The Time Has Come

Finally have a reason to kiss the ole cyst on the left ovary goodbye. I called Mayo Clinic late yesterday afternoon and asked them to schedule me. They expect I should be scheduled within the next 2 weeks.

I've been doing fine up until this past Tuesday. By Thursday morning a trip to ER seemed in order. Abdominal CT scan and xray show the cyst has not changed in size or shape and the kidneys and spleen, etc. clear so the assumption is the little darling is now pressing on a nerve, muscle or both.

Best wishes, please let us know the date when you get scheduled.

I'v had pinched nerves, they really do hurt! I hope that you're getting some relief while you wait.

s

Thank you. I've started doing some of the gentle stretches my husband learned at Mayo when he had some real problems with muscle spasms after a previous back surgery. Plus I have a "half noodle" to lay on for 5 minutes at a time that seems to be helping a lot.

You know the sponge rubber "noodles" they have for kids for swimming pools? They come in two sizes, a thin one and a fat one. The whole fat one is too much for me but a fat one cut in half lengthwise is just right.

You lay with your butt close to one end so that your head is still resting on the noodle length as well. Lay your arms and elbows flat to the bed or floor, draw your knees up so your heels are comfortably near your butt to help balance so you don't tend to roll to one side or the other and just relax and lay there for 5 minutes several times daily. Its a trick I learned from a friend who is a spine physical therapist.

You might even try just using one of the thin noodles to see if that would work.

Just a little hint for those with back problems in the hopes that it will help them too.

Mayo called me back Friday morning. I'm scheduled for an appointment with a Dr Podrack, gyn surgeon, and a Dr Wolff, colorectal surgeon, on February 25. Mayo is sooo efficient. Can you believe? 12 days from phone call to the surgical consult? And then surgery w/in 1-2 days.

Life is just full of little surprises. I felt fine for awhile after the Wednesday nite/Thursday morning trip to ER and then it started in again. Only worse. My family doctor told me to go to ER if it got bad and he would admit me for pain control. 7:30 Saturday morning I was in ER!

What a shocker whilst I was in ER! 7:00 AM when I left the house I had just the pain. 9:30 AM in the ER I had a red welt on the left side of my spine and by 11:30 AM I had red welts to the left of my spine around my waistline to the left side of my belly button.

Shingles!

Morphine and phenergan and a couple of starting doses of Valtrex and prednisolone did the trick and I felt great when I was released from the hospital this morning and home by noon.

Now I've got to call Mayo Monday morning. I can't imagine they would do surgery this soon after breaking with shingles. Sheesh!

And tonight I can't sleep, I've got an ache in my groin and upper thigh and a swollen lymph node in the groin about the size of a pea, totally visible to the naked eye, not just to feel of the fingers. Sigh. I'm assuming more shingles. Sheesh!

You get an itch on your nose, you're afraid to scratch it for fear maybe you can spread the shingles. So, off I go to google to do some searching and learn something about this shingles bit. Herpes zoster. Re-activated chicken pox. Leave it to me! Life is NEVER boring!