Late Saturday night, I felt a sharp cramp or pain in my lower right side. It alarmed me a little, but I figured that if it just went away, I wouldn't worry about it. Well, it did go away.....only to come back Sunday evening at around 5:30 p.m. and then persist. I wasn't sure what I should do because it was a Sunday evening and the only thing open would be an emergency room. It wasn't exactly as much of an emergency as it was discomfort combined with the fact that my temperature was going up quickly. I didn't want to have to miss work, and it was early enough to get into the ER (plus we were kind of worried it could be a bigger deal if it came back stronger). So, I decided I might as well go to the ER and see what was going on.
I'd been having symptoms for awhile of nausea, fatigue, shortness of breath, elevated temperatures, and now a sharp pain in my right side. I went in, told them what was going on. Of course, they tested for pregnancy only to have it come up negative. I was taken back where a somewhat absent-minded doctor began questioning me. He was having trouble holding onto the facts I was giving him, but was SURE I wasn't pregnant. Well, GOOD...that's GREAT! I don't care about that anymore. Let's find out what was going on. But the problem was that once he decided I wasn't pregnant, it was like he didn't care anymore.
He came in nonchalantly and said, "I'm going to have a CT scan done in case it is something more serious, but I doubt it is." Then, in his own medical terms, he basically told me he thought I just had gas. Now, I know gas is painful and I have had gas before but it has not been concentrated in one exact location where I feel like something is squeezing me.
Well, he had the CT scan done. Again, he rolled in as carefree as could be and said, "Well, there appears to be nothing wrong with your appendix, liver, kidney, or other major organs. There is what appears to be a partially collapsed cyst or follicle on the right ovary (which, oddly enough, was exactly where I was feeling the pain). So, I'm going to treat you for constipation."
WHAT? Wait a minute, what does constipation have to do with a cyst? I am not constipated. I don't have gas. But I'm being given all kinds of treatment for constipation. I honestly felt more competent in my own hands than in that doctor's.
However, before he could leave, my husband asked the doctor if all of the symptoms I was having could at all be related to an ovarian cyst. He answered, "I don't know. You'd have to ask the ob/gyn." Well, we went home and found out ourselves that an ovarian cyst could very much cause those symptoms.
Great, basically 5 hours were wasted at the ER to find out I'd have to go back to the doctor the next day to find out what was really going on. So, I took the day off of work to schedule a doctor appointment with somebody who could maybe give me a clear answer. Fortunately, the next doctor wasn't as clueless about the whole thing. And, after pulling up the medical record from the ER (this is the army medical so it's all in the same database), decided that, yes, the problem was more likely an ovarian cyst, and constipation wasn't even a consideration.
After his examination, he ordered an ultrasound to be done to see what exactly was going on. I went in for my ultrasound today and will not have any answers until Friday. But after looking at the pictures and then researching online, it appears to me that I have one huge cyst. I could be wrong. We'll see. But next time I need some medical advice on a weekend, I think I'll stick to Web Md unless my arm is chopped off or something.
Well at Longwood even if your arm was chopped off, you were still pregnant. I was pregnant the day I went in to get them to remove glass from my foot when the window broke.
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