I had surgery Monday to take a look at my wonky ovary. I had general anesthesia (thanks everyone for the advice on that--I posted here a while back), and the surgery went fine. They took out my right ovary, which was hopelessly intertwined with an endometrioma, and they also took out a cyst on my left fallopian tube. So I can have more kids if I want (which I don't, but good to know). So this should cure my pain and I can go off the hormones.

The complication was that in the recovery room after I regained consciousness, my heart started beating very erratically. This went on for an hour or two and there was much concern. The anesthesiologist said he was going to have to shock my heart with the paddles to get it back into a proper rhythm. But shortly before he planned to do this, my heart started beating with a regular rhythm again. They were all puzzled I was able to "convert" to a good rhythm on my own and that I had started this irregular rhythm in the first place, after surgery was over. I now have to go see a cardiologist next week. The doc says maybe they have discovered an underlying heart condition that I have and this is good, so it can be treated with medication or other means. The irregular beating is called atrial fibrillation but usually occurs in people quite a bit older than I am. Anyway, my heart is beating normally now, as far as I can tell. My father has this too, and apparently it can run in families. When there is a genetic component, it can manifest at an earlier age. I guess it is good they discovered this. I am especially glad they didn't have to use the paddles while I was awake. I am used to seeing them on TV medical shows use paddles to shock people's hearts that have stopped beating back into beating again, not live people's beating hearts! I was feeling like, "hey, my heart's beating, I'm alive, let's leave well enough alone, who cares if the rhythm isn't right." But that was not acceptable to them. They said that atrial fibrillation can be associated with hyperthyroidism, so they tested for that, but I don't have it.

Does anyone here have atrial fibrillation? How do you treat it?

I am convalescing at home now from the surgery. This is a lot more painful than I thought it would be. But I am glad to have the ovary problem solved once and for all.