When I got past 6 months and was still in a lot of pain, I took some drastic (at least for me) measures. I had been doing PT and massage every other week at least to try and regain range of motion. I had got a steroid shot and took a month off from any non-essential walking. I ate (and made my family eat) whole30 for a month. I even drove my kids to school at the risk of great road rage. I made some discoveries about ways I had been moving that perpetuated my pain. In PT I relearned to walk. But I was still hurting at least as much as I had been before my surgery, just in different places.
So, I decided to get a second opinion.
Here is what my new surgeon told me, in a nutshell.
1. Patients like me are the worst kind, because my expectations are so high.
2. I am no longer 20 years old.
3. An MRI less than a year after surgery would likely tell us nothing helpful.
4. "I've seen patients like you take a year to heal."
Well, I'm getting pretty darn close to a year. And actually, since right before I made that appointment, I feel like I turned another corner. Things are getting better. I added back in an anti-inflammatory gel that helped relieve some of the inflammation at the incision points. I'm moving better and feeling less pain. I may never be able to sit crisscross applesauce without some pain, but hey, it still hasn't even been a year, right?
And, I don't have cancer! Not a random comment, I did have a little scare. I decided I was tired of having periods and taking various forms of the pill to try and manage my cycle. It was actually really messing with my goal to go to the spa once a month this year. My doctor told me about a procedure called endometrial ablation. I got really excited about the idea. As a part of the pre-op process you have to have an ultrasound. The ultrasound revealed a polyp or two (that may have been the source of the abnormal bleeding) and could have potentially been cancerous. Thankfully, my good doc assured me that since I don't have family history and I'm under 40, I had basically nothing to worry about. But since I'm a woman, I worried. This week I had the polyps removed and the ablation procedure. I insisted on the patch before anesthesia this time, and no barfing. Whew. And, the polyps were not cancerous. My doctor prescribed a narcotic painkiller, but I didn't even pick up the prescription, and I didn't need it. I've been a bit tired all week, but I'm on the mend. I think in every possible way!
Hooray for the body's ability to heal. And thank goodness I'm under 40, even if I do still think I'm 20.
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