Surgery

It's been a bit of a rough week here. Rather than send out lots of emails and make lots of phone calls, I have decided to keep everyone updated in one place.

I went to the doctor Tuesday because I have been having constant pain, similar to cramps. It is day and night, no worse, no better.

They did an internal ultrasound and found a mass in my uterus. It's almost 2 centimeters on both sides. As you can see from the picture, it is the shape of an egg.

The doctor told me I will need to have it surgically removed and tested. Needless to say, the prospect of doing that in China scares the hell out of me.

To make a long story short, I went and got a second, third and fourth opinion. I wanted to try to find a facility I felt comfortable with and needed to piece together new information I seem to get whenever I talk to a new doctor.

Some tell me to leave it in for a few months to see if it goes away, some say I should take it out right away. Some tell me the pain is not related to the mass and is a whole other separate issue. Some tell me there is a chance my pain will go away if I have the mass removed.

I do know the following: I am too young to have a polyp, the size of the mass is of some concern, pain is abnormal and the chance of this being anything other than an inconvenience is very slim.

About 10% of women have some sort of mass in their uterus. Most never find it unless they are having trouble getting pregnant as it typically doesn't cause pain. My pain just happened to lead me to this discovery, which I will take as a blessing.

It has been a long, draining, frustrating, scary, overwhelming process. I have consulted specialists here and people back in the States. I feel as informed as I can, even though no one has the answers- yet.

After talking with my family and Devon, I have decided to go ahead and take care of the most obvious problem first. I go in Tuesday to have surgery. Yes, it will be at a Chinese facility, but it does have a special section especially for foreigners. It is cleaner and more trustworthy than the place for locals, which is both sad and reassuring.

I considered coming home to do this but honestly I simply don't have insurance there and my wealth comes in love rather than money.

A friend and Chinese colleague are going to go with me to the hospital for the surgery. Both are very vocal and will speak up if they see anything less than standard. They will also make sure I get home OK as I will be put under anesthesia for the procedure which is called a hysteroscopy.

They don't have to cut me open. Instead the doctor will use a scope to check out the inside of my uterus and remove the mass. It will then take ten days to get the test results back. Recovery takes between 1-2 weeks. Feel free to hop online and keep me entertained!

I will keep you posted as often as I can with new information. Let's cross our fingers and hope everything turns out OK.

With Love,

Gretchen