Not quite to plan.

About a year ago, I started to have these sharp pains in my right side. As most of us busy people do, I lived with it for a couple weeks. In the middle of a styled wedding shoot at work, the pain became unbearable and my mind immediately went to appendicitis.

My doctor was able to get me in for an office visit that afternoon, so off I went to her office in Folsom. After poking around my stomach for awhile  she determined that I did not have appendicitis, but believed I may have a hernia- not much of a relief in that diagnosis. Unfortunately after my ultrasound, my pain sky rocketed and I landed in the ER.

My ER doc confirmed that it was not a hernia, however he did not know what it was. In the ultrasound all they could see was a hazy circle. On top of that, they also could not pinpoint where this hazy circle was actually located. He recommended a more in depth ultrasound and scheduled it for the next day.

When my primary doc received those results the diagnosis was just as hazy as the circle they had seen in the initial ultrasound. They believed it was some sort of an encapsulated mass likely in my right lung. Now the use of the word "mass" sends shivers down just about everyone's spines no matter where it is. I still don't know how I managed to remain as calm and collected as I was through this whole process. With each new test and office visit there really wasn't much certainty. What is was, was anyone's guess.  I was referred to a pulmonologist who ordered more tests. Another ultrasound, a couple of x-rays, and a cat scan did not give us too many more answers. We narrowed it down to, yes it's in your lung, its 3.7 x 3.2 cm and it's a round density and besides the pain, I was asymptomatic. 

My pulomonologist poured over medical texts, asked pretty much all the pulomonologists in the office for their professional opinions, but overall they were stumped. We finally settled on a ct-guided biopsy to take a sample of the "density".

My husband, Jeff and I had decided earlier in the year that we wanted to add to our family, but when all of this started, we thought it was best to table having another child for the time being until this was resolved.

When the day for my CT guided biopsy came, they asked me all the typical questions and if I was pregnant. Of course, I emphatically said no, as I had had so many pregnancy tests done on me throughout this process that there was no way. They drew blood anyways and sent it off to the lab for some pre-biopsy testing as well as another pregnancy test. Since I was so sure that I was not pregnant, especially since two weeks prior they had done a test, we went ahead with the biopsy.

The biopsy went smoothly and they discovered that my "density" was a cyst. The doctors were able to drain it and get clear samples to send off to the lab in order to determine what it actually was that was growing in my lung. After waiting the obligatory hour or so, to make sure there were no complications, I got to go home with my husband.

I settled in at home with Jeff, to relax and rest and wait for the meds to wear off. We had just turned on the TV and settled onto the couch when the phone rang. I picked it up and it was my radiologist. My blood work had come back, and it showed my HCG levels were 25,000.

I was pregnant. 

He recommended a secondary test be ordered and he and my primary physician wanted me to see an OB right away.

My OB confirmed that I was in fact five weeks pregnant.

Not quite the timing we were hoping for. 

We were thrilled to be expanding our family, however the timing was less that desirable, and presented a whole list of concerns, questions, and frankly anxiety. We had no choice to rely on each other, my doctors and put our faith in God that this would all turn out the way it was meant to.

Here was the start albeit rocky,  to our second time around.

A whole new level of Multi-tasking

Next to me, there is a woman talking on her phone. She was recounting her day to her friend, talking all of the oddities in her life. Sure, you think, we all do that.

She was talking, in the bathroom.

Everyone has their cell phones with them at every minute of every day, but talking in the bathroom? Is that really completely necessary?

The last thing you want to hear is the person in the next stall talking on the phone to her friend about whether or not she and her boyfriend are a good fit.

I have seen people do many things while talking on the cell phones. They shop, drive, and apparently now visit the restroom too!
Last week there was a gal in the rest room in Mendocino Hall pacing back and forth in front of the sinks because she was on the phone and talking with a friend. Their conversation didn’t seem to be worthy of being taken into the actual stall.
But apparently it was the pace in front of the sink worthy type of conversation. The difference? Who knows?

The interesting thing about this, is that it is not just young college age twenty-something’s doing this either-- grown adults do it too!

A while back I was in a department store and went to use the rest room and low and behold this woman walks in and she is talking. This is something that it not uncommon, since women generally visit the bathroom in pairs.

I realized she was on the phone when no one replied back after she paused. If that wasn’t enough she went into the stall, did what she had to do, flushed the toilet, and came back out, all while carrying on a conversation with her friend, about when they want to plan for dinner and when everyone should come over to her house…

A conversation about food. In a bathroom. On a cell phone?


This really takes going to the bathroom in pairs to a whole new level.

According to the US Census 2004-2005 Statistical Abstract of the United States, cell phone use is up over 300 percent and in 2003 159 million people had cell phones. By now we are probably up to somewhere around 255 million, maybe more.

That is a lot of cell phones out there to be used at various times. People literally are on their cell phones every minute of the day. I brought this up to my boyfriend, because I was so shocked when this first occurred. I wasn’t sure whether I should laugh, or feel just a little bit violated. I had to know. Do men do this too?

The look he gave me said it all, but he followed it up with an emphatic, “No!” So now, I am curious.

Is this more of a woman’s thing because we have an obsession with multi-tasking? Do we feel that by talking on the phone and using the restroom we are saving time somehow?


Hopefully the multi-tasking takes itself a step further and the women wash their hands!