Monthly Archives: February 2014

Novasure Endometrial Ablation!

Well, yesterday morning at 11am I checked into City Hospital’s Women’s Health Centre and had my ablation.  It was a positive experience, painful yes, but the staff were very helpful and respectful.  A nurse sat down with me first to go over my medical record and my current medications, as well as the other pre-op forms that were filled out by a GP at my doctor’s clinic (my family doctor was on vacation and I needed the forms filled out before she got back).  Then the nurse described what the procedure would be like and how it would feel, she said it would feel like period cramps, which was true.  She told me what drugs they would give me (gravol and fentanyl and some local freezing).  And then she sent me off to get my IV and blood pressure tested.  Apparently I have lower oxygen than non-smokers, possibly because I smoked for 12 years even though it has been a year off them.  Anyway, then I sat in a recliner and waited.  I was supposed to go at 2:15, the third in line.  But something happened with the first patient and I was suddenly scooted ahead to number 1.  They had me walk to the room, then I had to lay on a short table with stirrups.  It’s a little bit of an awkward position.  My OB/GYN came in and did the check in to make sure we all knew what procedure was happening.

Then he left and the nurse gave me the gravol and then the fentanyl in my IV.  The gravol didn’t feel like much but the fentanyl was bizarre.  It made me feel kind of woozy/dizzy and dreamy.  “This is weird” I said.  Then the doctor came back in and they got to work.

I had a blanket over my lower half, so I didn’t see anything going in or out of me.  A speculum went in first, I was used to those so it didn’t bother me that much.  They gave me some freezing and then they dilated me.  That felt a little worse, even with the tablets they prescribed me to put up my vagina that morning.  Then he had to measure the inside of my uterus, and that really felt like yucky period cramps.  The cramps kept moving around to the different parts he was measuring.  And then he inserted the Novasure thing.  I don’t know what it looks like, so I can’t describe it, it is supposed to be a mesh that expands to fit your uterus and then they use some kind of radio frequency or something that basically heats up and burns the endometrial lining of your uterus.  Getting it in place felt crampy.  And then like the nurse had said, there was a hum.

The hum lasted for 90 seconds.  That doesn’t sound bad, but the FEELING of having it heated and burning your internal organs is NOT NICE!  I pretty much made moany whimpery noises the whole time it was happening. It hurt.  A lot.  BUT not so much that I wanted to die.  90 seconds can be a long time though.  And then finally, it was over.

A funny thing that happened is they left a radio station on during the procedure and Rick Astley’s Never Gonna Give You Up was playing during my ablation.  I was all drugged on fentanyl and trying to explain Rickrolling to them.  The nurse who had described the procedure earlier was with me in the room and she was super comforting.  She would distract me during painful parts by asking me questions and making light conversation.  I think her name was Brenda.

After it was over they helped me into a wheelchair and took me back to my bed (a recliner) and brought me some ginger ale and two cookies.  They also called my mom to come and get me.  I got dressed and then they took my blood pressure over and over until I seemed ok.  I went home with Mom.  I basically went to bed.

Afterwards was uncomfortable.  I felt crampy, AND I was constipated, and I kept feeling like if I could shit the crampy part would go away but I couldn’t poop all day.  At 7pm I took one of my super duper extra strength advil and I finally got a little bit of sleep.  At 8 I woke up and went into the living room.  I had some food, my appetite was back and felt good.  I went back to bed around 10 and slept until 1am when I took another Advil, they had told me to take something every six hours.  So then I took another one this morning at 7:31am and I felt back to normal today.

As for the lasting effects of the ablation, I won’t really know for a few months.  My OB/GYN wants to see me in three months to talk about how it is going.  Ideally, I would like to never have a period again.  For years I have had to take iron every day because I bleed so much I am anemic.  I bleed so much that a pad or tampon or even sometimes my diva cup can’t catch it all in the night so if I sleep over at someone’s house I am DESTINED to bleed on their bed.  It’s been really awkward, and people have been pretty shaming about the bleeding so much thing, which sucks.  Like I have literally gotten talking to’s about bleeding in people’s beds like I do it on purpose or something. I also don’t like the feelings of my periods, I get bad cramps.  On the second day of my period I have to empty my divacup about five times in the day.  It’s just ridiculous.

One thing is I won’t be able to be pregnant, which is fine.  I don’t want kids.  I had to tell my doctors over and over that I don’t want kids and they finally believed me.  Which is good because some doctors try to preserve fertility even when their patient is adamant that they don’t care.  I COULD get pregnant but it would be a horrible idea with complications and I would need to abort for my health.  So no sperm in vagina for me!  Which is fine by me!

I still might need to get a hysterectomy in the future if this doesn’t work, like my Mom and Auntie and my Grandma, BUT this is the new alternative to hysterectomies and a lot of women are really happy with the results.  Especially with the Novasure.  I’ve had a little bit of discharge, watery with a pink tinge to it.  Not really super bloody.  I can’t put anything in my vagina for six weeks, also no baths with salts or oils, no hot tubs, and no swimming pools.  No tampons, pads only.  I haven’t had much pain today.  It’s been good.  And yes, today I finally had a poop.  Poops are good!  It means things are working normally!

Posey Puppy

I got a new puppy recently, on Valentines Day.  She’s been SUPER cute and only a little bratty.  Her name is Posey, as in Parker Posey.  She’s a red smooth mini dachshund.  She is about 13 weeks old now, super tiny!  Hermione and Little Mister were a little chilly towards her at first, but Hermione warmed up to her and they played on Mom’s bed.  Sometimes they will cuddle up in Posey’s bed and sleep together, which is super cute.

