Okay, so as you know, last week I went to the gynecologist (as every guy here makes the unanimous “ewwwww”) because anytime anything came near my cervix, it was like a blitzkrieg. Even I don’t understand that similie, but let’s just say that I’m in a lot of pain. So they press on my stomach and I feel nothing. They stick the speculum in and are like “you have a lot of mucous” which is weird since I’m done with my period. The doctor (who is very very sweet, I promise) puts on gloves, sticks two fingers up there, and presses. You hear me shreik like a small dog on this. So she goes “your ovaries seem swollen. I’m ordering a vaginal ultrasound.” So I go for the ultrasound (which is the coldest and most painful thing ever) and it shows my ovaries. The ovaries have a bunch of little black spots on them, which look like this:

Yeah, that’s not my ovary but you get the point. Those little black spots are cysts. They’res about twenty of them covering my ovaries, so that pain I’m feeling is my ovaries at twice their size. I have Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (sometimes known as Stein-Leventhal Syndrome). Apparently, my androgen levels spiked at some point, hence the small breasts and narrow hips. Now, the Doctor gives me a hug, and three packs of Ortho Tri-Cyclen Lo. She really doesn’t explain the risks that come with PCOS (saying “try this and then we’ll take action”), so I take my little knowledge and do some research. So apparently PCOS leads to a lot of nasty things, including:
- diabetes
- infertility
- endometrial cancer
- ovarian cancer
- alopecia
- obesity
- heart disease
- high blood pressure
Yeah, that really sucks. There’s something so terrible about telling a man that you might not be able to carry their son. It’s like “okay, I may not be able to give you what you always wanted and thus you shouldn’t take me as a bride”. As much as guys say, “that’s okay”, it’s like “what about me? What if I wanted a son or daughter of my own?” People dump babies in the trash and I can’t have one? People get so strung out on heroin that they cover their children in gasoline then light a match and I can’t birth a child to care for? That’s just unfair! I have devoted my life to being a good person, so why do I deserve this?
Then I remember that there is a lot worse I could be suffering. I could be that teenager forced with the problem of pregnancy. I could be that child in the burn unit who suffered senseless abuse. I could be so much worse. So right now, my job is to count my blessings, take some painkillers, and hope for the best.