So How Large is 7 Centimeters Anyway?

They say that "Shit Happens".  Well yeah, it does.

We got the money & we are now pretty much caught up on bills.  *yay*

Then well, see first line of blog...

I got a call from Ellen again.  They saw something on my ultrasound.  Apparently what she was thinking it was a cluster of blood vessels.  They were not sure, so they had me go in for a MRI.  Within a week I had the test.  It was a Saturday, the tech said I would probably hear from my doctor by.. oh say, Tuesday.  Monday morning I got another call from Ellen.  They don't think it's a cluster of blood vessels, it looked more like a mass.  She wanted me to see the GI specialist earlier than we had scheduled.  (my appointment was at the end of December).  Within 1 1/2 weeks we saw Dr. Tompkins, it was actually the day before Thanksgiving.  She said that she didn't get a chance to look at the MRI.  She said that when she gets a look at it she would discuss it with the radiologist & get back to me.  I asked her exactly what I could have.  She said in my right lob of my liver I have a 7cmx5.5cm mass.  Needless to say, she hasn't gotten back to me.  Oh and the other issue I have is most likely gas & she has me taking some over-the-counter stuff to take care of it.

If that wasn't enough, PA Fenstermocker didn't realize that I have had this pressure in my head ever since puberty.  He thinks that I might be creating too much spinal fluid & that the extra fluid is pressing on my head...so he wanted me to try taking a steroid for a week.  That really, really sucked!! I was nauseous almost the whole time. It reduced the pressure a little bit, but it didn't get rid of it.  So. Now they are going to schedule a Spinal Tap ... a Lumbar Puncture... to measure how much spinal fluid I am making.  He was going to have Mary call me back to make the appointment.  Yeah, haven't heard from her either.

OH.  I didn't mention the fun part!! If they can't get a good defined picture of my mass (I kinda feel like maybe I should name it), then she said they might have to remove it.  First they might have me get a Cat scan.  If they can't see more definition they might do one of the following:

1.  Remove it.  They can't do a biopsy because it usually would cause excessive bleeding.

2.  Get me off birth control pills.  Remember that news item from a few weeks back connecting birth control pills to masses found in organs... funny thing... anyway, this could really suck because I wouldn't be able to use almost all the birth control with the same medications in it.  I can't get pregnant because a few of my medications would cause major birth defects or worse to the baby.  So what are we to do?

So, is it me, or does this really, really bite the big one?  Thoughts anyone??