My Journey Continues

Coming up on Surgery and a Final Answer About Bob

Five days out. Wednesday I will be at the hospital by 7:30 AM for a 9:30 surgery. The surgery will begin with laparoscopy, and they will remove the mass (which I have named Bob, btw). Bob will be taken to pathology where it will be determined if it is cancer, precancer, or something else.

They will also be removing both fallopian tubes, my uterus, and Bob’s ovary. As long as it is not cancerous/precancerous, they will leave my other ovary to avoid me going into immediate menopause.

Currently, the theory is that Bob is an infected ovary instead of cancer, though cancer cannot be eliminated until the pathology is done (I will know as soon as I wake up what Bob is).

Bob is sitting at the top of my uterus and extends up, encompassing the ovary. It is indeterminant if Bob IS the ovary or ON the ovary.

The signs do not point to cancer, however. There is no involvement of my lymph nodes, which is common with cancer. I have an extremely high white count, which even a month after my ER visit is still over 10k. This is another sign of infection, not cancer. And there is inflammation throughout my body, which also does not occur with cancer, but does with chronic infection.

If it is an infection, my iron levels may also be an indication. I have done some research on some of t he big sites (Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, etc) and it is sometimes a result of infection to have low iron and high ferratin like I have.

My hematology bloodwork was done last week, and the iron is lower than before, and my ferritin is still high. I’m not seeing him until after the surgery (supposed to on January 5, but depends on how I’m feeling).

Bob is still an asshole, though. I spent much of Christmas playing Cards against Humanity with one of my kids, my roommate, and a friend, and laughed so hard Bob hurt. However, it was a good time.

My oldest is still struggling with the situation and worried. I find it interesting how deeply he cares because he rarely shows it. He talks to me where he doesn’t talk to other people much aside from his boyfriend who lives in Canada. He is AuDHD, like me, and he generally doesn’t show much emotion, though he feels them very intensely. I’ve tried to involve him in more stuff with me, and he’s been enjoying it a lot. He likes to go to stores with me, go out to eat, and drive around to look at things. Unlike my younger son, he likes to leave the house.

But anyway, I tried to assure him of the above, and he’s coming to my blood test/ekg appointment on Monday, and the day of surgery.

Overall, I’m encouraged, and I appreciate those of you who have reached out. The only unfortunate thing is that I will only have partial paychecks for the weeks I’m out due to some short term disability insurance I have. I’ve thought of doing an indiegogo or a gofundme, but I don’t know if anyone would be willing to buy/donate to it so I can get through the next couple months.