Pull-ups 8,8,7
Front squat 85x2x8
DB press 40x12,10,11
DB RDL 100x2x9
DB sumo squat 25x15,11
BPA 2x20
Three miles on the elliptical in 19:24
Well, that’s it for lifting until probably another month from now. The gym in my complex has been lifting my enthusiasm for lifting, and I’m excited to resume trying to shed weight and see some progress despite how difficult it’s been lately.
I’m even more excited to just do nothing for a bit though. It sounds pathetic, but after all these difficulties I look forward to being taken care of in the hospital and taking a nap. I’m not sure if what I’m dealing with will be “better” or worse than expected… scary either way. Again, I don’t want to waste anyone’s time. But from what I understand, only severe cases of endo show up on MRI. I have a good feeling that my surgeon is skilled enough to excise more or less all of whatever I’m dealing with. I’m lucky in that regard.
Hopefully will discover what’s going on on the right side of my pelvis; for the last several months, it feels like there is some major adhesion there that is especially felt during single-leg exercises. There is a chance I will wake up without an appendix, but I don’t think I’ll be losing any other organs
I hope this will put an end to my symptoms for at least a few years because it’s truly been a nightmare for the past almost ten months.
Returned home a little over an hour ago. Procedure went well, no complications. So far this is taking me out more than my first lap in 2022 though, jeez. It took me a while to feel like I could get up and get dressed. I’ve never had issues with anesthesia, but I was quite dizzy for a while and still am sort of. But I was stubborn about going into Target with my friend who drove me and not relying on her for any help with walking instead of just sitting in the car
I didn’t lose my appendix. That was the first question I asked after waking up. Then I asked how long it took, and the nurses said a few hours, longer than expected. Five samples were taken for pathology.
I’ll write more when I get the full pathology report. It seems I had pretty deep lesions on both of my uterosacral ligaments extending into the rectovaginal septum and the rectum. There was also a fibrous mass of 1 cm removed from the pouch over my uterus and bladder. According to the clinical notes, my diagnosis at the moment is “only” stage II endometriosis. But the staging is related more to the spread of the disease (i.e. how many tissues/organs are affected) and not pain or anything else. Could make sense given that I didn’t have much spread and also, surprisingly, no adhesions. I’ll be honest in that I wouldn’t have suspected it had spread to my rectum, but I think lesions at other locations explain some of my symptoms.
IUD was also inserted, let’s see how I get along with that.
Too tired to feel much of anything right now. But based on what I found out, it sounds like the surgery was worth pursuing. And I’m not a hypochondriac, yay.
My provider just checked in with me. She said even though it was “only” stage II, my case was very aggressive and that it will be obvious from the photos that will be shared with me.
Still waiting on the pathology report, but she thinks the fibrotic nodule is also endo. We agreed I am incredibly lucky it did not extend past the walls of my bowel because otherwise I would have required a bowel resection. She is not surprised that I am in a lot of pain after this and believes it was the right choice to have surgery.
She removed all of it. I’m incredibly grateful I had access to such a skilled surgeon and this level of care. Hard to sit with all this even though I am still waiting for official info.
See! No one’s time was wasted and you were saved from a potential loss of bowel! I’m sure you will feel so much better. Never doubt your knowledge of your own body.
Now typing this from a hospital room because I had some complications yesterday that prompted me to go to the ER and have one of the most traumatizing experiences of my life…
Yesterday I started taking the prescribed stool softener and as a result became incredibly constipated and then also stopped being able to pee. I had to call 911 because my bladder was scarily full (I think I actually have a bladder problem) and then eventually start scream crying after 45 minutes of not being seen because I thought I would burst.
I was hysteric while I was taken to a room in the women’s center outside of the ER. They had a lot of difficulty inserting the catheter, but I finally got some relief. Luckily one of the nurses there supports my surgeon and got in touch with her. The nurses administered a laxative via suppository, but it didn’t help. They called my surgeon, who said to not do anything else if that doesn’t work and just admit me overnight.
So, I am still in terrible discomfort and expect to go home today. The resident who assisted during my surgery visited me, which was nice. Trying a bowel regimen and then some breakfast so that I can go home later today. I have to keep the catheter until I can have it removed in my surgeon’s office on Tuesday because I remain at risk of not being able to urinate.
That’s not something to be embarrassed about. That kind of pain it overwhelming. Do they have you on pain meds? I only ask because certain ones can cause massive constipation. I found that out after my second C-section. The meds they were giving me blocked me up so badly that the pain from that was far worse than the pain of my surgery. I felt like I was going to die from it. I have since refused all narcotic pain meds. The not being able to pee thing is scary. Is it from the constipation? I assume it’s bowel pinching off your urethra? That would make sense for why they had trouble placing the cath.
The surgeon who works alongside mine just visited me, is incredibly sweet and assured me I did nothing wrong by taking the stool softener. She thinks the bladder may be the main culprit; even though urination was improving for me, it’s possible that I didn’t ever actually empty it. After my fit, the nurses collected 900 mL from my bladder And perhaps that triggered my inability to have a bowel movement as well.
Yeah, we also think the oxycodone I was taking contributed to these issues. Sucks because I needed it to be able to sleep for a couple nights. I feel that though. At this point I don’t even feel my incisions bothering me. It’s this constipation.
Interesting hypothesis! I’m not sure. A nurse was going to take a closer look but ultimately did not. But yeah, I thought my bladder was going to burst and destroy the rest of my body…
The bladder is incredibly stretchy. I’ve seen a man who’s bladder literally went the whole way up to his breast bone. Ended up having 1300 ml of fluid in it. I wouldn’t recommend it. Lol. Hope they get you figured out.
The narcotics cause me incredebily painful constipation and the softner does nothing to help me. They gave me a stimilant to het yhe s**t moving. Cause soft and still is not great.
Good grief, 2025 just isn’t relenting yet for you. Hang in there! “It came to pass”. I had to get a catheter when my leg was crushed and can confirm I felt embarrassed but even more so relieved when they drained my bladder! To the extent possible, let yourself rest - round up those friends for the Target runs, while you stay home and recover!
And perhaps that triggered my inability to have a bowel movement as well.