Soooooo, I think I have been MIA long enough. It's time to reveal news part 2.
{andrea cobb}As I
mentioned earlier, I have been in for quite a bit of news lately. To recap (because it's awesome): I and a few of my very talented colleagues each won an award that involves us going
here later this year. ugh-mazing.
Now, piece of news #2 is not as exciting, is waaaay more personal, but was just as anticipated. And since I'm a girl - and most likely, reader, you are, too - I thought I would share. So, here goes it:
For the last few months, I have been feeling incredibly ill. And, I'm talking full-fledged flu-like symptoms for weeks on end. It started one weekend in February with what felt like food poisoning.
I, myself, felt pretty good but my stomach did not. Anything related to food or drink was not happy making a place for itself in my tum - it wanted out and out now! This first bout lasted a little over a week and then I felt better. But, not for long.
A few weeks later, I couldn't eat a thing. I was forcing crackers and apple juice just to feel somewhat human. But, no matter how much I rested, the symptoms were getting worse. On top of the severe nausea, I was now having stomach pain and bloating, cramping, fever and some serious teeth-chattering chills. WTF. It got so bad in such a short time that an ER visit was the only feasible solution. Waiting to get a doctor's appointment was not an option.
After a 20-hour hospital stay, multiple visits with a gastroenterologist, a million sick days, 3 different prescriptions (I won't bore you with all the sicky details), no progress was made. I still knew what I knew on day 1: absolutely nothing.
At this point, I was incredibly frustrated. Depression started to sink in BIG TIME. And my colleagues were starting to take bets on my so-called medical mystery. So, I demanded any and all tests necessary to get down to the root of my problems. One day, one liter of barium drink later, I was regretting this decision, but I knew it had to be done in order to get me back to me.
Close to two weeks later, the doctors called me with the test results. My blood was normal. The CT scan of my abdomen was normal. Everything they were looking for (parasites, bacteria, etc.) came back normal.
And then came the shocker...
(boys beware.)
The CT scan of my pelvis revealed I have a cyst on my ovary and fluid left over from a previous one that had ruptured. All of my stomach issues were actually the result of girl problems. Figures.
So, now it's a waiting game. My body should absorb the fluid from the first cyst, which in turn should kill my symptoms. But, my doctor is monitoring me for the next 3-6 months to make sure the 2nd cyst doesn't irritate the hell out of my body, too. If the little guy decides to act up, surgery may be next up on my calender of events. Hopefully that won't be the case though. Fingers crossed.
To help lighten my mood, a couple of my lovely coworkers decided to hold a girls-only, old-school Microsoft paint "draw Anna's cyst" competition. Sounds a little twisted, I know, but it had me laughing for days. Here are a couple:
Rachel's:
Meg's:
So funny.
Now back to your regularly scheduled blogger (I promise).
