Abdominal Pain, Cause Unknown

After the birth of my third child at the age of 37, I felt like I had been hit by a MAC truck! I assumed that because I was older, that the pregnancy and delivery were just harder for my body take with stand so I didn't think anything of it. I thought that since my stomach was pretty much fattened after birth that I was in good shape for my age, and so I continued on with my daily living.

A few months went by and I noticed that I had quite a bit of pain at the place where my ribs met and along the right side of my ribs cage. It hurt alot if I was in a sitting position and bent over as if to pick up my purse off the floor board of the car, and it really hurt when I would dress our newborn son and his feet tapped my tummy.

I had spoken with some co-workers, some being nurses and we all thought that maybe I was having gall bladder trouble as I was also getting nauseated alot, especially when I tried to eat and I was really fatigued. Not just from the baby but really fatigued. One of the nurses that I work with was having her gall bladder removed and the symptoms were similar, so I thought for sure that was it.

I went to my doctor for the pain and after taking a urine sample, put me on some antibiotics for Urinary Tract infection. He said that if the pain didn't go away that I should come back and we could do an MRI or a CT scan , a computed tomography (CT) scan uses X-rays to make detailed pictures of structures inside of the body, to see if we could find where the pain was coming from.

Of course, the pain did not subside. I went back to the doctor and he ordered a CT scan of the abdominal area. I had the scan done , it was mid April, and was awaiting the results. Three days before Easter of this year I received a phone call on my cell phone from the doctors office. I was at Wal Mart finishing up some easter basket shopping for our 5 children when the nurse revealed to me the I had a "mass on my liver , that was 7 centimeters, and would need to have another CT scan done." Of course I was in shock! My husband had just lost his grandmother to cancer a month before and this news was the worst thing that I could have been told. I called my husband when I returned to work and called my mother to let her know. " you are kidding right?" she said. " No, I am not kidding."

We were all in a waiting stage. There was nothing we could do but go through the holiday and wait to hear confirmation of what the mass was. I remember sitting at Easter Brunch wondering if this would be my last Easter. We were all on pins and needles.

Fortunately, after the second scan results came back, the doctor said it was a benign tumor called a Hemangioma. Well this was good news, but what is a Hemangioma? A hemangioma is a tumor that is made up of blodd vessels and tissue. They are common and usually people are born with them; they either grow or they don't. They are either asymptomatic are they are not. Hemangiomas are also attributed to high estrogen levels. Although you are born with them, estrogen plays a part in making them grow and there is a possible link to the growth of my tumor with being pregnant.

I was referred to the Gastrointestinal Specialist to seek treatment. I was finally able to get in with the GI doctor on May 17th. Almost one month after the diagnosis. We were expecting some surgery and we weren't really that concerned, a little inconvenience, especially with have a large family to care for, but plenty of family to help out, so we waited to hear what the doctor had to say. We were told that because of the size and location, that it was not very common and that he was concerned with the risk of my being in a car accident or any type of impact could rupture the tumor and as hemangiomas are made up of blood vessels and with the liver being a very vascular organ in the body, that he was concerned of rupture. " I am going to place a call to the Liver Transplant doctors at Stanford University." he said.

For the next month, we were all paranoid of anything bumping me in the stomach for fear of internal bleeding. After many phone calls back to the doctors office, I was told that I couldn't be seen by the surgeons until August or September as the doctors visit Lake Tahoe once or twice a week and with us living in Reno which is 45 minutes to an hour away, this would save us a trip to California. I called my husband and he suggested that we call back and ask if we could get in sooner if we made the drive to Stanford and saw the doctors down there a opposed to waiting for them to make their rounds at the Barton Memorial Hospital in Lake Tahoe. "Yes. they could see me sooner since we were able to make the trip." Stanford is 4.5 hours from Reno, so it is not that huge of a drive. I was able to get in to see the Liver Transplant Surgeon, Dr. Andy Bonham on June 25th, 2007 at 10:00 am.

My husband and my parents drove down on Sunday night so that we could arrive without rush at the morning appointment. Dr. Bonham was called that morning to do a liver transplant and was in surgery. If you are not aware, transplant surgeries are performed as soon as a liver becomes available. This can be at anytime. We were told to come back that afternoon, they would call us. We were finally able to see him that afternoon.

Good news! The risks for removing this type of tumor are very low, like 5-10% risk involved. They do not usually remove them unless they are asymptomatic, which mine is as it causes me a great deal of pain. I have the option of having surgery. The down side of leaving it there is that I am still at risk for rupture and it could get larger. If I opt for surgery, I will spend 5-7 days in the hospital with 6 weeks recovery. The main risk would be anesthesia. We asked how the tumor is removed. they do what is called a " resection, " which is removing that portion of the liver. They need to tie off all of the blood vessels involved and the bile ducts. They monitor you afterwords to make sure that the bile ducts do not seep.

By the way, I no longer have the flat tummy that I had after birth, I now look like I could be 5-6 months pregnant. I have elected to have the surgery so that I can feel better. I sometimes get nauseated and I tire easily. With 3 children, one infant and a teenager, I need all the energy I can muster. Once the surgery is arranged however, it can be bumped for a more serious patient. My original date was July 18th which was just bumped to a tentatively scheduled surgery on August 15th. This can also be bumped if a transplant patient gets a liver.

So, we are still waiting, but we are so much more relieved that I am not in eminent danger. Nervous for surgery, but better. If you are experiencing abdominal pain, see your doctor about having an MRI or CT scan done. You may be surprised at what you find.