The Surgery. Part 3 – The Flood

Part 1
Part 2

I got my period for the first time at twelve years old. I’ve always been very regular, having 28 or 30 day cycles. I never had bad cramps, or lots of bleeding, so my period was never a big deal for me. However, earlier this year it became a very big deal.

I started noticing that my bleeding was getting heavier. I just chalked it up to the fact that I had just spent almost four years not having a period due to two pregnancies and two years of breastfeeding and I had forgotten how much I bled. Then I had my first really bad period, complete with lots of blood, painful cramps, and lots of huge clots. I was a little worried about the clots, so I consulted my OB/GYN and he said that the clots only meant that the flow is so fast that the blood clotted before it could make it's way out. Great.

I didn’t do anything different that month, and the next month I was bleeding heavily again. One day I was at work in the lab, and when I stood up I gushed blood. I bled through a super tampon and a big pad in like three seconds, soaking my pants and underwear. Luckily I wear scrubs in the lab, so I ran to the scrub room and grabbed a new pair of scrub pants. I went into the bathroom to clean up but it was like some kind of horror scene.

With my panties stuffed full of paper towels, I approached my boss to tell her that I had to leave to go home and clean up, as I had just bled all over myself. She kind of didn’t know what to say, except “Um, okay.” It sucked.

The next month I had another bleeding issue, and I felt and looked terrible. I was at work (again) and the doctor who was covering procedures asked me "Are you okay?"
I said "Yeah, I'm okay, I'm just bleeding a lot."
"Oh. I'm assuming you mean vaginal bleeding?" she asked.
I laughed and said "Yes, vaginal bleeding. I don't have a gunshot wound or anything..."

I was rapidly becoming sick of this routine, so I made an appointment with Dr. OB, who checked me out and found everything to be fine. He said that I should get a saline ultrasound to rule out uterine polyps, fibroids, or something else. The procedure is they fill your uterus with saline and check for abnormalities. The saline ultrasound was done by the ultrasound tech and doc that I work with all the time, and they were great about it. I managed not to freak out, and while it was a little uncomfortable it was not big deal. They didn’t find anything abnormal, just that my endometrial lining was thicker than it should be.

I had another discussion with Dr. OB and he said that I could go on the pill and that would make it so that I didn’t build up such a thick uterine lining. I didn’t really want to do that, because the pill and I just don’t get along.

Part 4 - The Pill