Endometriosis

My heart missed a beat when Dr Liu told me that my CA-125 had risen from 11.42 to 31.65 (blood taken on May 22nd). Chills ran down my spine and I got goose bumps on my arms. The doctor ordered an ultrasound right away and, in no time, I was looking at some black and grayish objects on the monitors: my uterus and the leftover left ovary.

I have a soft spot for my left ovary, same way that people might for a twin that has lost his/her twin. I’m proud of her for her swell performance, and I think it will break my heart should something happens to her as well. My doctor knows how I feel, so he didn't say anything during the ultrasound until he reached a prognosis.

“It might be endometriosis,” he said when we went back to his office. “We knew about it when you had the surgery.” Then he showed me his diagnosis on the doctor’s note of the surgery. “Basically it means that the linings of your uterus got into your ovary, which then caused the value of CA-125 to rise. However, the value of your CA-125 is still within the normal values, so I wouldn't worry about it too much.” My head was spinning at this point. In my head, I heard, “Is it cancer coming back? Do I have to go through chemo again? What about our plans to leave Taiwan? What about my job? What about my life?”

I blinked and decided to voice my concerns. “It’s definitely a possibility, but I doubt it.” I felt a tiny bit better, but then he continued. “Speaking of which, you might want to go have your catheter checked out and flushed out….. just in case if we have to use it again.” The idea of having my catheter flushed out brought back memories of chemotherapy, which in turn made my stomach turn. “Frankly, I think it’s endometriosis.” Dr. Liu wrote down the medical term on a piece of paper. “You can go home and read about it. Meanwhile, ….” he picked up another piece of paper, “Go down to Radiology and schedule for a CT Scan.” I saw that he was writing down the room number of Radiology. “I know where it is, Doc.” I stopped him. “I had to go there for X-Rays every time I came in for chemo.” I smiled.

For information on endometriosis, see
http://www.endometriosisassn.org/endo.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endometriosis

My CT Scan is scheduled for Tuesday, July 24th. My next appointment with Dr. Liu to see the result is on Tuesday, July 31st. Until then, I'll be busy subbing for Francis (a teacher who needs to have his gull bladder removed) and doing teacher evaluations.