“Uh. It’s not good, but it’s not about the biopsy,” he says, and I nod. Considering how much pain I’ve been in over the years I assumed that the endometriosis was going to be bad. Everything I looked up pointed me toward the realization that he wasn’t gonna have very good things to say after the surgery. “Harper, if you need any help with her a nurse can come help. I need to go finish up some notes right quick and I’ll come talk to you all.”
“Okay. Thanks, Dominic,” she says kindly. I am moved into a room. I doze in and out of sleep for a little until she comes back with a soda and crackers before taking my IV out. When she leaves, Harper helps me get up and get dressed. The incisions are larger than I expected but I suspect that has to do with whatever he needs to tell me.
I sit on the bed and eat my crackers. By the time I get done with my soda, Dominic is walking into the room. He is dressed differently. He’s in jeans and a polo shirt now. “You changed,” I say.
“I did. You were the only surgery I had today and I’m not on call,” he says.
“What time is it?” I ask.
“It’s eight,” Harper tells me.
“Eight? I had surgery at one,” I say.
“Yeah, so you definitely have endometriosis. It’s likely the worst that I or the other surgeon I had to have come in to help has seen,” he explains.
“Okay, so what does that mean? How bad is bad?”
“You had adhesions throughout your abdominal cavity. I was able to clear up the majority of it. The issue was you had a cyst on your right ovary roughly the size of a grapefruit. How it hadn’t ruptured yet, I’m not sure.”
“Had, meaning it’s gone?” I ask.
“Yes. In the process though it became apparent that it wasn’t going to be able to be removed unless I took the ovary. That is a big decision to make so I did come to talk to Harper and she signedoff on me removing the cyst and your right ovary,” he explains. I close my eyes and take a deep breath. I know she made the right decision, but it doesn’t make it hurt less. It doesn’t change the fact that it just lessened my chances of being able to get pregnant.
“Luna,” Harper says as she moves to sit next to me. She takes my hand and squeezes, making a tear slide down my cheek.
“I know, Har. I know. I’m not upset at you,” I say.
“It does affect fertility, but by no means does that mean you won’t be able to get pregnant one day. If anything, this surgery just increased your chances, even with losing the ovary. The adhesions were bad and I am certain that it would have affected fertility significantly,” he explains further.
“Otherwise, everything went okay?” I ask, wiping my eyes.
“Yeah,” he says. “You did great. You lost very little blood, and your vitals were perfect the entire time.”
“So, what about the pain?” I ask. “Will it be better?”
“Much,” he says. “We’ll need to keep an eye on you to see if it comes back. I think switching your birth control would be wise.”
“When will I know about the biopsy?” I ask.
“I should get the results in a week or two.”
“Great, so what now?” I ask.
“Now… he’s going to take you home because I have a long drive back. Your dad has been blowing my phone up all day. I’ll give him the full update and tell him to give you some time to rest,” Harper says.
“I just need food and I won’t complain,” I say.
“We can stop and get something on the way,” Dominic says, smiling.
By the time we get home, I am in an incredible amount of pain. We ended up stuck in traffic, but luckily, we already had our food so we just ate in the car.
Dominic comes around to my door and offers me his hand. “I’d almost rather the other pain,” I groan as he helps me stand up.
“It’ll get better,” he says as he wraps his arm around my waist.
Dominic helps me into the building, and I lean against the wall as we ride the elevator up. Once we get out and get to my door I am almost in tears.
“Get changed and lie down. I’ll get your pain medicine,” he says. I nod and make my way to my room.