Surgery (TMI-Reader Discretion is Advised)

 I've had a lot of calls, texts, facebook messages, etc wondering what that heck is going on. The short answer is that I had to have a D&C. The long, a little more graphic, answer....

About a week and a half after I had Madison, I went from bleeding to light spotting and I thought "Heck yeah! This is awesome!" I was thrilled! At 4 weeks postpartum, to the day, I started bleeding bright red blood and cramping and I thought "Oh yay, I get periods again." So, assuming it was my period, I didn't even give it a second thought. The following Thursday (6 days later) Kathryn and I took Preston to Jump Street (you saw the blog post). I was cramping pretty bad and the cramps would come and go in waves almost like contractions. I had joked with Kathryn that because I hadn't had a period in so long that they were coming back with a vengeance. I took some of the Rx strength ibuprofen my doctor had given me after I had Madison to help with the cramps but it wasn't helping which I found odd because the ibuprofen always helped my pain. Mike came home, I had told him how I was feeling and he felt bad that I was so uncomfortable with this first period post baby and he felt even worse that he had to go off to school and leave me to take care of the kids by myself.
The cramps got worse to the point where I could barely move without having a ton of pain and that if I was at the hospital having a baby I would be asking for an epidural within the next 10 minutes. I text Mike things like "oh my gosh they are getting worse" and "what the heck is happening to me". He text me asking if he should come home and I told him no because he needs to have attendance to keep good grades. I got up to go get the heating pad to put on my lower abs and when I did, I felt a gush as if I were pregnant and my water had broken. I went to the bathroom and there was blood everywhere along with a clot the size of my fist. I put on a new pad and went to lie down with the heating pad and then 30 seconds later I felt the exact same thing. I went to the bathroom and sure enough...it happened again. This happened another time before I finally text my mom and told her what was happening and asked if that was normal. She said no and that I needed to call my doctor and go to the ER. I grew up in a family where my dad only took us to a doctor if our arm was snapped in half, otherwise we had to suck it up and be tough so needless to say I was hesitant about going to the ER, especially because I didn't want to pay all that money for something they probably couldn't fix. I text Mike and told him my mom thought I should go to the hospital but he didn't respond. I then text him again saying I was losing a ton of blood and was starting to feel like I was going to pass out. He didn't respond. So finally I call him, crying, and told him to get home now because we had to go to the hospital. I called my doctor and explained to her that I was losing a lot of blood and had soaked through 4 maxi pads in 30 minutes. She said that was way too much and that I needed to get to the hospital to have it checked out.
My mom and Kathryn came to take care of the kids and Mike took me to the hospital. The car ride was miserable as I just kept losing so much blood. When we got there, I filled out paperwork, changed into a gown and waited forever. You know how ERs are. The doctor came in just so chill and relaxed. Never once asked me what was going on, what are you feeling, nothing. Not a single question from the doctor. I guess he went off what the nurse had asked me and written down. The nurse took my blood and started and IV because apparently I looked like a ghost. About an hour later the doctor came back in and said my blood work came back fine and he was going to do a pelvic exam. He took 3 minutes to do the exam and looked up and said "you are just having a bad period". BAH! Umm....I don't think so. I said "I don't think you understand how much blood I've lost". Ya know, considering he didn't watch me change every pad or go to the bathroom each time. He said "that's common with your first period after you've given birth". I was furious. I knew this wasn't a period and he just walked out of the room. That was the exact reason I didn't want to pay for a trip to the ER!
Mike turns to me and says "well that's a relief". If I didn't have steam coming out of my ears by then, I did at that point. I snapped at Mike and said "THIS IS NOT A PERIOD!!!!" We went back and fourth of Mike asking why I would want it to be something worse than a period and why I think I know more than a doctor and me saying that I KNOW it's something worse than a period and that "it's a period" is just a crap answer for "I'm a grouchy ER doctor who doesn't feel like testing further". Anyways, they gave me a Rx to stop the hemorrhaging and sent me home. I spoke to my OB/GYN the next morning and she asked if they gave me the Rx she told them to, which they did, but they gave me a totally different dose and instructions. She also asked if they did an ultrasound and I said no that they didn't. She wasn't too happy about that. I had my 6 week postpartum appointment scheduled with her the following Friday so she said she would just see me then.
The week goes on and I am still cramping and bleeding, not bleeding like the night I went to the ER, but still bleeding which shouldn't be happening at 6 weeks postpartum. I had bad cramps and bleeding on Wednesday and I called my doctor to see if she wanted me to come in sooner but she said to keep my appointment for Friday but that she would do an ultrasound when I went in. I get to her office Friday, and she said she wanted to do a hormone level and an ultrasound. If both came back normal then she thought that I had delayed bleeding from the scab over where my placenta had attached to my uterus was sluffing off. If either came back abnormal, we would discuss things further. She started my ultrasound and said "Oh Kylie you have a lot of stuff still in your uterus". She found two masses that were of concern. A large one and then a smaller one at the top that had some white to it. She asked if I could go that day to the hospital to have radiology take a look at it, so I did. Both radiology and my doctor thought that the masses were pieces of retained placenta and with that being the case, it needed to come out before anything happened. When I say anything happened I mean pre-cancerous/cancerous cells. Luckily my hormone levels came back normal and so no cancerous cells had developed. I was given a medicine to take that would make me cramp and bleed, hoping to pass these masses on my own without surgery. I had an ultrasound scheduled for Monday at 1pm and if the masses were still there at that point then I was scheduled for surgery at 12 Noon the next day. Sure enough, the masses were still there and I had to have surgery.

I wasn't nervous about the surgery because after I went to school to become a surgical technologist, I had assisted in SO many D&Cs that I new it really wasn't a big deal. I was more concerned with how my kids were going to be taken care of since my mom had just left out of town to be with my grandpa. Luckily it all got worked out and I was able to not stress about it.
My sister took me to my surgery and according to my doctor it went very well. She said that she was able to pull out the larger mass but she had to use suction to get the smaller mass up top because it had been in there so long and it was starting to calcify (develop bone). She said she has NEVER had a patient need a D&C this far postpartum. Coming out of anesthesia and waiting for it to wear off was the worst part. I don't handle anesthesia well so I was feeling pretty queezy and my sister and the nurses kept telling me to wake up but I couldn't. I knew I needed to take some time waking up but I felt like they were rushing me out. My doctor had told me the day before that I could go home when I could eat crackers and have water and walk around by myself so when I woke up from anesthesia, they were trying to get me to drink and get up but I couldn't. My body was not having it but I forced myself. They told me to get up and I walked to the bathroom by myself but I think my eyes were closed the whole time and I was wobbly but they took that as 'she can walk by herself' and they told me to get dressed and had my sister go get her car so I could go home. I got home and was not able to sleep because I felt sick and really jittery/anxious. I HATED feeling like that. I cried because I hated it so much. My dad stopped by on his way home from work and he and Mike gave me a blessing and then I got some food that my wonderful visiting teacher, Whitney, brought over. I figured I needed food in my body because the empty stomach was making things worse. I finally started to feel better and was able to get some sleep. I woke up the next morning feeling great.
I have felt a lot better than I expected. I expected to be sore or something but I don't! I feel better now with absolutely no cramping and just little bleeding than I did before the surgery. So, sorry for the details, this blog post was to inform those who cared to know but also for my own records and journal keeping. Thank you for all who have reached out to help. We appreciate it very much!