Not feeling pain when I apparently should be in agony.

When my appendix burst, and in the days before, I had only very minor pain. In fact, I thought it was just some type of mild flu bug or the fibro flaring a bit, so I really didn't pay much attention. What made me go to the doctor was that I had a slight fever for a while, which I very seldom get (even then, the doctor misdiagnosed me).

I don't know, but maybe our pain receptors in the abdominal area are somewhat different with the fibro(??) I, too, get high numbers with fibro pain and headaches, so I was surprised when the appendix situation was so different.

I hope your recovery is going well. Take care.

I don't think there is any rhyme or reason to the way people experience pain. I have endometriosis and have had excruciating pain from tiny areas of it. On the other hand, I have chronic kidney stones, and it takes a very, very large one (almost pea sized) to send me to the ER. Most I just pass at home without pain killers. Once again, on the flip side, I get horrific fibro pain in my arms (triggered by who knows what) that will sometimes require a sling.

I think pain is just a very individual thing, and I don't think the medical community is well trained in recognizing those differences on either end of the spectrum.

I'm glad you are recovering well. :)

That is strange, Madisun!  I had an ovarian cyst that was ten inches in diameter and weighed four pounds and I was in misery!  My daughter has endometriosis and when it acts up she is doubled over.

 

We are all so different and I'm glad that you didn't have all the pain.  It's good they found out these problems!  Pain is usually the first thing that sends us to the doctor.  That was a real blessing!  I hope you had the endometriosis taken care of, too.

 

Sherrine 

Oh Madisun, I'm sorry to hear that. Focus on the positive, though...you most likely got it right in the nick of time...BEFORE it becomes a problem. Make sure you get proper treatment and this might be a good time to look at any possible contributing lifestyle choices, such as smoking or poor diet. Also, please look at your environment as well. Many of us are unaware of all the toxic chemicals that surround us. Try not to worry too much and try to look at this as a an opportunity to help your body heal and become stronger. Hang in there and let us know how it goes with the doctors..

Warm Regards,
Liz

Luvzminis; That's how the doctor explained it. Like the cells you pick up on a pap smear. My Mum actually had them on her cervix as well... The most severe thing I'm looking at is another lap surgery. Which now I know what I'm getting into won't be TOO bad.
I think a lot of the stress is that so much of it is out of my control. I can't even make my own appointment, I have to wait for them to call me.

Liz; That's how I'm starting to look at it. They've found it BEFORE it gets nasty, which is a lot better than finding it after.
My diets... well, it's not bad. But it's not exactly good. But seeing how many hours I'm working, and that the CFS/FMS have been playing up, I'm doing about as well as I'm going to, lol.
I've even given up coffee since the operation. No idea why, but it just doesn't appeal to me anymore. Which is great, because I've been trying to give it up forever.
I've never smoked, the only vice I have is a good red wine... While I am going to cut back, I have to say the idea of no wine ever again is just to tragic to consider, lol.

I went through and did a clean out of the house a few months ago. All of my shampoo/conditioner is now as organic as possible, and the only SLS I use in in my toothpaste. All our household cleaners are now natural.
I mentioned I was having issues with chemical sensitivity at work, and my boss went out and replaced all our cleaners with natural ones. (That gob smacked me. No one has ever been so thoughtful EVER.)


Now the shock has worn off, I'm pretty confident that everything will be ok. All of my blood work was perfectly normal, and I was tested for EVERYTHING before I went in. Apparently nothing they removed looked nasty, so I'm thinking it's just one of those little blips on the radar. I just keep having to remind that evil little voice in the back of my head that likes to make me panic that there was a "pre" in front of cancerous cells.

On a brighter note, I get my stitches out tomorrow! I'm so ridiculously happy about that, lol.
Plus my stomach is now flat. I haven't had a flat stomach for years.

And other than the aches and pains, I actually feel better than I have in months. It's such a novel experience wanking up and feeling better each day, and then actually surpassing your starting point.

I'm taking it as a reason/warning to slow down. I'm a bit prone to going head down bum up and charging on ahead regardless... This hasn't been working this year.

I'm thinking working out the budget to see if I can drop back to four days a week. Before this happened I was thinking of trying to pick up some more work... I'm thinking this is the universes way of saying "yeah, noooo...."

