It WAS a good day!

I got the call from the Mayo Clinic yesterday to set up an appointment with the neurosurgeon. They have my MRI report and apparently think I should be operated on, but they don't have any of my test results or the MRI film...so I'm not buying it just yet. The hospital called back today to set up a vision field test for the day before my appointment so the neurosurgeon can have those results by my visit. And then they set up an appointment for me to see an endocrinologist at Mayo the day after my neurosurgeon visit. I also set up an appt. with a GYN at Mayo so I can have a whole team of docs there looking at the big picture. This is all going down next week, so it'll be a big week for sure. My vision field test is on Tuesday, then neurosurgeon Dr.P on Wednesday, then endo on Thursday. My GYN visit is the following Tuesday with Dr. K.

Today I went to my current GYN to talk about the Lupron and my little morning problem. She's concerned about the pain in the morning and did a urine culture that we'll find out about in a week or so. She's wondering if it's a recurrence of my kidney infection from 5 months ago, but doesn't a recurrence involve some sort of ceasing and then return of the pain? This never went away... She also thinks I should stop the Lupron because "I've got too much going on". Apparently the Lupron wouldn't have any affect on the test results, but birth control would. So she's saying that I need to stop the Lupron AND not go back on birth control...that is absolutely terrifying. The last time I went off birth control for only three months (and mind you, it was right after a laparoscopy to remove the endometriosis) I ended up on a medical leave because the pain was so bad and I had such a huge cyst on my right ovary that ruptured and wreaked havoc on my pelvic area. That was the reason we started the Lupron in the first place. I've just started feeling like the endo isn't so horrible, and now I'm going to stop all at once? Can't be good. We'll see what happens after she calls my endocrinologist to discuss everything that's going on. I'm glad that she said she'd call him, I like the idea of my doctors working together. I have trouble believing all of this is totally unrelated!

One thing that the GYN said today that sort of threw me off was regarding my reproductive health. Since I was 19 years old and found out I had endometriosis, and then stage 4 endometriosis, I've had doctors telling me that I shouldn't wait too long to try to get pregnant. Can you imagine hearing that at 19? Not healthy! I've been concerned about it ever since. I don't know why I have to be one of those women who really really wants to be a mother, and know what it feels like to be pregnant. Why couldn't I just be a woman who is ok with the idea of not having children. But no, I really want to be pregnant one day. But the odds aren't looking so good. Today I told the doctor that I still really want to try, and I don't want to wait years to do it. She told me that that just isn't an option. She said that I'm young, I have plenty of years. I need to focus on my own health and making sure I'm ok and don't lose years off of my life before anything else. I agree that I need to make sure I'm healthy, but which is it? Do I really have plenty of years? I have endometriosis, Hashimoto's disease, and apparently Cushing's disease...all of which are leading causes of infertility. I know miracles can happen...but if it's already difficult after 30, shouldn't I be thinking the earlier the better? Oh I don't know...

I'm feeling overwhelmed again today. Probably just because I'm setting up more appointments that are pulling me away from work right at a very crucial time in my project. I begin observation next week, and if I'm not there to answer questions and make sure everything is on track, I'm a little terrified of what could happen. Plus I still don't feel like I'm super prepared for the observation to begin. I have a lot of data that I need to analyze and still even pull. It's just a lot on my plate right now, and I'm having trouble not throwing my hands up in the air. ESPECIALLY when I can't sleep at night and feel totally exhausted all day long. I just want to sleep, getting out of bed shouldn't be this difficult. :( At least I have some forward progress with the Mayo Clinic...