2 – My First Rude Awakening

For me, all the pieces of my journey matter both individually and collectively.  This is the first part of My Equation, which I encourage you to read before reading this entry.

It was February 2005, I was 23 years old going on 24 later that year. I was fresh out of college (university), an engineer-in-training, and I was just going about life like any young woman with no major worries in the world. My biggest worry was paying off my student loans which I was determined to pay off in two years, so I deprived myself of all luxuries…it worked by the way.

Anyway, I found this email I had sent to my boss and supervising engineer after leaving the office due to some stomach pain. First of all, this email (unedited) is so personal, I don’t know why I captured so much detail. It must have been the emotions/shock from the experience. I am glad I sent it because I have a record of what happened that fateful day on February 4, 2005.

“Hi Everyone,

 As you know, I went to the medicentre on Friday when I left work (~10am). After waiting for about an hour, the doctor said that he was worried and he thought I had hernia. So, he asked me to go to the Royal Alexander Hospital Emergency immediately. When I got to the hospital, I waited for another 3 hours.

 Around 2.30pm, I was given a bed because I was in a lot of pain. While waiting for someone to attend to me, I fell in and out of sleep until around 5pm when the doctor finally gave a quick physical assessment. I was given a pain-killer to help relieve the pain but it didn’t seem to work. After that, I was wheeled in to get an ultrasound done.

 Sometime after 7.30pm, the doctor came in and told me he was relieved that he thought my condition was worse. He then told me that I had fibroid (a growth on my uterus). My eyes almost popped out of my head, I thought to myself “Is that good news?”. Anyway, he said I had two options, to get it taken out using a scope or through surgery, but only the gynecologist would know for sure.

The doctor then discharged me while my boyfriend had gone to call my parents. While I was waiting for my boyfriend to get back, I felt excruciating pain, so I walked back to the emergency area and saw the doctor that had accessed me earlier. I walk towards him and told him I had a question. He looked at me and asked if I was going to be sick, and I said I felt sweaty. Next thing I knew, I was falling back and I was told that my eyes rolled back and my face went pale immediately. In a nutshell, I almost fainted because I had not eaten anything all day and they had given me a very strong pain-killer.

The nurses started rushing to get some fluid into my blood stream and they hooked me up to some oxygen – it was crazy, I was almost out and they kept slapping me to keep me alert.

When everything stabilized, they asked me to stay for another 2 hours. At around 11 pm, I was allowed to go home and was told to go to the Women’s Centre on monday and to the take the pain-killer every 6 hours.

So, I won’t be in on Monday but I certainly hope to be at work on Tuesday. I am praying for a miracle because I don’t want surgery. I am a christian and I believe in spiritual healing.

 That’s it, that’s what’s happening. I will see you all on Tuesday.

 Thanks.

 Olu.”

A few observations to give you more context:
– I had an empty stomach because the doctor at the clinic said he thought I had hernia and would be taken into surgery and that I needed to have an empty stomach for the procedure.

– I was so against having surgery, which is so funny considering how many I have had so far.

–  the only person I knew that had undergone surgery for fibroids for MEE Mofe-Damijo, a Nigerian journalist. She passed away after fibroid surgery in Lagos in the 90s. At least that is the information I had at the time. I also thought fibroids only plagued older people so how the hell did I get them so early.

– the other woman I knew with fibroids had refused surgery and her fibroids were so large she could hardly walk, but she was still alive I thought.

After this diagnosis, I ignored the fibroids for a few months. Then one day I thought, I need to do something. So I went to a naturopathic clinic. I hate to offend a bunch of folks but it was a complete waste of time. I thought homeopathic remedies would surely work for me, I had faith so yes why not. There were some so-called natural pills, then the magnetic drum treatment that I would sit under for what seemed to be hours. I didn’t even see a OBGYN, how silly. But this explains where my head was and how I was so afraid of surgery, even to explore non-invasive surgery.

I don’t recommend denial for anyone going through a medical situation, seek medical advice, first, second and third opinions if you have to. Just don’t be in denial. I’m a Christian, but I believe God reveals his wisdom to medical professionals too.

While I was in denial, my periods became heavier as the fibroids grew in size. I became severely anaemic and would fall asleep at my desk at work from being too tired, then I was put on iron pills which caused constipation. So, I just slowly accepted my fate, the fibroids continued to grow and then I started having back pain because one of the fibroids was posterior and was pushing against my spine. Then I finally decided when the symptoms were too sever to ignore, it was time to see a doctor.

In Canada back in 2006 (I don’t know if it’s still the same today), you saw a general doctor who then got you on a referral list and you simply waited for a call back for the selected  specialist, no choice at all. This was very frustrating, but let’s not sum up the Canadian health care system based on this alone, there were a number of perks I was yet to discover. This is how I was ushered into my first Myomectomy.

Trust me at this point, I could not see the light at the end of the tunnel, you might be there too, you’re just taking one step at a time, no idea where the next step would lead you. Please hold on.