Signs and symptoms....

I decided to post all of my Caring Bridge updates here on my blog in one big post if anyone cares to read them. They might give you some insight into my twisted sense of humor and who I am. This one, however, I think is important enough to have its own entry...

My Momma and I were talking the other day and we were compiling a list of signs and symptoms for me. Going down the list, they were really vague and we didn't put them together until we all started learning the specifics of my kind of cancer. We thought it would be a good idea to go through them now, maybe it will set off a little alarm in someone else's head to at least get a check up.

The first thing we all noticed was that my voice had changed in the past couple of months. I noticed
that I couldn't hit some of the higher notes when I sang (yes, I sing in the car on the way to work... loudly... there may be dancing involved too...) My dad kept asking me if I was sick when we would talk on the phone and I kept telling him that I felt just fine. A frequent patient in our hospital told me a couple weeks ago "God your voice is really deep, especially for a girl" I just blushed and laughed it off. Randy thought my mom was talking to Tanner on the phone one night too.

Those of you who have known me since I was a kid know that I've always had to keep on top of my eyebrows. They grow in 18 different crazy directions and used to make me really self-conscious. In the last few weeks, I have had to "fix" them a lot more often but I didn't think anything of it.

I have been irritable. We were having a discussion on some processes at work that I strongly believe need to be changed and one of our providers pointed out to me that I was getting really wrapped up in it and was maybe a little overly aggressive in my pursuit of what he called "a much needed change". At least he agreed that I ess right, but I realize now my approach could have been less... direct.

This kind of germ cell tumor can wreak havoc on your hormones, raising your testosterone levels, which can cause a lot of these symptoms I was having.

The more noticeable symptom was pain, obviously. It started out as a sudden sharp pain that would go come suddenly and not be present for days. I didn't think anything much of it. Then I started having the bad pain that drove me to see a Dr I work with for a pelvic exam (we see enough naked by the way, neither he nor I really care that that he's seen my business ha)

The most obvious sign was Henry. I could palpate this big mass from the outside because I knew what I was looking for and knew what was normal for me. As Henry got bigger, I felt like I was pregnant. There was so much pressure in my lower abdomen and no space for it to go. I left constant pressure on my bladder, due to Henry and the fact that I finally started drinking an appropriate amount of water every day (1oz/kilogram or 1oz/2 pounds if you want to make the math easy, by the way)and thank God for great partners and patient ER nurses who didn't give me a hard time for always running off to the bathroom.

I think that pretty much sums it up. Again, thank you all for your support!