Call me Holmes...Sherlock Holmes

Mystery solved!! Ok, so my body has been going through some weird stuff lately. A few weeks ago, as I said in a previous post, I got so ill I could hardly stand it. After that, things were never quite right; meaning, I didn't feel back to 100%. So Friday I finally went to the doctor, telling her I had some constant pain in my abdomen. She starts pressing around on my stomach and promptly tells me I need to go to the ER because she can feel 'a mass.' Weird thing is, I didn't really freak about it at first. I even dropped by my grandmother's house to grab a book, b/c I figured I'd be stuck there for awhile. So I get to the ER, get checked in, and find myself in probably the only actual room with a door in that ER in a gown that...well, everyone knows the story on those freaking gowns. Inadequate, to say the least. Thank god she gave me a blanket! Just a wee bit breezy in there.

Anyway, they ran a bunch of tests, poked me with needles, IV's, etc, and then wheeled me upstairs for a CAT scan.


Not too dignified in my see-through negligee called a gown. The whole while I know I'm naked (nekkid here in Bama) under there, and everyone I see in the hallway knows it too, so they avoid eye contact. Or there's the people who gave me a sympathetic smile. That must be what it feels like to be in a wheelchair.

Well, after my bedside tour of the hospital, I found myself in the CAT scan room. Anybody had one? Extremely strange process. I'll try to describe it.


You lay down on the table while they hook some automatic dye to an IV. Oh, and this is after drinking a jar full of Barium dye. This is, of course, for them to be able to see the contrasts of your insides. The process is fully automated, including the voice telling you to hold your breath. The table moves back and forth under the cyclical imager, or whatever it's called, and somehow a 3D image is created of your body. Mine was just a lower quadrant scan. When they injected the dye through my IV, I could feel a warm sensation in different parts of my body. That was the strange part.

By the time I got back to my room, I had been there for several hours. Let me tell you that I do not like hospitals! I was so ready to get out of there. Nevermind that I hadn't eaten a thing all day, since all of this started in the morning before I had a chance to grab something. So by then, I had decided I would walk out of there, get something to eat, and worry about the results later. I was so aggravated. I found it a little difficult to get my clothes on with that IV still in my hand, but I managed. ;) Finally, the doctor came in a little bit after that, so I was able to find out what was going on.

The doc told me I have 'several' ovarian cysts, and that one of them had burst. The one that burst is what was causing me to have a distended stomach, because of all the fluid in there. I am almost completely certain that the cyst burst that week I got sick, causing me to be disabled for nearly a week. The repercussions of that is something I have felt since then. I really didn't know a thing about the 'cysts' up until this point. So I asked him, "how many is several?" All he told me it is "more than a few." Great. Real helpful.

There is not much they can do about them, either, unless they are deemed cancerous or become entangled in the overies. They are not life threatening, and actually are quite common in women. They're not really sure what causes them, but there is interesting information on how they form.
Most folks that I've talked with about this have either personally experience this, or know someone who has. One friend I talked with described the pain just like I experienced that week I was so sick. So what do I do about them? Supposedly they go away on their own. I just want to know how is that? Do they go away by bursting, or do they just shrink or something? B/c that whole popping thing sucked.

My biggest concern with all of this is my training. I was looking forward to getting back on track by doing either the Knoxville Cross or the 10 miler in Bham this weekend, but that all fell through. I have been virtually unable to do any strenuous activities since all of this began, and I am fearful of putting too much strain on my body & causing this to happen again. I've been thinking it over, and I believe I will do the gradual thing, and ease back into a schedule. I am eager to hammer myself & really suffer, but that will have to wait; at least for a time.
As for now, with all of this my sleep has been disturbed. So here it is 2 a.m. and I'm posting. *Yawn* need to hang it up for the night...