And Then..

My recent posts provided quite a setup for this one. As noted therein, I have had a persistent hemorrhagic cyst since at least early December which has caused several painful episodes where it fills with blood and creates abdominal pressure that lasts until the cyst drains, which can take hours or days. Unlike my previous experiences with these cysts, this cyst hasn't drained and then gone dormant; even when it isn't causing pain, I have still been able to feel it.

That's a recap of what my last posts were about. And then things changed yesterday evening. As usual, I was aware of the cyst throughout the day, but it wasn't actually painful or causing any problems - until I bent over to dry off my right calf after taking a shower. Within seconds I went from no pain to extreme pain on my right side, from the site of the kidney down into my groin. The cyst had finally blown open and emptied blood into the right side of my abdominal cavity, irritating the organs and tissue and creating pressure, especially in my groin. The pain was excruciating, fully a 10 on the 1-10 scale.

Nancy quickly gave me a full dose of my pain meds, but it took an hour for them to begin taking the edge off. After another half hour, the level was in the 7-8 range - still nasty, but not enough to make me moan and scream. I rested fitfully for the next three hours.

The dosage cycle on the pain meds is six hours, but Nancy wanted to get a jump on the next dose. She gave them to me at a bit under five hours, but it was already too late. Within minutes my pain shot back up to 10, and I went back through the one hour wait for the meds to start to abate the pain and another half hour to make it manageable.

I finally got about three hours of sleep and woke up at the five hour mark of the second dose. The pain level was down to about 3, and it felt like the pressure was easing up noticeably. I took another full dose of meds and rested for about three hours. The pain was all but gone, but I was leery that it might be suppressed by the meds. I also didn't know what to expect if I started moving around.

Although I took it very easy, I did get up and moving. I have not had to take any more pain medications (going on 11 hours so far), and while I am tender on the right side, I'm not in pain. I am feeling the usual side effects of wooziness and itching from the pain meds, but they (and Nancy) got me through the worst.

Our hope is that given the nature of this episode, this cyst has finally run its course. Time will tell. And the upcoming follow-up with the doctor becomes even more timely.