More than you ever wanted to know about my insides

Today is the third day of my recovery. I had an oophorectomy on Tuesday. That means they went in and took out my ovary. While in there, they cleaned out a lot of scar tissue that, we hope, was the cause of my constant abdominal pain that I have had since May. I have had a half dozen tests to determine what the pain could be over the last several months. By the process of elimination, the cause of the pain was narrowed down to possible scar tissue and my troubling ovary. So good riddance, ovary, I am ova you! At least mostly. It is still a part of me that is now gone. What will happen to my femininity? The balance in my body? Asking these questions is probably too esoteric, since I know lots of women without ovaries who are not changed, but I still wonder about the subtle affects.

I have spent the last couple of days slowed way down…reading, resting and realizing that I don’t do this nearly enough. It is luxurious to watch a movie in the middle of the day. I usually only read for pleasure when I go to bed, which means I can plod through a paragraph or two a night. These last couple of days I have been dipping into The Dubliners by James Joyce in the middle of the day. This is stuff vacations are made of and it feels decadent to do it in my own home.

I have had numerous surgeries before in my abdomen, but for some reason (or several reasons) this one really scared me. My grandmother died in her forties of ovarian cancer. My mother had a female type of cancer that she contracted in her mid-sixties. This, and the fact that I had been in pain so long, made me very concerned about the surgery.

The hospital I went to has made it a point to make the patients comfortable. The nurses are very friendly and seem to have been there a long time, so they are very familiar with the place and with each other. This gave me confidence, although when I was walking to the surgery room, attached to an IV tube, wearing the ill-fitting garb, I got a flash of walking the green mile.

One thing I was worried about was the after affects of the anesthesia. When I have had surgery before, I have woken up groggy, in pain and nauseous. It really is uncomfortable. This time, I had no nausea, which made the whole healing process the first day so much better. I went in at 5:30 a.m., the surgery was at 7:30 a.m. and lasted an hour and a half and I was home by 11:30. It really seemed routine, at least to the hospital staff.

Since I had my right ovary removed when I was 16, I am ovary free now. When I see the doctor next week to get my stitches out, she will give me some hormones, since I am in what is called surgical menopause.

I am sure this is more than you ever wanted to know about my inner workings, but if you didn’t have some curiosity, you wouldn’t have read this far! A big thanks to all of you who kept me in your thoughts, prayers, etc. as I went through this process. Your kindness gives me strength.