tumors, hernias and cysts...

So I'm spending a lovely Saturday morning in bed, reading one of the books from the Twilight series, when I feel this weird pressure in my abdomen. I had felt this before, but only when there was serious pressure on my back, as in the last time Rémy gave me a massage and I thought my liver was going to explode against my ribs when he pushed down mid-back on my right side. It was weird that I could now feel this pressure by myself and it concerned me.



I sat up and examined my abdomen. Not sure if i was seeing things, I felt along the line of my ribcage, and sure enough there was a HUGE lump. Hard but tender; it didn't exactly hurt to the touch, but it felt incredibly weird, out of place, not a normal part of my body. I freaked out for about ten minutes or so, then realized that would do me no good & I'd talk to Rémy about it when he got home from work.

Unfortunately I didn't get the chance I wanted; as soon as he got home we headed straight out the door to a friend's place for dinner. I hadn't had the opportunity to really show Rémy, and sort of worried all night. As soon as we left, still in the stairwell of their apartment complex, I showed Rémy. He examined me when we got home and decided it was definitely not right. It was now sort of starting to hurt. Not hurt, just ache, and I was aware of its presence more than before. I called my mother & we discussed options. We decided it was probably either a cyst, a hernia or a (hopefully and probably benign) tumor.

I spent most of Sunday freaking out. Rémy's cousin and her girlfriend were over for dinner with a few others and she told me she had had a few cysts and she was almost positive it was the same thing. My imagination started running wild & Rémy made me go to bed early.

Rémy called his doctor Monday morning and somehow got a same day appointment for that evening. We took it easy all day, me freaking out occasionally, Rémy sometimes looking concerned, both of us nervous. We got to the doctor's office and had to wait almost an hour before finally we entered his tiny little office. I hopped up onto the examination table & he asked me where it hurts. I explained about the lump and the pressure and the ache. He pressed down and it definitely hurt. I was ready for the worst.

"Right here?" he asked.

"Yes yes! That hurts a lot, that's exactly it!" I wince in pain, trying not to writhe to much under the pressure.

"That's just your rib."

I wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry. Just my rib? How was that possible? It was HUGELY jutting out of my abdomen and there was definitely not a lump like that on my left side. How could that just be my rib? The doctor explained that your last few ribs are floating. Yes, I know this, I studied anatomy. But floating enough that they move that much? Apparently so. He also said that the 11th and 12th ribs are often tender, which would explain the ache, especially after so many people had been poking and prodding me, trying to figure out what was wrong.

So... no hospital, to surgery, no pain killers or taking it easy. Don't worry folks; it's just my rib!