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Monday, April 11, 2011

Roach Baby: Termination

Those of you who have been following this blog since its inception know that I had a benign tumor on my stomach that I lovingly referred to as my "Roach Baby." Well, after some debate and basically going against the recommendation of the doctor, I decided to have it removed.
 
The surgery was last Monday morning and I scored the day off work, which turned out to be a wise move. For some reason, I had originally thought that having a 3 inch incision across the center of my gut wouldn't be all that bad and I could go back to work for a few hours! Puff was sweet enough to take a few hours from his day to take me to the surgery and hold my hand through it all.
 
I'm not afraid of needles, nor of procedures themselves, but I'm definitely always petrified about how my body will react when it's all said and done. Back in 2001, I had a biopsy that I powered through... until I passed out in the parking lot and felt queasy and light-headed for hours. Having blood drawn is the same way... it doesn't worry me until afterwards when I always feel light-headed. I've spent several doctor's visits sitting on the curb in the parking lot trying to soak in cool, fresh air to get back on my feet. And knowing my body has reacted this way before just makes me even more nervous!
 
This surgery was pretty easy. I made a very honest and stern request to not be given a play-by-play of the action. Just tell me when I'm done. Apparently, I got 3 giant syringes full of numbing medication injected into me (although I barely felt the first prick) and then the actual cutting out of the tumor was very quick. The stitching me back up was super weird though... I was numb but could feel the tugging, which was flat out creepy. I made sure to sit there for awhile, and hold Puff's hand on the way to the car, just so I wouldn't have any sudden passing out scenario.
 
Going into the surgery, Puff had joked that he wanted to keep the Roach Baby so that he could always have a piece of me with him. Kimhead even suggested snapping a picture. Now, I know you come here for good entertainment, but once I saw the tumor, there was no way I would subject you guys to that horror! I had initially thought it would be about the size of a blueberry at best. However, it was probably more the size of a strawberry or a walnut in its shell. Knowing it was much bigger than any of us thought, and was apparently starting to attach or grow muscles (I wasn't really listening), I'm so super happy I made the decision to get rid of it before it caused any other problems.
 
The recovery has been a small glimpse into what I suspect it would feel like to have a C-section. And even though vaginal birth scares the crap out of me, somehow, it seems like a much more viable option to me at this point. I've been pretty sore, but it's waning as the days pass. And bending or sitting has been awkward too. You never realize how much you use your mid-section until it's sliced open!
 
In the end, it was worth it. Since the tumor was so big, I've been congratulating myself for not just giving birth to a Roach Baby, but rather, Roach Baby Twins!

Oh yeah... and if you'd like to personally request a picture of my stitches (or subsequent scar) I'm more than happy to oblige.

1 comment:

The Fischer Family said...

Wow! Glad to hear that everything went OK! And don't let vaginal birth scare the crap out of you! I've done it three times now (will have my 4th in November if I'm lucky!) and I wouldn't do it any other way! A C-section is WAY more recovery time! I hope you are healing well!