My Body is a Carnival

You know that John Mayer song, "Your Body is a Wonderland?" Well in my case, my body is more like a carnival. A carnival in a trailer park.

I had my IUI last Thursday. Since then, I've had HORRIBLE cramps in my left ovary, and even woke up to debilitating pelvic pain. For the past 4 days, I've had extreme bloating, severe cramps, and lots of random pain.

I finally broke down and went to see my RE today. She took a look, and blurted out, "Ummm, no wonder you're in a lot of pain!"

Diagnosis:
1. My giant follicle had ruptured and spilled lots of free-floating fluid into my pelvic cavity. (causing severe cramps)
2. That giant follicle has now become a giant 4cm blood-filled cyst. Yes. I said 4cm and I said blood-filled.
3. Some of that blood is leaking into my left ovary. Hence, the pain.
4. I have two other smaller cysts on the same ovary.

I feel better knowing it wasn't constipation! I knew it wasn't. This pain is something I can't explain. I can't button my pants, I can sit up straight. Bleh.

But here's the amazing part: I feel fine mentally. Maybe it's because we've had non-stop obstacles and bad news, and now I'm turning into the crazy person who laughs at carnage. Perhaps, though, it's because this will force us onto a much-needed break. It will take a few weeks for the cyst to go away. As much as I knew I needed a break after all these crazy fast and furious fertility meds and procedures, it's hard to put the brakes on. It's hard to stop when you want something so bad.

This settles the matter for me. We're taking a break, whether we like it or not. Deep down, perhaps I do like it. My RE said total pelvic rest, little to no exercise. She said absolutely do not bike ride. Well, two days ago we'd planned a 2 hour strenuous bike ride, and oddly, Becks got two flat tires in less than 15 minutes. I rode back to get the car. We never ended up doing more than 20 minutes of biking.

Maybe someone was watching out for me. :)

PS - THANK YOU to everyone for your thoughtful comments to my last post. They meant so much to me, and I read them all multiple times. I really don't know what I'd do without all you kind people in the blogosphere!