That's also an awesome thing to remember. I've been reading lots about pre-cancerous cells, and I didn't realise how common they are. I'll be happier when I know exactly what kind of cells they are, where they were, ect, but the way my mum talked about the ones she had always made them out to be borderline catastrophic.

Having it put into context has been very helpful.

I'm hoping they'll send the results through to my GP as well so I'll get the info a bit earlier. 
(Plus my GP is kinda cool. He'll jump on the internet while I'm there and research stuff with me, lol.)

 

I just got home from my appointment…

I’ve just been diagnosed with low grade ovarian cancer.

So in three to four weeks, I get to have my right ovary removed, and a “cancer sweep,” of washes and biopsies. This means a lovely open surgery, with a vertical incision. (The one darned thing I didn’t want…. Well, two darned things. I didn’t want cancer either… But the cut is currently upsetting me more.)
This means a week in hospital, and 6 weeks off work to recover.

Depending on the results of the tests on the ovary, that will either be all the treatment I need, or I’m going to have to have chemo and a hysterectomy.

Turns out my worst case scenario was a little bit optimistic.

That said, the cancer is literally the lowest grade it can be.
Chances are that the cyst was existing before the cells and that the cells popped up in my ovary/cyst at the same time.
So basically, if I didn’t get the cyst and I didn’t get the cyst removed when I did I never would have found the cancer cells until the cancer was symptomatic.

So yeah. The giant cyst appears to have saved my life.

I'm sorry to hear about the ovarian cancer. I think it's pretty rare to catch it that early, so that cyst was certainly a blessing in disguise. And you're right, it probably did save your life. That's awesome!

about pain. Since I'm on pain medication all the time, I can go to the doctor and she'll look in my ears and tell me I have a bad ear infection, and I've never had pain from it. It's also the same with sinus infections, so she always checks me for that when I see her.

Madisun, sorry you have cancer but glad they caught it early. I hope the surgery goes well.

I've had a chat with the oncology nurse, and she was saying it's a virtual certainty that having the ovary out will solve the problem. (There's still a chance I'll need chemo, but it's tiny.)
She used a lot more mind friendly terms than the doctor did.

The doctor used the term cancer at every chance she got, and said we wouldn't know the grade of it until the ovary was out and tested.

The nurse was saying with the stage of cells found in the cyst, it's only borderline. The grading have a pretty good likelihood of coming back as nothing.

While we won't actually know for sure until the ovary and all the biopsies have been fully tested, the nurse made it sound far less catastrophic.
Nothing is malignant, which has seriously lifted the worry. Christ only knows why the doctor couldn't tell me that.

During the first surgery, EVERYTHING looked normal. EVERY test result baring the cyst it's self came back normal. (Literally everything. Even my iron, which is always bloody low.) All the blood tests I had as a follow up have come back normal.

I've been talking to my mother in-law, and she's had both a vertical and horizontal incision. She was saying that while the body image issues are worse with the vertical (stupidly my main concern) the actual healing is easier as it doesn't cut as many muscles. So that's made me feel a LOT better about the idea.

I'm still far from happy with the situation, and I'm still very much not looking forward to it... But I feel a LOT better than I did. So that's something.

(My boss also offered the following, "Remember that bout of gastro you had where you messaged me on day 3 to say you were vomiting green, were sure you were going to die, and to start interviewing replacements for you? What would you rather go through? The surgery, or that level of gastro again?"... I'd rather have the surgery. I'm pretty sure it's going to be a lot less traumatic.)

But back to the pain receptors... I had a really big calf cramp last night. It's the kind of cramp that used to be agony... And it was no where near as bad as it used to be.
The cramp its self was, I could see the change in the muscle, and feel it when I poked the muscle. But the pain was less than half of what it used to be.

I have noticed I'm much more comfortable in the stomach/back than I was since I had the cyst and endo out. My shoulders are better as well. (I had endo on everything, including the diaphragm. The pain referred up to my shoulders.) It's taken a while to really feel the difference, it's only been a week and a half since I've really felt fully recovered from the surgery, but there is actually a noticeable difference.

I'm thinking it's a cross between not actually feeling as much in my abdomen, and just having built up a massive pain threshold.

Thank you all for your kind words and support, it's very much appreciated *hugs.