I’ve gone back and forth about posting this…but I do want to start sharing more about myself and my life here on my blog. So, here goes…
In February I’m having surgery. More specifically, I’m getting a hysterectomy. I have a large-to-me (3.6 cm) submucosal uterine fibroid. It’s causing all sorts of issues that I won’t go into, but the bottom line is it has to be treated.
Here were my treatment options:
- Partial fibroid removal. Partial because they cannot remove the whole thing without leaving my uterine wall too thin and unstable. This means it will grow back. How fast? No way to tell. They think this has been growing over many years and only now has started causing problems. It could be 5, 10, 20, years until it starts causing trouble again at which point I would have the same choice to make…Or this procedure might not fix anything at all.
- Hysterectomy. This is the only definitive treatment. I do have two other fibroids, but they are on the outside and not causing issues…yet. They will also continue to grow. Getting the uterus removed will eliminate all and ensure none grow back.
Most people I talk to about this are worried or sad for me. Sad that I won’t be able to procreate, and worried that I’m undergoing something unnecessary. But I don’t feel worried or sad. Well, ok, I’m worried, but mostly because it’s surgery, and there’s always a fear of complications with any surgery.
Children have never been on the agenda and to quote my doctor, “Uteruses are only good for making babies. If you don’t want babies, there’s not really any reason to have one.”
The good news is I will be keeping my ovaries so I won’t be going through early menopause. This also leaves the door open for egg harvesting if I decide later that I absolutely must have a child from my own DNA.
The surgery is as minimally invasive as it can get. No longer does this procedure require an open abdomen operation. Everything is done through a couple of tiny incisions. I will stay one night in the hospital and then go home. Most normal activities can resume after two weeks and full recovery after six. I’m hoping to get quite a bit of knitting accomplished during my down time.
Do you still have your uterus?
Good luck on your surgery! I had a hysterectomy in my mid 30′s due to similar circumstances. I could barely leave the house due to “heavy flow” for a week every month. Cramping issues as well. The hysterectomy set me free. You will feel like a new woman. No more Pap smears! No worries about BC!
I still have my uterus, but my mom doesn’t for similar reasons. She said that it was the best decision that she made, and she wished she had done it sooner. She had a lot of unwanted bleeding and struggled with her fibroids (she had four) for the past 15 years. She would get a partial removal and then they would be back 2-3 years later and the whole process would start again. That’s not a fun battle for anyone, and when she decided to get her surgery she said that she felt like she was giving up – until after. Now we don’t have to go through that cycle anymore.