It all started yesterday when I had to tell my class that I was leaving them for the rest of the day and for Friday. I told them that I was going to have surgery. One girl thought I might be having my tonsils out! Another girl, the one who likes to know everything, squeamishly asked if they would want to know about it. I told the class that I didn't want them to know about it. They were happy with that, and I was glad.

My substitute arrived on time, and my class was busily working on their math. It all was all working out as I had planned. When I left, a mother who volunteers was in the hall. She asked if I was going to do a good thing or a bad thing. I said it was a bad thing. She said she was going to say, "Have a fun time," but wanted to see first if she should say that!

My husband and I arrived at the hospital and spent the next half hour sitting around. Then I was brought to the back to be weighed in and have my temp checked. The nurse couldn't find the ear thermometer. (Later they decided that the people who had left just before I came in must have stolen it. It was a stupid thing to do since those thermometers won't work outside the hospital. The nurse figured it would end up in the trash.)

Then I was taken to have a blood draw and brought to the room where I would got dressed in my hospital gown and gave a urine sample. After that we had to sit there for another hour until we were brought to another room at 3:00 to wait for the surgery, scheduled at 3:30. It was there that they gave me a cute "hat" for surgery and hooked me up to the I.V. The nurse had to do a little digging around to find the vein, so I was glad she had numbed the area first.

My RE came in next. He greeted us and shook our hands with a smile. Inwardly I laugh when I see his smile, because a couple months ago he got braces. It's funny to see a guy around 40 with a "metal mouth". I would think he'd want to get some sort of transparent braces rather than something as visible as metal. It must not bother him though.

My doctor went over the basics of what would be happening, and asked any questions we had, then left to get ready. After he left, the anesthesiologist came and introduced himself. He told me that for young women there is a 1 in 3 chance you will have nausea from the general anesthesia. I wasn't too worried about it. I figured I'd be one of the 2 who doesn't get ill. My husband and I kissed good bye, and the anesthesiologist carted me to the surgery room.

On the way there we had a nice chat. I found that he had heard of my school, his wife attended the same small Christian college that I did, and that he attends the same denomination of church as I do. He even knew the names of my present and previous ministers, and told me to say hello to my minister from him.

I'm not sure when I'll tell the minister. I haven't even told him about this surgery because I don't consider it a serious enough thing to tell him. To me it is a private thing, and I don't want the minister to make it public. When my brother-in-law had surgery for his varicocele, the family told the minister to keep it private. However, when my father-in-law and husband went to the coffee shop one day, the minister asked in front of everyone how my brother-in-law's surgery went. When someone else asked about the surgery, my father-in-law had to say that it was something similar to hernia surgery. My husband was pretty upset about this, so he isn't too trusting of the minister keeping things private anymore. He may find out about it. His daughter is in my class. The good thing is that his daughter is a quiet girl and tends to keep things quiet. It's possible that she may not even tell her father that her teacher is having surgery.

Now where was I? Oh, yes, the operating room. I was hooked up to the blood pressure machine and the heart monitor and rolled onto the operating table. They gave me oxygen. The last thing I remember is them telling me to take deep breaths. I took two breaths and was out.

When I woke up I was in the post-op room. In the distance someone told me I had endometriosis and had an ice pack on me. I wasn't quite awake enough to be sure if the endometriosis part was my imagination or I had actually heard it. My blood pressure was taken automatically a couple times after I became conscious. I asked if my throat was sore. I said a little, but that I really wanted something for my chapped lips. The nurse put on some Vaseline. Too much actually, I had to wipe some of it off. I asked if I could lie on my side and they said I could. After about 30 minutes I was brought back to the recovery room where my husband soon joined me. Two hours had passed since I was brought into the operating room.

I was asked how much pain I had on a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being none and 10 being the worst pain). I said 1 because I felt cramping similar to that of my period. The nurse asked if I wanted any pain medication, and I said no. I was asked if I was feeling nauseous and, when I said no, I was given some 7-up, which helped my empty stomach and my scratchy throat. The nurse left and asked to call her if I needed to use the restroom. My husband told me that there was endometriosis, Stage 2, and showed me the pictures of it. He said that the doctor had told him about how it affects fertility, but he didn't remember it all. I have to go back to the doctor in two weeks for a post-op appointment, so I can find out more then.

