About six weeks ago, the pain I’ve been having on and off in my groin for the past two years (the pain I’d hoped surgery would fix last spring), came back with a vengeance. It wasn’t bad enough to require emergency care, but it kept getting worse until I couldn’t even sleep on my side anymore, and I feared that my bowel had partially twisted, as the surgeon who took out my gallbladder and appendix in April said it probably would.
I’ve been pretty focused this year on finding and fixing the source of my groin pain, and I was not excited to go back and have half of my bowel removed, as the “spring surgeon” stated would be necessary. So when the pain started up again, I asked my primary what to do, she said to call general surgery again, and I did, only this time, I asked for the surgeon who had saved my appendix a couple years ago when I went to the emergency room for the same frickin’ pain. She declined to take my appendix at the time, and honestly, I wish I’d gone to her last spring too, because I’d probably still have it even now.
Anyways, an appointment with her happened to open up on Thursday, the 10th of August, and I went in expecting her to confirm the other surgeon’s findings and tell me I would be losing half my bowel. Instead, looked at my chart and asked some very pointed questions (two things the previous surgeon didn’t do), and then went out into the hall, got an ultrasound machine, and said she was looking for a hernia.
I told her I had one in the groin area, but that the other surgeon had said it was too small to cause problems, and that I shouldn’t worry about it. She scrunched up her nose, did the ultrasound, showed me the hernia, and said she’d bet that was the cause of my groin pain right there (she also said women should always have these hernias fixed, because they can cause bigger problems rather quickly and we don’t notice as fast as men do).
She did not think I had a twisted or even partially twisted bowel.
She did have a surgical opening the very next day, and offered to fix my hernia right away. She also offered to do a diagnostic to check out my entire pelvic area, and see if my bowel could even twist or not.
Tired of being in pain, knowing I had another 6 week recovery ahead, and just wanting it all over with, I said yes, and Friday the 11th, I went in for my second surgery this year.
When I came to, my sister came in with full color photos the surgeon had taken during surgery for me, pointing out the not one, but two hernias she’d fixed, as well as both sides of my bowel being adequately affixed (so, not twisted). Photos and a note telling me how the surgery went, what her findings were, that everything else looked good, and wishing me a smooth recovery.
I can’t tell you how relieved I was to *not* loose half of my bowel, and also that the pain I’ve been living with for the past two years hasn’t come back since the surgery. I think she was right, and the hernias were causing my pain. Something the other surgeon just told me “not to worry about”. Considering my bowel is attached properly, I’m guessing the other surgeon just used the “folded bowel” as an excuse to take my perfectly good appendix out, which is both annoying and infuriating. Aside from removing a perfectly good piece of me, it also caused me a great deal of stress and anxiety, wondering if or when I’d eventually end up in the emergency room with a completely twisted/blocked bowel. Shame on him!
Of course I couldn’t just have a smooth recovery this time either. About a week after surgery this time, I developed a reaction to the surgical prep that left me covered in hives all across my abdomen and itching like *crazy* for the entire second week. Fun times. That seems to be resolving, finally, and all that’s left is to let my body heal, and get on with my life. I have a final appointment with the surgeon later this week, and four more weeks of recovery, but things are looking up, and I have no intention of letting go of any more major organs, thank you very much.
How did I get the hernias? Well, two years ago, Apollo-dog jumped on me. He put one big paw straight in that groin area I’ve had all the pain in, with all his weight behind it. I dropped to the floor, it hurt so bad, and it pretty much hurt ever since then. So my guess is, at least one is his fault.
That makes him the most expensive dog I’ve ever owned (surpassing Gabriel, who caused me to need a root canal in college). Thank goodness for good insurance!
Now that the pain I’ve been dealing with is finally resolved, maybe I can actually focus on the things I want to do (like, say, blogging and writing, among other things), rather than being constantly distracted and anxious about what’s going on under my skin.
That is a serious relief.
I have to say, I’ve been thinking a lot about those people who have to live life with constant unresolved pain. I’ve always had sympathy for them, but I’m truly amazed at what so many of them are able to accomplish while dealing with that constant distraction and no real relief in sight. Hats off to you, if you’re one of them. I know I’ve been far less productive in the past few years just dealing with these issues.
Writing News
The writing has been on hold a bit while I deal with this whole hernia surgery thing. However, before all that happened, I did get MacKenzie Saves the World formatted for print. I’m quite pleased with how it turned out, and print copies are available to order now from any bookstore you care to order it from.
Ready for the bookstore!
My local bookstore (This House of Books– link below) will have a few copies soon as well (as soon as I get there – sometime today, I hope). I love this story, and whether you’re reading it for the first time in print, or if you’ve already read the ebook, I hope you’ll enjoy it too!
As for getting back to writing, Magpie Shiny is calling my name. And so are two drafts I’ve written, and not gotten around to editing. I think it might be time to pick one or the other up again and see what I can do with it. They’re both set in Meadowlark, which is my fictional Montana town just down the road/out of the valley from Magpie (my other fictional town). My goal is to create a whole little alternate world in that little fictional Montana area, and it’s coming together quite nicely in my head, though still a bit jumbled. Hopefully I can manage to put it out on the page in a more organized manner.
And of course I started something new last week. Ideally, it will be done for my horror alter-ego by Halloween, but we’ll see.
Recommendation(s)
My husband and I were looking for something to watch the other night, and decided to try The Diplomat on Netflix. It was totally not what I expected – it was much, much better. The dialogue between the characters is so, so, *so* good! The chemistry is right there too, but it’s the dialogue that makes everything work so well.
If you have a Netflix account and are looking for something to watch, I’d highly recommend this series. Not only for the entertainment value, but as a study in dialogue and interpersonal relationships, too.
That’s it for this week! If you have a favorite thing to share, or want to recommend a book, TV show, video or podcast, comment below, email me at jamie@jamiedebree.com, or catch up with me on Facebook or Instagram.
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