Cystoscopy

Today was my procedure -- everything went fine & we got answers! I was pretty nervous about being under anesthesia - I've never been "put out" before.

Apparently, I have horrible veins. That's the first thing I learned today. I knew from getting labs done previously that they were bad, but I guess my veins are useless for IV's. The nurse wouldn't even try to put the IV in. She called the anesthesiologist and he had to stick me three times - once in the middle of my forearm, once near where they typically take blood, and lastly in the wrist of the opposite hand. After the middle of my arm started turning black and blue and swelling almost immediately, he left that IV needle in and attempted another place. He finally got a vein in my wrist and I thought I was going to pass out, because my other arm was killing me. He leaves the room and leaves the first needle in my arm! What the heck! That was the only traumatic experience of the day, thank God.

Dr. Hernandez said that it's Interstitial Cystitis (IC) and I have many cysts of the lining of my bladder also. Thankfully, by staying away from certain acidic foods and taking a $360/month medicine, the lining will build itself back up. I have no other health risks; however, my mother-in-law asked Dr. H if IC and the cysts could be linked to my infertility and other cysts. He said that it definitely could be related. Geez...my whole body is a mess!

ER Trip

I woke up yesterday morning feeling terrible. My lower abdomen was sharp shooting pain, along with other issues. R took me to the ER around 7:30am. I was there for over 3 hours, they know I'm hemmoraghing, but can't explain what is wrong. My momma came and stayed with me so that R could go to work. They did a CT scan, which showed no kidney stones or abnormalities.
They released me with pain meds and instructions to see a urologist today.

I called the urologist to schedule an appointment and of coure their next opening was in 2 weeks! I stayed home from work again today, because I can barely move. I called the urologist and begged them to get me in or else I was going back to the ER.

They say it's likely Interstitial Cystitis, which is a deteriorating of the bladder lining. Apparently, I also have gall stones, which I'm supposed to "remember, but forget about, just for future reference". Seriously? They're scheduling me an appointment for a cystoscopy in the next 2 weeks and until then I'm on 2 different medicine for pain. I suppose I should be thankful that they're numbing it for the time being. =)