October 3, 2005

I know it's been well over a year since surgery, but I think I just expelled a stitch.

If you've been following along, in early March I noticed that my incision had an infected spot. I was already on my way to the doctor to see him as a follow up to my chronic bouts of bronchitis every winter, so I had him look at it. Well, I was on keflex and the low grade fever and redness subsided, but the spot still looked odd. It was always a little pink and would scab every once in a while.

This weekend the scab came off and I looked closely in there, I thought maybe it was an ingrown hair, so I got the tweezers (washed them first and dried them carefully) and grabbed onto what looked like a little bit of skin. It was either a very blonde, straight hair (which I do not have) or an undissolved stitch. It looked like a piece of light fishing line. Anyway, the spot looks much better now, so maybe I've been trying to push that little piece out for over a year.

I'm going to keep an eye on it. There is another little spot on that side of the incision that's definitely an ingrown hair. I don't know what happens to the hair, that it just grows and grows and maybe gets reabsorbed.

Posted by Elizabeth M. at 6:52 PM

October 6, 2005

I saw a new study today that says that women who have had hysterectomies have higher levels of C reactive protein in their blood. What's that, you ask? It's generally viewed as a marker for inflammatory factors and may be related to cardiovascular disease.

You can read more about it here.

It's just another reason to investigate all options when it comes to hysterectomy. It's not just a muscular pouch to grow babies, it's an organ and a part of our endocrine system.

Posted by Elizabeth M. at 10:22 PM

October 23, 2005

I've been having trouble sleeping.

This has nothing to do with my hysterectomy. I've had trouble sleeping since I was about eight years old. I used to sit up late at night in the hallway of the second floor of the house and read by the big bookshelf on the carpeted floor. It was the only light that was on in the house and of course the carpeting helped. My parents slept downstairs, so they didn't know that I'd sit up until two in the morning reading.

I don't know if it's because of the change in seasons, but it started around the time of the equinox, so maybe it's just the light.

I don't fall asleep easily and I'm easily woken by the slightest noise. Many nights I only get four hours sleep, and none of it straight through.

I know it will pass in a few weeks, through it never goes away. I always have trouble falling asleep. I doubt it's hormones. I think it's just me. I'm hypersensitve and I'm hesistant to do anything about it. I mentioned it to the doctor and he rather dismissed it, saying that maybe I needed to relax more. He's probably right and if he'd offered me sleeping pills I'd probably be more upset.

Posted by Elizabeth M. at 5:48 PM