Where would I start if I were to try to tell you this story from the beginning? I could start with the part about how trusting I am, how supremely superficial and sensitive I can be. I believe that he is telling me what he really thinks after seriously considering all of it. I really believe that. I am also blinded by my ovaries.
This evil pill, this gift to women, these hormones that have turned the tables and fought against what they really are, they are killing me! My TriNessa leaves me with some side effects I could do with out. I could do with out the mind-numbing headaches (which start about 30 minutes after I take my very first pill of the month and become less noticeable on day 14). I’m not kidding! Did you hear me? That is 14 days of headaches! Obviously if it was that big of a deal I wouldn’t be taking them. But I just can’t quit. I’d have to leave my sex life behind me forever. There is the matter of the nausea as well; it’s very chicken and egg. I take an unhealthy amount of Ibuprofen (sometimes I take it because I had too much to drink the night before and sometimes I take it because it’s one of the 14 days of headaches but I don’t always know which, I hope you taking advantage of the song writing possibilities here.) I get pretty sick to my stomach for the first seven days of the pill and I’m not sure if it’s because of the pill or because of all the nasty ibuprofen. I don’t know which. We could (if you are still reading) talk about the depression that completely owns my life now. I blame that on the pill too. I have a normal cycle of depression that revolves around my dad’s birthday and the time he died (conveniently located within six days of each other). That was in July (1996) and today we are somewhere in January. So depression is not on the schedule, not due for six months. The schedule dictates that right now, this month, I should not cry because my boyfriend did not seem interested in discussing my pill or not to pill status and I assumed that meant I could stop taking the fucking things and jesus was I ever wrong and oh god did I ever sob over that for hours. The schedule says No! This is not correct, it is not time to feel like this.
I told him that we had to talk (right before he had to leave for a few hours) so he left and called me within about 30 minutes to find out what this talking was all about. I told him I was considering not taking this evil thing anymore and I explained the reasons above (as best I could with out risking him losing interest) and he seemed like he understood, he even said yes, that it made sense. I (oh I am such a silly girl) thought that meant that out relationship was not dependent on me taking this thing. I thought that meant I could keep weighing my options and finally resting on a decision that was best for me. (And him too, I’m not totally selfish. I considered that fact that he probably did not want to have any kids, with me or in general, even though he had never said so, not even when I told him I was thinking of essentially taking that risk, no sir he did not say word one.) I hemmed and hawed and thought and thought some more. I weighed my options considering my anti-viral and my experimental shot. I ran some of these ideas past him periodically, in emails and IRL and the most I ever got out of him was a shoulder shrug. So I decided I did not want to take it. I really did not want to take it in the first place, the only thing that kept me from stopping was him. I wanted to make sure he (he he he not me me me) was okay with that.
Right?
Still with me?
And on Friday (decision day) at 6PM I was really getting nervous and had to keep reminding myself that I had told him all he needed to know and it all seemed like this decision was okay with him. I thought a few times about going to get it just in case I changed my mind at midnight. I even went online and got the Walgreens phone number. Then I went to go sit next to him and I was going to try and relax. But instead of the usual (I sit down next to him and he pretty much ignores me) he asks me about it, asks me if not getting it is my decisions and I say yes….I jump up and run downstairs. My plan was to go pick it up anyway to have it on hand in case (again) I change my mind, so that’s what I’ll do. I call the pharmacy etc. Except now it seems like he is…contemplative. I ask him about his state of mind and come to find out I can’t stop taking my pill because I cannot, under any circumstances, do any kind of baby-having with this lunatic (he has forbidden it). But my problem is (as it always will be) that I love him.
I asked him origionally not about the general idea of pregnancy but if I should tell him if I found myself in that position. Clearly the answer is no, but that’s not what he said.
So now I am alone in this. If I want to stop taking this I can’t tell him.