As I sit here and write from Lake Hubert, I feel myself finally settling down from what has been a crazy few days. This may take me a while, so bear with me...
First, the good stuff. I said goodbye to an old friend this week - traded in Ol' Bessie, my trusty minivan with 219,000 miles on it. It was time. I just decided on Thursday that I was ready. So I went and bought myself a new car. (New to me, anyway :) I went and did it all by myself. DanO hasn't even seen it yet!
Now, this might not seem like a big deal, but I am a 45 year old stay at home mom who hasn't had an income to speak of since Erin was born. So, it took some balls (excuse my French) for me to go and test drive and negotiate and make a good deal for myself (I did). I qualified for my own loan - no husband needed - and now I am the owner of a sweet 2010 Lincoln MKX crossover. It's exactly what I wanted.
So, I was all fired up to load up my new car and head to the lake yesterday morning. One problem - my girl part problems were rearing their ugly head once again... argh! Men... if you are not up to hearing about the female menstrual cycle you may want to skip these next few paragraphs...
What started like it might be a normal period (the first normal one I've had in a while) turned into something kind of scary. I've never experienced anything like it. So, instead of heading to the cabin yesterday morning, I was headed to WFMC to find out what to do next. Two things to deal with: in the short term, how to stop the bleeding. In the long term, to find out if this is tamoxifen related... or age related... 45 is on the cusp of the beginning of the end, if you know what I mean.
We are dealing with both of those problems through medication. In the short term, I am taking transexamic acid. It was approved by the FDA in 2007 for use in cases of irregular uterine bleeding. I had never heard of it before, but the ob/gyn explained that the military used it in battlefields to help stop soldiers from bleeding out. Yikes! He assured me that my dose taken in pill form would be much less potent than that...
As far as long term - we need to find out if the tamoxifen is at the root of these problems. The only way to determine if it's the tamoxifen is to stop taking it. Dr. Pruthi ordered me to do just that, and we'll see what happens. If things normalize, then we can attribute it to the drug. If they don't, then I have to accept that me and my uterus are getting old.
I am hoping things normalize very quickly and I can put all that behind me and enjoy a relaxing time at the lake. Dan is on his way from Pittsburgh to Minneapolis to Nisswa. We should see him tonight by midnight. Can't wait to see him... and show him my new car...
