Monday morning I had to go back to the clinic for the second dosage of medication. I spoke to the nurse about how awful my experience had been. She apologized and talked to me about what was happening. I felt sick from all the medication. My stomach was in so much pain. She told me it was very normal.
That night we had a family wedding. I was overtired, overwhelmed, and got stuck in traffic for two hours trying to get home. At one point I called my Mom crying, telling her I just can’t do it. I finally got home, got dressed and we went to the wedding. No one had any idea what was happening. I had a smile plastered on my face. It was the longest wedding I have ever been to.
Thursday I went back for more bloodwork to ensure that my hormone levels were going down. I felt so sick that day. The pain in my stomach had not gone away. I went down the street at lunch and got some soup. I had just taken one bite of food when I saw the clinic calling me. I grabbed my phone, wondered why they were calling me so early in the day, and answered the call as I was walking out of the room.
I was shocked when I heard my doctor’s voice on the other end. He asked me how I was feeling. I told him about my stomach. He then told me that he had some bad news. My hormone levels were still rising normally. We had two options, another dose of medication, or perform surgery. I asked him what he would do if I was his sister or his daughter. He told me we were doing surgery.
That phone call was at 1:15PM. I was in the hospital admitted with a bracelet on my wrist before 3PM. I was very calm, Akiva was trying to call the Fellow who I had seen on Friday and was going to walk us through the entire thing. She came in and met us. She brought us upstairs and got us settled into a prep suit.
I called my mom. I was all upset because I was sitting in the hospital getting ready for surgery and all I had to leave the hospital in was my work clothes. I just wanted a comfy pair of sweatpants and a baseball hat to hide behind. She hung up, called my brother who ran uptown got all my clothes, told the babysitter what was happening and came down to the hospital to get it all to me.
My doctor was unable to do my surgery that day so he had one of the other doctors covering my case. I asked him who it was and he said, “I am trying to figure out if you have met him before. Looks like you saw him once in November 2015. His name is Dr. N.” I started laughing, and told him what happened all those years ago when he walked in on me changing. He laughed too and said well at least you have a good experience with him.
Dr. N came in about an hour later and said, well it’s good to finally see you again. He was serious about the situation, but also had a calm demeanor to him and was making a few jokes to help lighten mood. He started marking up my stomach. He asked if I had any other concerns or questions, I told him, “yes, I am not doing this unless you can promise I won’t wake up with you telling me you had to take everything out.”
He promised me that would not happen. He told me he would see me in the OR once Anesthesia cleared me. Akiva and I waited a little longer. The Fellow came in to get me. She took Akiva to the family waiting room which was totally empty at that point. She and I then walked through the back hallways of Cornell Hospital to the operating room. It was the most surreal experience I had ever been in and I had no idea what would happen next.
