My fibroid

My fibroid is 7cm by 6cm by 5cm.

I apparently told very few people about my update three months ago which makes the numbers in above sentence not mean a lot. My fibroid was originally 10cm or the size of a navel orange when it was found. I measured an orange the other day and it is huge when put by my stomach. It could have been larger like a grapefruit but still orange is pretty dang big.

Three months ago my fibroid shrank to 7cms. “Cool,” I thought at that time. It shrank by 30 percent which is pretty standard. I had discussed with Dr. Villa at my three month appointment that I did not want to take hormones for six months because of the risk of bone loss. He assured me that usually fibroids shrink more in the 4-6 month range "in his experience." That was a bit odd. All the literature I found on it said that a 35% drop is the standard and the shrinkage peaks at three months.

No surprise to anyone who read the first sentence, my fibroid did not shrink in the past 3 months (or the 4-6 month range). Well, actually it did a tiny bit. It was 7cm by 6cm by 6cm. Therefore, my fibroid shrunk by 1 cm in one dimension.

Anyway, 6 months ago my fibroid looked like a navel orange and now more like a plum. I had those two fruits in my kitchen and examined them to an online ruler. The plum had a diameter about 7cm and the navel orange had a diameter of about 10cm, and yet a plum is quite smaller than a navel orange. The diameter of my fibroid went from 10cm to 7 cm which is a 30 percent drop. I then got white and nerdy. The formula for volume for a sphere is V=4/3*pi*r^3 (not crazy nerdy since I have not done the formula for an irregular sphere). My fibroid originally had a volume of approximately 520cm^3. It is now around 180cm^3 (if 7 is used as the diameter). 180 is only about 35% of 520 so my fibroid went down 65%! I may have done my math wrong but it all makes sense when I compare an orange to a plum.

After the ultrasound, I sat there. It did not shrink. What do I do?

I want surgery because with current technology or medical knowledge fibroids are not an easy fix. They shrink when there is no estrogen so after menopause or during a chemically induced menopause. I do not want surgery, but I do not want to wait 20 years to get menopause which would not help anyway if I wanted to get pregnant. I do want to get pregnant…one day. Also, I want the fibroid out. I do not want to work my job anymore just for the insurance. Hmmmm, as I sat there I thought I will see what Dr. Villa recommends.

Villa looked at the numbers and then asked me what I wanted to do. No recommendations. I tell him I will not stay on hormones and do want to do more research. That seemed to be all he needed. He then shifted his weight in preparation to stand. "Wait!" I told him, "This is part of the research."

He told me three months ago that he would feel comfortable doing the surgery when the fibroid was less than 5cm. I reiterated that. He waved his hand dismissively and said the surgery would be fine to do. What? I wonder to myself why it had changed. I asked if the surgery could be done laparoscopically also known as minimally invasive surgery. Oh no, he assured me because my fibroid is too large. I did research the night before and they defined big as larger than 10cm. I started feeling pretty sure that this surgery will not happen with Dr. Villa but I want to make sure. I asked how many surgeries or myomectomies he does monthly. "Monthly?" He repeated the question, never a good sign. He started to explain how he does not do them on a monthly basis so I asked when the last time he did one was. He responded "Two months ago. They are not done that often." I asked why not. Apparently it is because when a woman is in her late thirties or early forties she no longer needs her uterus and so they take it out. I just stared at him and thought oh no. I do not agree with this philosophy at all. So, he recommended that I go talk to his front girls to get a second opinion. Alrighty.

I talked with the check out girl who had no clue how to answer my question. I walk to the front desk. The front desk ladies told me to go to the check out girl. One comes with me to help the check out girl. She is on the phone. I have two other people helping me who start to give me cards to urologists. Urology? ...? ....?
I asked "Isn't urology dealing with the bladder?" A minute or two passed as the front desk women disappeared and came back. She hurriedly took the cards out of my hands and put them back in the book. She flipped to another page to recommend me to people who specialize in gastro something or other. Gastro? Isn't that to do with the intestines? The answer is yes. Yes, it does. They finally asked Dr. Villa who recommended one doctor in the office, Dr. Moore, and another in a different office. I asked the check out girl/appointment setter if Dr. Moore does fibroid surgery. She responded that he does surgeries. Okay but does he do surgeries related to fibroids? I asked that question and she responded with, “He does all kind of surgeries” while staring at me with big frightened eyes. Yeah, I cannot recommend this office.

I did research and Phoenix magazine came out with an issue about doctors recently. I have a consult with Dr. Deborah Wilson on Monday. Wish me luck.

Or better yet, talk to everyone you know and see if they had to deal with fibroids. Do they know an amazing surgeon in Arizona? Tell me. That would be the best ever.