Robots, and Experts and Surgery, Oh My!

Today was a long day for this Lymie. Mom picked me up early in the morning and we headed down to Portsmouth to go to Homeland Security to get a TSA Precheck for me so I can skip those nasty airport lines and not have to take off my shoes, etc. This will be great, with all of the traveling I do and especially when I take Mini on the Disney cruise in April. There is nothing worse than that line that doesn't MOVE and the people that cut the line at the Orlando Airport.  That process was very easy and in 10 days I should have my known traveler # which should make traveling WAY easier.

But it went so fast we had a lot of time to kill. So where did we go? Target, obviously. I was armed with my brand new shiny handicapped mirror badge and we went in to get Mini some things to do for the incoming Snowmaggedon (supposed to get 6-10 inches which means 12-16 here in the snow belt), but also some Valentines to work on. That was great because I NEVER would have thought of that until the day of...

So, we bought crafty stuff and i bought some unnecessary necessary stuff and we still had time to kill, but that was great because it was time for lunch. We decided to go to Chili, where I had not been in probably 20 years, but was right there and we just decided to go. As we were eating, we noticed three uniformed men stand up after their lunch and shake the hands and thank the people at another table. They had clearly paid for their lunch to thank them for their service, something that I will definitely do in the future. It was REALLY nice to see.  I love moments like that.

So we got through lunch as slowly as we could and... still an hour to kill. So we went to Petco and I bought Gunnar a memory foam insert for his crate, not because I am a loon, but because some of the bottom plates have fallen through and I have been padding them with lots of fleece blankets. I also managed to find the closest thing to his favorite ball which he ate last week,  so I had to throw away the rest. He has literally been sitting next to the pantry door where I keep the dog toys since the day I threw it out. Scratching and whining on the door. DRIVING ME NUTS. Of course I bought two but they will always want the same one!

And then we went to Bed Bath and Beyond and I bought some rather large heart-shaped cookie cutters to make my blue sky his favorite strawberry pancakes in the shape of hearts when he comes up next weekend for Valentine's Day. I am not a huge Valentine's Day person, but I have a short person here who LOVES all holidays, so I do what I can. I got some red placemats, a special one for her, a special plate and cup and napkins. I think everyone will be happy.

Well by this time we were done killing time and while arriving early to my appointment was to be at 1:45, I got there at 1:22. And thank goodness! WOW! The electronic device paperwork to fill out took a LONG time!  First, I want to say, that the energy of the office was incredible. It was upbeat, positive, and nurturing. I did not feel that way about the stark, sterile, serious, Dartmouth Hitchcock experience.

I only waited about 5 minutes after I was  done to see the nurse very briefly and then VOILA! A doctor on time! And she was really lovely. It was like chatting with an old friend. Very informal and yet, she asked all of the right questions, and didn't give me any crap about my Lyme. HOORAY! Anyway, we spoke at length about how the doctor at Dartmouth Hitchcock had give me an actual date for a March 5 full hysterectomy and that quite frankly, I did not like or trust them and I would prefer to do it with them at Wentworth Douglas in FEBRUARY being the keyword. I told her I would go in tomorrow if they needed me to.

I explained my "Lyme in the Coconut" chapter from the book to her (thought I didn't tell her about the chapter I explained the actual event of the 9 cm coconut-sized endometrioma) and she looked horrified and for her it seemed to be the icing on the cake. Yes, she was bringing in the big guns. I am so fortunate to say that she decided to bring in the Head of the Gynecology Oncology Unit from Mass General to use the Galileo robot surgery on me! Now, I do not have cancer... but my body is so complicated with the connective tissue disorder and adhesions I have developed from Lyme, that I need the best surgeon available and this surgeon, at the country's #1 rated cancer treatment hospital for several years, is the guy to do it. *goofy little jumps and golf claps*

Needless to say, I feel once again that following my gut and pushing forward and being my own health advocate has worked in my favor. I KNOW I AM IN THE RIGHT PLACE NOW.

Now, there was a bit of a hullabaloo on Facebook tonight that my status were sharing too much about my GYN issues, just my mention I had a GYN surgeon. Ok, I'm not going to get into this. My friend was just trying to make the point that not everyone has the full picture that these issues are stemming from Lyme and that that is why i am speaking so openly about it.

Which brings me to the following, Lyme causes gynecological issues. It has given me a lifetime of extreme menstrual-related myalgia, endometriosis surgery via laparoscope, a coconut-sized cyst which not only cost me my left ovary, but was adhered to 2.3 of my pelvis and they couldn't even get in through  my belly button, but had to open me up and do a laparotomy, a pretty serious operation, bring in another surgeon to assist in getting it done and admit me for 3 nights in the hospital. Lyme has caused secondary adrenal insufficiency (Addison's Disease) in me, as well as hypothyroidism. In short, there is not a freaking THING this disease has not done to my hormones.

It's important that you know this because Lyme is some serious shit. YES - everyone knows your joints hurt. YES - by now you that we have extreme fatigue and yet fight incredible insomnia. A lot of us a psych cases. But I really didn't even know that my endometriosis was caused by Lyme in my first book, so I never wrote about it like that.  You may not know things like this that Lyme can lead to situations like I am in now, which is why I choose to relinquish my privacy to educate the public and give Lyme a voice. I will continue to post about how things unfold and as always, thank you for following my journey.

Please comment on this blog entry HERE (not on FB) and all blog entries, as I love to hear from you. Also, if you have read the book, please be sure to REVIEW the book on Amazon! It's very important that there be a lot of response to the book, as my national PR campaign is now in full swing! I have two radio shows booked on February 10, which is very exciting! Things are starting to roll here! Let's just hope I don't have surgery THAT day LOL!