TRANSCRIPT
Real Patient
I would get pain occasionally. And most of the time, I could just deal with it. And I’d take some Motrin or push it away or just, just push through it. I would say, probably it was 2001, where the pain was there and it just got worse over a three-month period of time.
So, they finally, at the base that I was at, they didn’t have surgeons. So they had to send me downtown. And when they sent me downtown the first time, I believe, it was a seven-centimeter cyst on the left ovary, and it was so large that they had to do the surgery to remove it because, unfortunately, it can tweak your ovary and cut off the blood supply, so they had to do surgery on that one. Between 2000 and 2004, I think I had five surgeries on that left ovary.
And then at the end of 2005, there was a mass growing inside of my uterus. They couldn’t tell what it was from imaging. So, they went in and did a D&C, which just scrapes out the interior of the uterus and pulled out the mass. And they said, they didn’t classify it as fibroid. They said it wasn’t cancerous. They couldn’t really determine what it is. And what’s weird is with all the biopsies that I’ve had from things that they have removed, they can never tell me what it is.
So in 2005, I had my tubes tied. Reason being is I had massive back surgery. So they fused my spine and they pretty much told me that it would be impossible to carry a child to full term. So I wanted to take away, I just didn’t want that to happen and have to deal with having to choose between an abortion and my own health, honestly.
In 2010 I was slated to deploy. I was going to Haiti. We knew that hygiene was going to be an issue. There wasn’t ample showers. There weren’t toilets. There was no running water. It was pretty much field conditions. And going in there with the problems that I had was going to make things just a little bit more difficult. So, I went to the doctor and we chose to insert an IUD, and it was a special one that released the medication just into your uterus that slowed down how much I bled and how heavy I bled. And I would say I actually used those, I kept it for three years and then I had another one put in because it was so good.
So what was interesting is even though I had this in, in September of 2016 I started to have horrible, horrible pelvic pain. And, I ended up in the ER. I didn’t know what was going on. Because again, with the IUD I should not have been ovulating. I should not be having any ovarian cysts. So, and it was all on the left hand side. So I went in, they did the ultrasound. They said there’s nothing on the left side. And I’m like this is, there’s something on the left side. Even if it’s not my ovary, there’s something wrong. I knew something was wrong so I had to keep pushing.
And at the end, the scans would have never shown that the fallopian tube had wrapped around my ovary. There’s no scan in the world that’s going to show that ‘cause the tissue is very similar. So it doesn’t look any different. And no telling what would have happened if I had not pushed. So when they finally got in there, my fallopian tube had wrapped around my ovary and was kind of squeezing it. And at the same time the end of this fallopian tube was actually pushing into my large intestines. So that is where the massive pain was coming from.
And I went from a active adult female, outdoors, running, weightlifting, taking care of my squadron, taking care of my family, to trying to stay awake more than four hours a day. I would say about a month or so ago was when the pelvic pain returned. And it was so consistent that I was like, okay, it’s time to go back to the hospital.
This time they could find, they couldn’t find anything wrong with the scans. And even the pelvic exam they were like, it could be the pelvic wall. And I’m like, how did I do something to my pelvic wall? And I pretty much told her at that point this is not acceptable for me to live with. I get out of bed every day with some sort of pain. So, and it’s been going on for so long.
So, I’m going to wait another month or two and see if it evens out and if it doesn’t at that time we’re just going to do the hysterectomy. It takes months to go from completely down in the cuts and incisions healing to being active again. So, I actually have to plan my surgeries around my physical fitness test. Because I don’t want to keep getting waivers for them. Because if you miss so many PT test, they’re getting rid of you.
So, and I think one of the reasons that I’ve pushed hard through all of this and been so determined is honestly, I just wasn’t done with the military. I still had things to do and people to help and a job to do. When I was an Airman I didn’t always have someone to help me solve my problems. So, everyday when I go to work I’m there to help another Airman. And that’s, that’s my calling. That’s what I do. I work so hard to help them. I work so hard because I believe in our mission. That’s why I haven’t given up. That’s why all of these medical problems that keep just interrupting, I refuse to give in. Because, I have more to give. And until, and until I can’t give anymore, I’m here. They’re stuck with me. So, and to do that, I just have to deal with the medical side, unfortunately.