Who is She?
About the “she” behind sheISAscientist: Isabel Barnes
📍The Start of my Journey: Diagnosis
At thirteen, I made my first-ever visit to the gynecologist. I sat in the room, cold and nervous, waiting for the doctor to enter and tell me what was wrong with my body. Four days prior, my mom had rushed me from urgent care to doctors’ offices to hospitals, in an attempt to get an explanation for my extreme abdominal pain. I had had periods before, and the pain was manageable, but this was something else; I could barely walk, it hurt to move my legs and torso, and I was nauseous. I got an emergency ultrasound, which confused and concerned me because, at the time, I thought ultrasounds were only for pregnant people. I was thirteen, and definitely not pregnant. I lay on the exam table in pain while the ultrasound technician pushed down hard on my abdomen in a way that felt inconsiderate given my current situation. The ultrasound tech took screenshots of the black and grey fuzzy images on her screen. When she was done, I was very relieved and glad that I would never have to have an ultrasound again anytime soon. Unfortunately, that did not end up being the case.
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The doctor finally entered the room, she introduced herself and explained that she was a pediatric gynecologist. She asked me and my parents some questions about my episode from a few days prior, about family medical history, and my previous experiences with my menstrual cycle. I’d had my period for a few years now, and they were never comfortable, but also never anything some ibuprofen couldn’t get me through. I had never experienced pain like what I’d felt earlier that week before. Hearing this and having examined my ultrasounds, the doctor then explained to me my diagnosis; ovarian cysts. She told me that this was not uncommon, that my body formed a cyst once every cycle; little sacs of fluid grew and subsided from the surface of my ovary every month, but the problem with this one was that it hadn’t subsided at the end of the cycle like it was supposed to. This cyst had kept growing on the surface of my ovary, and the size of it was causing pressure in my abdomen that was the root of my pain. The cyst could resolve on its own, but it also could keep growing, putting me at risk for ovarian torsion. Ovarian torsion happens when the cyst becomes close in size or larger than the actual ovary, and the weight of it causes the ovary to twist on itself, causing a cut off of circulation and extreme sudden pain. Ovarian torsion would mean I would likely have to get my ovary surgically removed. My cysts are caused by some kind of hormonal imbalance. My doctor explained that my treatment options would target this hormonal imbalance, and hopefully regulate my hormones in a way that would cause my cyst to resolve, but that was not guaranteed.
As a thirteen year old, all of this information was overwhelming to me. I had so many questions about the cause of the cysts, the side effects of treatment options, how long I would have to be on this treatment and worry about cysts (forever?) Most of all, I didn’t understand how this could happen if I hadn’t done anything wrong, if I was healthy. I have learned about lung cancer, which came from smoking, and diabetes, which came from unhealthy eating habits. What did I do or what went wrong to cause me to have a hormonal imbalance that led to ovarian cysts? I wanted to understand the “why?” behind what was happening to me.
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