Posey likes me, she bonded to me really fast.  She cries when I am away, unless she has someone to play with.  She likes to sleep in my lap, and Little Mister likes to lay on the right arm of the chair, and I like to use my laptop, so there has been some dog/laptop juggling going on.  I took her to our vet the first day we had her because she was due for her second set of shots and I wanted to make sure she was healthy.  She is.  The vet was happy with her and she is scheduled for her spaying in March.  Baby girl!

Here is what she looks like!

Baby Posey Cuthand on her first day home!
Baby Posey Cuthand on her first day home!

She turns bratty at a specific time of day.  When we are in bed and the lights are on and I am on my laptop she goes all wild trying to bite my fingers.  And she’s got pointy sharp puppy teeth so it is super annoying.  But the weird thing is as soon as I turn the lights off she calms down and goes to sleep.

Anyway, I wanted to update my blog because I got busy and didn’t write in it for a while.  So here is an update!  DOGGY! LOVE!  BABY!

Writing! :D

I’ve got the first rough draft of my first webisode written! 😀  Each one is only 3 minutes, so I have to pack a lot into three pages.  YAY!  I feel accomplished!  I was promising to start writing on February 1st. and it’s only the Tuesday after February 1st.  Now I just have 9 more left to go!  Whew!

I hope I can keep this up!  Tomorrow morning I have my dietician appointment, and then we are going to the Casino for a little bit.  Then back home I guess, to write a bit more.  I’m leaving the day after that to go to Kingston for ReelOut.  I’m looking forward to getting away for a little bit.  What else?

Oh, I guess I don’t feel so depressed that I am diabetic.  I felt a little more reassured by my doctor. I am gonna work really hard at keeping myself healthy.  There’s so much I want to do with my life, I don’t want it shortened or made worse.

I also had this little moment of hope the other day.  I sort of just came to the conclusion that ONE DAY I will get a girlfriend.  And that it’s okay I’m so picky.  I mean, I’m only picky about reasonable things, like that they shouldn’t be racist and shit like that.  They have to be a decent human being and that isn’t having high standards because I have those standards for everyone.

Well, I guess I should head to bed.  There’s not much else to say, I just wanted to mention I have a good start on this scriptwriting portion of my webseries.

Diabetic for sure!

So I had my doctor appointment today and I am now officially Diabetic.  Which sucks, BUT it is still really early days and she said if I ate well and got more exercise I would be alright.  I need more fruit and protein and less carbs and sugar.  Tomorrow I am going to see a dietician.  Mom and I are gonna do weightlifting tomorrow too.  I don’t need to test my blood glucose with a meter yet, I do have to come to the lab and do blood tests every three months though, and every other test is a fasting blood test.  BLOOD!  Bleh.

I don’t know if I am surprised or not.  I think I thought I had more time before this was gonna happen.  Like, five more years or so.  I always suspected it was gonna happen to me though, because of medication I am on and also being Native.

I hope it doesn’t blind me or kill me though.  I really don’t want to get all sickly.

But I was all sleepy this morning and mom said that was a symptom of diabetes.  So that is disappointing.  I’ve been REALLY tired these days.

I’m going to Kingston the day after tomorrow!  Going to be there for a couple of screenings of my films and talk on a panel.  Then visiting Toronto for three days.  It should be alright.  I’m looking forward to seeing my friend Louis!  LOUIS!

I have a lot to learn about diabetes.  I have a diabetic mom and a diabetic auntie though, so I’ve overheard a lot of blab about diabetic things.  It’s not totally new to me anyway.

Well, I was really just writing this post to warm up and blab about my day before I go on to start writing my transmissions webisodes.  I’d better go do that now!

Sleepy sleepy sleepy and bloody

I got my period so today has been SUPER SLEEPY!  Like, really sleepy.  I slept until 2pm and then I woke up and went back to napping at 4:15 until 6.  It’s day two so I keep having to empty my diva cup.  I’ve emptied it about three times already today.  And I will have to empty it again before bed.

SO for those reasons, massive blood loss leading to anemia because of fibroids, I am getting an ablation.  I had a gynecologist appointment a week or two ago where I had to repeat over and over that I didn’t want kids, cause I don’t, they are super annoying.  And anyway, I think after the 6th or 7th time I said I didn’t want kids they accepted it (there was a student with my gynecologist) and so I am being scheduled for getting my uterine lining burned out sometime in March or so.  They are going to give me a prescription for a thing I will put up my vagina by my cervix so that they don’t “damage me” too much.  I assume it’s gonna soften up my cervix and make it more dilated or something.

I hope it works.  I am tired of my period.  It’s better now with a diva cup, but it’s still such a drag.  I mean, emptying that thing FOUR times in one day is kinda insane.  Like, it holds about an ounce of fluid, that’s A LOT!  And I want to avoid a hysterectomy, because I’ve seen the side effects of having a uterus removed (incontinence and I also think it affects your orgasms a bit) and I don’t want to go through that.  So HOPEFULLY this will work out.

Next day———–*******************

So I am still super tired.  AND I got the results from a 2 hour blood test I had to take on Friday.  I had to get my blood taken then drink this orange “pop” and then hang around waiting. And then they took my blood again and let me go.  ANYWAY, my blood sugar is high.  So I have to go in and talk to my doctor tomorrow.

I don’t want diabetes, but it felt kind of inevitable.  I’m even on a medication that causes diabetes, AND I am First Nations, so it just felt like I was gonna get diabetic.  I have to start living more healthy.  I should exercise too.

Thursday I am going to Kingston, and then to Toronto, and then home.  That might be fun, I hope so.

I should publish this post and go read up on type 2 diabetes.