I Guess That's Why They Call it Medical "Practice"

And now, a play-by-play of my recent medial dilemma.

Nearly three months ago, I developed what I thought was a kidney infection. I had all the typical symptoms - pain in the mid-to-lower left side of my back, the constant urge to urinate, and overall abdominal crampiness. A visit to Urgent Care sent me home with antibiotics, but by the following week, my pain had increased and none of the other symptoms had even begun to dissipate. I then started a series of tests ordered my family doctor, Dr. Kirk Tucker with the Franklin Clinic in Chillicothe. Throughout the next three months, I had three CT scans, a colonoscopy and an MRI. Possible dianoses ranged from kidney stones, diverticulitis, a slipped disc in my back, and porphyria. As these tests, including random blood and urine samples, continued to come back with negative results, I realized Dr. Tucker had no idea what he was up against. He became very restless with my office visits. I could tell he's had very few patients with conditions as obscure as mine.

Approximately three weeks ago, my pain reached a new level, and my left abdomen, just beside and above my navel, began to swell. I called Dr. Tucker's office to let him know about the change in symptoms. He was not going to be in the office the next day, so he set me up with an appointment with Dr. Gbaruk of the same family of physicians. Dr. Gbaruk took much more time sitting down with me than Dr. Tucker ever had. Dr. Tucker would rush me in and out, briefly speak to me regarding new development of symptoms, and rarely did any sort of physical examination. Dr. Gbaruk actually physically analyzed my abdomen, and he squinted his eyes in confusion for quite some time before deciding to go look over my recent scans and to have a conference call with Dr. Tucker. When he returned to the room, he had determined that endometriosis was the likely culprit, and that I should see my OB/GYN as soon as possible. A laparoscopy was ordered, and I was scheduled for the operation last Friday.

When I went in for surgery, I warned Dr. Bob Lee, the anesthesiologist, of a condition my aunt Barb has, one my family has been told is serious and genetic and can affect any of us at any time. While this sounds serious enough, I never knew just how dangerous the disease is until Friday. When I mentioned "Malignant Hyperthermia" to the doctor, he freaked out. He said if he were to have completed my surgery Friday, there would have been a 25 percent chance I could die. Malignant Hypothermia is a rare disease stemming from an allergic reaction to certain anesthetics. If contracted, it causes the patient's muscles to contract, and the presence of a high fever that eventually shuts down the body's systems, one by one. This all confused me because I have had anesthetics before, for an apendectomy at Pike Community Hospital in 2006. When I told Dr. Lee of this, he said, "Sure, you could say, 'I just crossed the road without looking first and I'm fine.' But that doesn't mean you'll be fine the next time you try to do it." So, apparently, MH can manifest itself whenever it pleases, but not every time. To find out if I have MH, I'll have to make a trip to Pennsylvania to have a muscle biopsy performed. It is the only location in the U.S., that I'm aware of, that handles the test.

Luckily, I didn't have to wait for a test to have my laparoscopy. Instead, special conditions had to be met by the anesthetic team. First of all, I had to be the first patient of the day, with clean new anesthetic tubes containing no traces of the drugs that might trigger a reaction. Next, the doctors had to avoid any drugs known to trigger an MH episode. And finally, I was given very high doses of oxygen to be sure my muscles wouldn't do the contracty thing. I went in for the operation yesterday morning, and did wonderful.

The findings: endometriosis. Although I've not yet spoken to my OB/GYN, Dr. Richard Villarreal of Chillicothe OB/GYN, he briefed Nick on the situation following the procedure. Apparently, he did find endometriosis, but it wasn't severe enough for him to burn any of it off yesterday. He said he wants to start me on a series of injections to throw me into menopause temporarily. Supposedly, this will slow the growth of the endometriosis. Now, I'm concerned about my future as a woman. I don't even know if I'll be able to have more children following this. I'm afraid of the big "M" word because I'm not looking forward to having my hormones all out of whack - even more out of what than this crazy woman's hormones are already. I have an appointment with Dr. Villarreal Monday to discuss the issue further. He also said that he's not entirely convinced that my level of pain is coming from the endometriosis. He said typically, the condition doesn't cause pain as severe as mine. He would also like for me to see an internal medicine specialist to look for something further. What they'll look for this time I have no idea. The only thing I could think they might do is an endoscopy, where they'd take a scope down the upper part of my G.I. track and stomach to look for problems. Other than that, I've been scoped and scanned every which way possible. I don't know what more could be causing it.

So, now, I'm on my couch, feeling achy from a hole in my belly button and another on my lower stomach. The anesthetics have worn off finally, leaving me both drowsy and restless. I welcome uplifting messages and words of wisdom.