Well crap. I have pretty much used up all my sick time with emergency room visits because it seems like every day I feel sicker and sicker. Not last night's, but the visit before that (Wednesday?) I finally got to talk to a surgeon who told me that whoever told me I have a 10 cm cyst was totally wrong. I have a little crescent moon of healthy tissue that MIGHT total 8 cm, but the enlarged part is the cyst. I don't have enough healthy tissue left to matter, so he scheduled me for surgery in two weeks because he'll be out of town for a conference. I realize surgeons are weird and he really wanted to do this surgery himself because he's never seen anything like what I have, but I reeeaaaaally don't want to wait. I'm hurtin'. So last night I went back to emergency for dizziness because that was a symptom I hadn't had yet, threw up in front of a nurse, and got a referral to another surgeon because the doctor I saw last night doesn't think I should wait two weeks either. The spleen is pushing on my diaphragm, which explains the heart palpitations and high blood pressure. It's also damn near flattened my stomach, which explains why I can't eat more than two bites of food and a swallow of water or Gatorade at a time (and why I toss my cookies if I try to eat more). I was mostly okay about a week ago, but it seems like I'm getting worse as my appetite diminishes. I really didn't want to have my spleen out because I heard that you have to take antibiotics for the rest of your life, but it turns out that I'll just have to get a bunch of vaccinations every year instead. I already got vanccinated for meningitis and something else in preparation for surgery (I didn't even know they HAD meningitis vaccines), and I can never travel to Africa because I'll be extra susceptible to malaria. So that's how that's going down. Pre-op apointment is this Monday, and I hope to God that the surgery is sometime next week too. I'll never be able to wear a two piece bathing suit- not that I could anyway- because I'm gonna have a heck of a scar. The first surgeon was talking almost a foot long because my spleen is so big. Hell, I figure with that much room to work in I'll ask them to take out my appendix too. One giant organ is plenty, and I sure don't ever want to go through this again. Wish me luck!