Enjoy the parade, meara, whether you decide to watch or march!

Go, JenP!

Yay coloured hair (and breakfast) Perkins! Eggplant with extra red sounds purty.

Comfort is not part of his creative process? If I had the money, his shoes would not be part of my wardrobe process.

Zen, can I ask your age? Gynos generally hesitate to do a hyst until they've tried other procedures, because it really IS major surgery, with a long recovery time.

I had ovarian cysts, so they took one ovary out first, and then when that didn't work, we went for the full hyst, and both ovaries are gone. They REALLY generally want at least one ovary to stay in there so you can avoid HRT.

I have had friends for whom a D&C helped for a while and they said that the pain from it was just about as bad as cramps. But get painkillers. Before the oophrectomy, my gyn (who, relaatedly, was awesome, because she had had the same problem as me, and also had pain and an early hyst -- I wish you were in KC so you could go to her, because she is fantastic) had me on Vicodin 3 days out of the month for the pain -- it helped with the agonizing cramps but not with the heavy blood loss weakness.

A hyst is nothing to do lightly -- it WAS the right decision for me, but I was 4 hours under the knife, since my cysts were all Alien-ed in me and had to be fought out. I have a high pain threshold, but it really was very painful, even with the morphine pump, and I was out for 6 weeks. I heal pretty quickly, and I thought I'd be able to be at work in 4, but I was wrong.

I totally get the frustration with dinking around with various solutions, but trying a D&C and seeing what that accomplishes before going into hyst territory really IS what a responsible gyn should do.

Morning rant (a.k.a. Oh, Facebook people. Really?)

I'm not prepared to have a discussion about illegal immigration to the U.S., because I am woefully uneducated about it, and I know it. I am aware enough to understand that it is a complex topic not suited to FB status line pronouncements.

So, naturally, someone on FB just posted something really glib, irritating, pointless, and stupid; I know it's all of those things, and I wish I could refute or at least address it intelligently. What I really wish is that I could download Stephanie's extensive experience and knowledge base into my brain and then got to town. Someone should invent that process.

Maybe I'll just post New Colossus as my status instead.

Deep breaths, and letting it go... what bugs me is that I love the guy who posted it, and I know he's not the jackass that post makes him sound like. I also know that he does not have an in depth (or, frankly, cursory) understanding of ANY OF IT either, so why go there, dude? Why?

OK, now deep breaths, and letting it go for real.

ETA: Thanks for the yays re: quitting smoking. It is possible I haven't quite worked out a new and improved de-stressor. Ha!

Immigration posts really irk me too, Jen. It IS a really complex issue, but ever since I taught so many kids who were illegal and/or whose parents were illegal, it just really bugs me.

People tend to talk out of their asses with no actual knowledge, and they can be so smug about it -- I'm like "Do you realize that these are REAL people and families you're talking about, many of whom are hard-working people who can here under great danger to try to get a piece of the same American Dream that YOUR great-greats did? Do you know how HARD it is? Do you realize you're talking about a lot of kids who have been here since they were very young, and who just want the same things you want, to go to college and have a job and a family and clean the house and do dishes and watch movies and live, but they live in fear because their parents made a decision 16 years ago?"

There's no perfect answer, and it's really complex, but it annoys me, esp. since, unless you're full-blooded NA, we're all children of immigrants (whether voluntary or involuntary, in the case of indentures or slavery.)

Good luck with the procedure, Zen.

Thanks, -t.

If it's any comfort, when I had to have a D&C the "twilight" anesthetic seemed like being completely knocked out to me

They didn't mention anesthetic, just said it wouldn't hurt. I assumed they wouldn't be using any. I dunno. I plan to take Valium.

Good luck, Zenkitty. I hope they can fix you up! I realize it's major surgery, and not to be done lightly, but can you ask about a hysterectomy?

Oh I did! My ovaries seem to be fine, they'd only remove the uterus, and I made it clear that's what I'd like to do, but they, being doctors with some oath they took, would rather do the least invasive thing possible. So, this horrible thing instead.

Zen, can I ask your age? Gynos generally hesitate to do a hyst until they've tried other procedures, because it really IS major surgery, with a long recovery time.

I'm 48. I wouldn't have to lose the ovaries, they're fine. There have been no babies, nor will there ever be, regardless of whether I have a uterus. I know it's major surgery, it's just that... recovery, I can deal with just fine. The D&C - a simple outpatient procedure with little to no pain or down time - makes me near-hysterical just thinking about it. But I know it's the most responsible thing, for both me and the doctors.

today I am officially three weeks without smoking.

Congrats, Jen!

Wow. I had my first full week of teaching this past week, so I've been largely absent on the boards. I just backread almost 1000 posts, and I can't believe how much I missed, including that Kate's pregnant! Congrats, sweetie! You are going to be such an amazing mom.

I have so much more to say, but I'm on my phone and so will settle with saying you are all amazing humans, and seeing our community support each other through the good and thr bad never fails to humble and awe me.

Right on, Erin.

I have to get ready to meet friends now, and I've been sitting here googling like a mad woman. So, I guess "breathe and let it go," didn't happen. Oops.

Immigration rants make me nuts, too. The far majority of what I do at work is immigration; getting people their visas, filing the necessary paperwork for living/working in the US, greencard applications, etc. It's difficult to do when you're a brilliant PhD with skills and knowledge that you can prove no US citizen has, empirically. I mean, hugely difficult.

And you'd think it wouldn't be such a gantlet, given the idea that wouldn't we rather brain-drain someone else's country for the best and brightest, the hardest working, the people who risk their lives just to be here? Most of the people bitching are citizens by fate. They didn't have to do anything to be here, they were just born, completely ignorant of what privilege they just lucked into.

I say, "go pick lettuce in California on a sunny afternoon." Be a migrant farmworker for a day. Tell me these folks aren't working their goddamned asses off so you can get a cheap Caesar at Panera while loudly bitching about speaking English and stealing jobs.

Which is also an oversimplification. I know. But my back goes straight up over it. I don't want to go all "magical immigrant," and then I reread my posts about the issue and realize that's what I sound like.

I've heard my Russian immigrants talk about their sponsors at JPL in these terms, "he saved us." And these are people who provide the DoD with needed science. Give them a fucking green card. Can you provide balls-on GPS tracking with the lowest possible noise? Do you know jack shit about whispering gallery modes? Do you want to fund science education in the US? No? Then STFU and be grateful for my immigrants.

Zen, I hate to say it, but being 48 is probably another reason they want to do the D&C first, since they're probably thinking you're perimenopausal, and the problem should be resolved in the next 5-10 years. OTOH, if a gyno doesn't have a up close and personal knowledge of living with the joys of uterine and menstrual related craziness, they don't GET that even 6 more months of it really afects your quality of life. Are you happy with your gyno? If you're not, you can remind me what city you're in, and I would be happy to call mine and she if she can knows a gyno in your area -- I wish I could ship her to you, since she is kick-ass.

I'm really sorry it is stressing you out so bad, and I'm a little concerned that they haven't talked to you about anesthesia for it.

Can you call your gyno and tell her you're really stressing about it, and need to know more details about anesthesia? If you're having a procedure done, and you're stressing so hard-core about it, she should really explain exactly what will happen and try to alleviate some of your anxiety about it.

And did she Rx the Valium? (I am SO DOWN with taking Valium before a procedure -- my doc gave my a little scrip before I had the bump taken off my arm with a local, but if they're putting you into twilight, I just wonder about interactions -- I want you to be okay!)