On March 28, my husband and son took me to the emergency room with what I knew was serious internal pain (I ruptured my spleen at age 16 and had a ruptured ovarian cyst at 20, so I recognized the similarities immediately). Pretty quickly, they did an ultrasound and told me they were going to remove my gall bladder, which they did the next day. But the laproscopic surgery didn't go as expected because when they removed my gall bladder, they discovered my liver was "impressive" (that's doctor code for horrifying). I had three lesions, one of which was large and filled with fluid.
I spent the next two and a half weeks in the hospital receiving amazing care from nurses who kept me comfortable and calm, having X-rays, CT scans, MRIs, and other tests while five doctors (my GP, an infectious disease doctor, a GI doctor, a pulmonologist and, late in the process, an oncologist whose necessity terrified me) tried to figure out what to do about this rare condition.
Eventually, they biopsied two of the "lesions" (aka tumors), tried to drain the large one, and discovered they were benign. We all hoped the large benign tumor would shrink, along with my liver, so that I'd stop having symptoms (fever, vomiting, intense pain, etc.). One day shy of three weeks in the hospital, they released me. Even though the liver was still swollen, all my blood counts and other labs were healthy and it seemed time would have to work its magic.
I've been home a little more than two weeks now and things have improved slightly. The tumor's still huge (I've continued to have X-rays, CT scans and ultrasounds), I still have some symptoms, and I'm generally exhausted. On the other hand, I'm home. For an hour or two (longer on some days), I'm able to get out of the house (my amazing husband's the chauffeur since I can't drive yet) and feel the sun and air and life around me.
On Monday, we go to an oncologist who specializes in livers; even though my tumor is benign we're optimistic that he'll be able to direct us to some options other than: wait until it shrinks on its own or embolize it so it can't bleed again or resection the liver. We'll see.
Meanwhile, I've been watching "Gilmore Girls" and keeping up with the latest news (the SherPas leaving) through Michael Ausiello's two blogs, but it's no longer an obsession. It's taken it's rightful place in my life as a TV show.
And since "Gilmore Girls" is a show about family, perhaps I've just taken its message to heart, because right now my only obsession is spending as much time with my family as possible while I (fingers crossed) get better.