Chapter 5

"Dr. W can't see you for several months, but his nurse practitioner can see you tomorrow." Sounds great. I'm a bit partial to NP's anyway, so even better. The usual took place: blood draw, exam, all the perks of being a woman. When I told her that I was taking an estrogen pill, I saw a look of concern on her face. She told me that effective immediately, I would change from the pill to a gel. Ok. Whatever. Just make me feel better.

The next day, I received a phone call from Dr W's office. Well actually, Dr. W himself. He told me that he needed to see me as soon as possible. Like tomorrow. He told me not to worry, but he just needed to see me face to face. OK, first of all, I'm a woman. When a doctor says those words to you, your mind immediately begins to race. And keep in mind, I'm already suffering from severe anxiety....need I say more?

To say this guy was an odd duck would be an understatement. He sat in his little round stool with his legs criss-crossed. But I immediately liked him. I sensed his compassion from the moment he began to talk. His first words? "I wanted to see you face to face because I thought I would see a crazy woman." Okie dokie. Please continue. "Your hormone levels are more out of whack than any I've seen...and I've seen many. Your estrogen levels are 100 times normal. This equates to you having 40 sets of ovaries!" Hmmmm...interesting, considering I don't have any ovaries! He continued, "the massive amount of estrogen in your body is causing your liver to produce very dangerous proteins. One of those proteins will try to get rid of the extra estrogen and when it cannot do so, it binds to receptors in the brain; the receptors that create 'normalcy' in our thoughts and moods, like dopamine, norepinephrine, and seratonin. So to tell you the truth, I'm quite surprised that you don't feel as though you're going crazy...or severely depressed." Wow. I guess anxiety is definitely the lesser of the evils, huh? After catching my breath, I said, "Well, I don't feel crazy, just extremely anxious." He proceeded to tell me that he would start me on an antidepressant immediately because he said that eventually the chemicals in my brain would be affected. Oh super, I can hardly wait to get home to tell Mark the news! Climb aboard, family of mine, the ride is about to get even more interesting!!