weather and I honestly don't know the real answer as to why they do not have a roof for their stadium. Maybe it makes them look tougher to play in the snow, or maybe it's just that after $400 million, they were done spending.

Speaking of the Broncos, I worked at the airport Tuesday and was amazed at the number of people wearing Raiders gear. What gall...don't they know we killed them the night before!? Hooray for the Broncos. I am not so much Bronocomaniac as I am anti-Raider, and specifically anti-Al Davis. It makes me happy to see them get beaten so badly by our home team. 

So...back to the roofless concept, I went with my friends Gary & Melanie to a Rockies game on Labor Day. It was blazing hot and our seats were definitely without cover. The reason for the occasion was to see my friend and college roommate Cheryl sing the national anthem at the beginning of the game. She did a great job! 

 

It was so fun to see her up on big screen. I was really proud of her, and selfishly, I wanted to tell everyone how we used to practice together in college and be awfully critical (in a constructive way) of each other's singing so we could get better, how we used to sneak into that tiny echo-ey room in the music building of CCC and find songs to harmonize on. But of course, I kept mouth shut, stood up, put my hand over my heart, and tried not to cry. She really nailed it, and I didn't want to sing along so I could listen.

Afterwards, we relocated to a spot in the shade at Coors Field--to the purple ring of seats, the mile high row. The staff at the stadium said it would be fine since the stadium wasn't so crowded on Labor Day due to Taste of Colorado going on downtown. Not only was it cool to sit in the purple seats but the overhang shading us from the sun made the whole thing much more bearable. Everyone needs some cover...

 Now it's all fine and good for stadiums not to have roofs, but homes need them, and yesterday when it started raining, I noticed that what had been a small crack in our ceiling was starting to get bigger. By mid-day, we were watching the ceiling peel away! Here is what we had by the time the rain stopped. A soggy mess of a ceiling and obviously, an imminent roof repair. 

My brother Matt and his family were staying with us so it was a good chaotic morning at our place, but thanks to the company he works for (ServiceMagic) we had two quotes by evening and we should have things repaired affordably - the necessary stuff, not the cosmetic stuff - tomorrow or Monday. Let's hope it doesn't rain between now & then.

More DNC Photos

Here are some photos taken on my phone during the DNC. Like my memories, they are blurry:

Our messy LOGISTICS OFFICE:

Can't tell you how happy I am to see these up for grabs as "trash."

A golf cart ride was a real luxury after hours on our feet. Here comes Q to give my feet a rest!

Look! Michael McDonald. Again! And Bucky Bronco overhead.

Candlesticks. Candlesticks. Candlesticks.

Leftover fruit from the boxed lunches.

The bus lot. It was my responsibility to help with staging Route #6 buses in three straight lines some days so this is the fruit of my labor...

Flags waving inside Invesco Field Thursday night:

I'm Like Reba--A Survivor!

I survived the DNC but just barely. I stayed safely out of the T-zone for most of the rest of the time, and enjoyed working w/ Kishan and Quentin my real bosses.

Both Randy & I put in 75 hours each and I seriously thought some of those delegates were going to punch me on the last night when things went awry. Our volunteers ditched, sending thousands the wrong way, flooding our bus lots, crippling transportation, and then the Secret Service shut down Federal Boulevard where the cabs were supposed to be to help with overflow. It was a nightmare and I truly thought we might have a riot on our hands. 

I heard Dennis Prager say that although he disagreed with the Democrats on many points, he found the Dems in Denver to be very polite and pleasant, even wonderful people. I might have agreed up until Thursday night in Lot J. Fortunately, the sheriffs showed up (not Randy--he was out at the jail), and everyone calmed down a notch. So...we got them where they were going but it took some time. I got home at 1:30AM. 

Somewhere in the confusion, I packed a city bus full of delegates before realizing that it was not one of ours. I wasn't about to unload them! I sidled up next to the driver and explained his new route and told him if he wanted to survive this ride, he would do as I said! Ha. I sort of hijacked an RTD bus...oops.

I did get in the stadium for about half an hour...just long enough to see Michael McDonald (seriously, how many times can I see this guy for free?!), Susan Eisenhower's speech (very classy), and Joe Biden's speech - I find him VERY annoying. 

With all this work, I did not get to go stalking with Melanie and saw no one famous despite the fact that Denver was crawling with celebs. AND I got really sad that I was missing everything by not having a tv to see the recaps at least. 

SO WE GOT TV...TWICE.

I got one of those converter boxes Saturday because my coupon came in the mail during all this hype. Then, of course, the same day, my brother Josh upgraded tvs, so we decided to buy his old one from him - it's a 42" HD number and way better. It takes up less space even though it's way bigger, and doesn't have a green spot in the picture. So I found out some of the stuff I missed. Ben Affleck & Jennifer Garner were here. Bono was not photographed anywhere that I could see. Kanye West did not try to steal Obama's spotlight as I predicted. 

My college roommate arrested Randall Terry, head of Operation Rescue. She said she did not like his demeanor. Randy saw him in the jail because, well, he was working at the temporary detention center that night. He said that most of the OR people were very nice though. 

Then, John McCain picked Sarah Palin for a running mate, and whaddayaknow? History gets made no matter who gets elected in the whole woman/African American thing. Poor Hillary. And how sad is it that Tina Fey is no longer on SNL to play Sarah Palin?? It's nice to have history made, but I think I'd rather have the country sorted. Maybe both can happen. 

SO, I am glad to close the books on this DNC and I am off to watch my new big awesome tv. Vote wisely everyone.

Too Close to See

Today it started, AND it occurred to me that between my job and the fact that I do not have TV, I have seriously no idea what happened today in the bigger picture. 

-I heard something about Obama picking a running mate. 

-I read that Bono was in town to do something with his pal Kanye (who is somewhere probably preparing to step onstage at Invesco Thursday and tell everyone why he is the one who should have gotten the Democratic nomination). 

-Someone said the Clintons are at the Brown Palace. 

-Melanie saw a few protestors downtown. 

-I saw a flash of John Legend singing some pie-in-the-sky-solve-all-the-world's-problems song from inside the Pepsi Center

-and I delivered directions to shuttle drivers, and proofread lots of route maps for the move to Invesco Field on Thursday.

This blur of moments is my experience at the DNC. The bus depot I live in right now is a hard-secured zone which means we have to be credentialed to get in, but we see and hear very little about what is happening outside our zone, and it's separate from the zone that the delegates are dropped into when they arrive. 

Furthermore, as a member of the Invesco crew, somehow I managed to make my way out of the T-zone today (yaaay!) and to my real leaders thus relieving me of bus-wrangling, loading, etc. duties and limiting interaction with the delegates/passengers to none. 

As a result, I have not a clue what happened today in Denver. I'm in the middle of it all with absolutely no view and no big picture. I couldn't be more insulated and isolated from the action. It's like a blurred vision version.