** WARNING: Totally girl stuff below **
I finally had my appointment to see the new GYN today. Definitely better than that last woman I was seeing. New Doc actually sat and talked with me in her office, got my medical history, asked and answered questions. The only conversations or answers I got from the old doc typically came when I had my feet in her stirrups. And who really wants to talk then?
So I tell new Doc that, up until the past 10 months or so, I have been on birth control pills since about age 14. I was put on them because I was incredibly irregular in my monthly cycle. It was more like a once every 6-8 weeks cycle. Sometimes longer. Having been on them for so long, you’d think I would’ve somehow become regular. But no. The past year-ish, I’ve been at my body’s random whim as to when to expect that particularly unwelcome, and yet always welcome as a sign of not being pregnant, visitor. And it sucks. Especially considering Dr Honeydew’s visit in 2.5 weeks and my vacation after that.
She asked me if I had any problems with the pills. None that I know of. I mean, I’ve been taking them forever. The same brand or generic equivalent for all these years. So she mentions the NuvaRing and asks if I’ve heard of it. I’ve seen the commercials with the women walking around with the glowing circles around their lower abdomen, yes. Apparently it is supposed to be a much lower dose of hormones and more evenly distributed so less mood swings. Sounds like heaven to me! Plus, the fact that I smoke makes the lower hormone stuff supposedly a tiny bit “safer” in theory. You insert it, vaginally, and leave it in for 3 weeks. Then take it out for a week. Then insert a new one for 3 weeks…etc. You can still wear tampons, have sex, play sports, whatever. And supposedly you don’t even know it’s there. And your partner (should there be one) won’t either. So after she shows me one and how it works and stuff, I agree to try it, only after she promised that if I didn’t like it, all I had to do was call her and she’d phone in a prescription for my birth control pills.
So in asking her when I’m supposed to insert/remove this thing, I find that, like the first cycle of pills, you should wait until after you start your period. Great. And when the hell might that be?! So she gives me a prescription for progesterone or some such to take for 5 days that should make me start. In the process of this discussion, I am reminded of a question I wanted to ask her.
For the past several months, I’ve been noticing some (This might be gross. Feel free to stop reading now) clear gel-like….stuff….down there. And when I say gel-like, really jello-like would be more accurate. It’s been noticeable for several days at a time and then gone. I’d notice it every time I went to the bathroom and would spend those several days freaking out, wondering if I had some weird disease or infection or something. Then it would go away and I’d forget about it. Until it reappeared weeks or months later.
So I asked new Doc about this. She very matter-of-factly said, “Oh, that’s cervical mucus.” What??? MUCUS?! WTF does that mean? Does my vagina have a sinus infection?!
Apparently, this is a sign of ovulation. And something that the past 16 years of being on birth control pills has prevented me from ever seeing. Why have I NEVER heard of this before??? I called my mother immediately after my appointment so she could laugh at me.
Doc asked me when the last time I noticed this was. It was a couple of weeks ago I think. Either right before or right after I saw T. So, she says, this may mean that I should be due to start any time now. In addition to all the other bloodwork I was having done (pregnancy, HIV, THS, cholesterol, etc) she had them do some sort of hormone level thing. If my progeste-whatever is high, then that should be a sure sign of the Red Wings’ visit.
Meanwhile, I’m supposed to go ahead and start the prescription she gave me and she’ll call me as soon as she gets the results back to let me know if I can stop taking them sooner than the 5 days worth that are supposed to kickstart my cycle. I sure hope so. I’d like to get this NuvaRing started soon so I can get used to it and see if I’ll be able to deal with it or not…before Dr Honeydew’s visit. You know, just in case. 
Flirt and I bought rounds of shots…but somehow I doubt that was all it would take for Miss Hut to be comfortable.
Having fallen dreadfully behind on our plans to get together atleast every other month, I met MommyK and MrsDrillTeam for lunch on Saturday. When the emails first started being exchanged, I was under the impression that they were going to come to my house to visit and catchup. Neither of them has seen my house since the day I closed on it (over a year ago) when they brought me a basket full of house goodies. Needless to say, the house looks completely and utterly different. And they have yet to see it. So I said, sure this weekend looks good for me.
