I had my much delayed fibroid surgery this morning (Wednesday, July 8, 2020)

I am behind on posting weekly and monthly blog posts, but hopefully they will be up soon.

I’ve learned that it is hard to post when I’m feeling some anxiety, and I’m almost always feeling anxiety about an upcoming surgery. I’ve still been running (but now I have to take 1 week off).

The very good news is even with some sub-optimal Lupron Depot treatment (Lupron Depot knocks down estrogen, stops fibroid bleeding, and shrinks the fibroid, and I was unfortunately off it in May after when my surgery was supposed to be, then back on in June, but going back on, which was not enough to prevent some fibroid bleeding to occur in June and July), the treatment did shrink my fibroid and the team of surgeons were able to remove it all without laparoscopy or having to do an emergency hysterectomy, which is what we wanted and what we got.

The procedure was at 7:30 am, which meant having to be at the hospital at 5:30 am (which meant waking up at 2:30 am and not going back to sleep because anxiety), wearing masks the whole time (except while knocked out and in recovery, I don’t mind the mask, but it can be hot when I’m having a hot flash in the pre-surgery room). Amazingly, I am feeling little pain now, 12 hours post surgery (maybe I’m still on painkillers? Taking 800 mg ibuprofen to slow down uterine wall bleeding). My throat is sore from the tube and my hand is sore from where the IV was in a vein on the back of my hand, both are more noticeable soreness than inside my uterus. A little bleeding, but not as much as the procedure in January where a small part of the fibroid was removed.

I’m very thankful to my doctor/surgeon, the other two surgeons, as well as all the nurses, anesthesiologist, nurse anesthetist, and other people in the surgery room, and people in the pre-op and recovery rooms. It takes a small army to do these surgeries, and it made me feel much more confident it would work knowing so many people were there to make sure things went right for me.

I just took a shower, and realized that out of context (not wearing running shorts), I have some extreme tan lines on my legs that 15-20 people saw and must have at least commented on at some point while I was unconscious. My doctor knows I’m a runner, so I’m not too worried what they might have said, it is just slightly embarassing.

Covid-19 Update: I apparently do not have Covid-19, or at least my test result from Sunday was negative. I could have it now, but I continue to practice social distancing, mask wearing, etc., so hopefully I will remain negative.

EKG update: Apparently I might have an enlarged left atrium which is probably from a.) endurance running, b.) being anemic (undiagnosed for a while before it was diagnosed in December), or c.) endurance training while being anemic, which I DO NOT RECOMMEND. It was a huge surprise when my average run heart rate dropped from about 145-150 bpm to 130-135 bpm in weeks after the Lupron Depot stopped my fibroid bleeding in late March/early April, which makes me think that I have been running anemic for a looooooong time, not great, but at least I know and can prevent it happening again.

Also – maybe the enlarged left atrium explains why I was not dizzy or passing out despite losing an ungodly amount of blood in December and January during a horrific 36 hour stretch each time, which I would not wish on anyone on this planet (or in outerspace or anywhere).

According to Dr. Google: “Left atrial enlargement (LAE) is commonly detected in patients with anemia as well as caused by uterine myoma.” Uterine myoma aka fibroid, so that makes sense and hopefully, hopefully, I can still run and not being anemic and time will let the heart recover. The EKG says “borderline” which is not great, but doesn’t mean a big problem necessarily, and the only thing that isn’t “normal” was the Left atrial enlargement. (I know, stop talking about things I can’t control and it’s very good news the surgery was successful – this is my anxious brain at work doing anxious things).

If my doctor actually mentions the EKG, I can suggest focusing more on low heart rate training for the time being. I think even if I was told I had to quit running, I might push back strongly, because running is so good at keeping my mood and anxiety in check, and uncontrolled anxiety is probably more dangerous than the running. Hopefully I won’t have to give up on my new found love of running up hills (maybe do it in moderation more), or doing interval and speedwork (sometimes, like once every 2-3 weeks). It has been over 90 degrees here everyday for the last couple weeks, so I haven’t attempted anything near a fast run, and my heart rate has been in the 140s on those runs at over 12 minutes a mile, which I’m going to assume is part Lupron Depot, part it is very, very hot out.

Running Wrap-Up

I did three 8 mile runs this week (Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday), all of them in 80+ degree temperatures.

1.) I had a preadmission testing phone call on Monday (two days before the surgery) at 11, so I stopped at 6 miles to do that for 30 minutes, and then did 2 more miles in high 80 degree heat as the temperatures ramped up. I also was feeling anxious after the call because the doctor had requested a metabolic panel, blood type testing, and whole blood counts, and an EKG before the surgery which had to be done Monday afternoon, none of those things had been requested for the two thyroid or previous D&C, so I was concerned.

2.) I was also maybe not optimally hydrated when I went for the preadmission testing EKG and blood tests. I didn’t know I would need to have that done until I had already run 6 very hot miles on Monday (and wasn’t going to not run another 2, apparently), so 2 hours after running in the heat for over 90 minutes, I went for the testing. I did drink gatorade and also had some protein powder, so it was probably fine.

3.) I’m still not entirely sure that it was a “good idea” to run three very hot, 8 mile runs back to back to back and then do the surgery, but when I know I need to take a running break, my body just wants to run more. I tried my best to make sure electrolytes were replenished and had three servings instead of two of my gatorade powder yesterday, just in case (yesterday’s run was probably in the mid to high 80s and I felt very sweaty).

Ok… Done. I didn’t meant to write so much, but I am very relieved and this is good news. And again, left atrial enlargement is found in people with fibroids, so it is not something I need to get all worked up about, just something to keep in mind moving forward.

Mini Weight, weight fluctuate:

Pre-surgery weigh-in: 159.4 pounds (4:35 am)

Post-surgery weigh-in: 161.4 pounds (~4:00 pm – I was home by 11:20 am, but forgot to weigh myself util later).

This is much better than the 5-8 pound swing from previous surgeries, and I can only think this partly from tissue removed, partly from forgetting to weigh myself until I emptied liquid from my system three or four times post surgery. I also did not need fentanyl in the recovery room this time for pain, which I think makes me retain more water.

I am not worried about gaining weight during the surgery, this is purely to satisfy my own weird curiosity about how my weight fluctuates, and especially how it goes up post-surgeries.