Later on I began having some sharp twinges of pain, and when the nurse returned she gave me morphine through my I.V. I didn't become nauseous from the 7-Up, so I was given some saltines. I peeked under the covers and took a look at my incisions. There are three of them. One is in my belly button, and the other two are about four inches below that which are about two inches apart. They had tape covering them, and some blood was seeping through onto my gown. Eventually I began to feel more awake and was ready to go home. A nurse came in to check my oxygen level, heartbeat and blood pressure. She said everything looked good. She asked if I needed to go to the bathroom. I said I could go, but I could wait a while too. She started to leave and I quickly asked her how much longer I needed to wait to be released. She said she could let me go once I went to the bathroom.

I was so glad I had asked. I can hold my bladder for a long time. I figured I would wait until I got home and was in my own bathroom! If I had known that was all I needed to do before being released, I would have tried going earlier! I walked myself to the bathroom, not feeling dizzy or nauseous at all. By then the pain was barely there. I did my business and called the nurse in to see that I had gone. It was a colorful toilet bowl: red, yellow, and blue! Red from some blood, blue from dye they put up into my uterus and tubes, and yellow from the urine. The nurse said things looked okay. I got too put on my own underwear along with a pad and some band-aids for my seeping wounds. My I.V. was removed while I stood by the bed. It felt so good to stand up again.

While my husband went to the pharmacy to get my prescriptions for pain medication filled, I was given instructions for recovery. Basically I have to rest for the first 24 hours, then I can start to ease into my normal activities. Also we have to abstain for 7 days, so TTC this month is pretty much out of the picture. We could start TTC again on day 15, but I normally ovulate on day 13, so it would probably be too late. Once he returned from the pharmacy I was told I could take of one the pain pills. I didn't feel bad enough to take any. I was told to dress and a volunteer would wheel me to my car. Hooray, I was going home! I had been in that room for 2 � hours by then, and was ready to get out of there.

We went through the drive-thru at McDonalds since my diabetic hubby was in dire need of food. He let me eat a few of his fries. I didn't want to eat too many and get sick.

Once we got home we called our parents to tell them how things went, and I called my principal to let her know I was okay. I had some saltines and water for my dinner. I was told that I could have chicken noodle soup, but that didn't sound too good to me. I rested on the couch then sat at the computer and did some reading about Stage 2 endometriosis. I wasn't sure if Stage 2 was considered mild or moderate, so I was glad to find that it was mild.

I didn't sleep very well last night. It wasn't because of the pain. It was only slightly there, and keeping ice on it helped a lot. My mind had a lot of things to think about: endometriosis, the hope that I still may be able to get pregnant, and the possible treatments that may follow. It makes my eyes tear up when I think that I could be pregnant in the next six months. I hope I do, because it will make all the treatments and surgery worthwhile.

This morning I'm doing okay. I had some milk, instant oatmeal, and some pain medication for breakfast. I have more of a general pain in my abdomen and since I planned to move around a little, I figured the medication would be good for me. I have some bruising, which seems to be right where my ovaries are. If you look at my lovely pictures you can see that most of the endo was on my ovaries. I think the right tube photo with the dye is showing where the tube is blocked. I guess it really was blocked.

The RE's office just called to see how I was doing and to schedule a follow-up appointment with the doctor. I have it scheduled for Monday, Feb. 23 at 3:00., which is about the time my next period is due. I'm thinking of some questions to ask him. This is my list so far:
1. Is my right tube open or closed now?
2. Will the endo come back quickly?
3. Is it likely for it to progress to a moderate or severe level?
4. Will I need to have more surgery down the road?
5. Is the spotting I always get before my period a result of endometriosis?
6. Will the spotting decrease now that I've had this surgery?
7. Sometimes I get constipated and I see that it is a sign of endometriosis. Should I be concerned about that?
8. What type of treatment do I need to have for this condition?
9. Will I need to be on birth control pills to slow the progress of this disease?

I think I'll go lay down now and dream about my future as a mother.