hysterectomy? [update!]

mods: please please please don't move this to health & support!  i don't need the input of a bunch of skinny teenagers; i'm looking for grown-up women!

i'm thinking about having a hysterectomy and want to hear the experiences--good and bad--of my adult friends here.

i'm not going to do anything for at least a year, because it's just not the right time to fall apart (in case i do).  but i have massive fibroids that can't be removed non-invasively.  my periods are not painful, but they are extremely heavy and long, and my cycle is short.  you know that rule about going to emergency if you're going through more than one tampon an hour?  yeah, that's me two days out of every 23 (no, i don't go to emergency). 

i'm tired of being iron depleted and i'm tired of having a grapefruit in my belly.  but i'm not sure i'm ready for the emotional and hormonal trauma.  any input is appreciated.

oh yeah - i'm 40, no kids.

Original Post by pgeorgian:

thanks jennifer!  yeah, it was a hard decision to come to, but i'm totally comfortable with it now.  talking it out here helped a lot :)

I hope everything goes smoothly, pg. As I mentioned before, be really really sure that you're OK with closing the book on biobabies. If you should get a little nagging voice again (other than mine), it might not be terrible to listen to it for a minute. But if this is really what you want, then more power to you.  :)

thanks, trust.  who knows if i'll even be able to squeeze it in this year.  it's probably too much to ask to be able to book a surgery in three weeks (when will you be qualified to cut?).  but i feel better having decided.

Original Post by pgeorgian:

thanks, trust.  who knows if i'll even be able to squeeze it in this year.  it's probably too much to ask to be able to book a surgery in three weeks (when will you be qualified to cut?).  but i feel better having decided.

Don't think I'm gonna be a full-on OB/GYN - too much surgical training that I don't especially want, too little time to have any kind of a personal life for, like, ever. I'm gonna do family med with extra training in obs and palliative.

I'd be able to be first assist on your hysterectomy (could do that now, even) but not the main cutter. I may wind up training in c-sections, however (much easier than hysterectomies). And I won't be done med school for over a year, let alone residency (with my extra years I'm looking at 2014, 2013 at the earliest if I don't do a palliative care year as well).

oh-kay.  well, you won't be offended if i don't wait for you ;)

palliative care, huh?  that's noble. 

Original Post by pgeorgian:

thanks, 'gator (although that sounds suspiciously like "I'll be praying for you").

i'm kidding.  i'm kidding!

 heh. If I were praying for you, I'd say so. :)

Directing my access to the universal energy toward you for wellness. :) There that's better, no?

To me it sounds more like, "May the Force be with you."

(The proper reply is. "And also with you.")

much better

edit: tom, i lean toward "So say we all."

I just had a vaginal hysterectomy on Friday.  My GYN has tried to talk me into for a few years due to my fibroids.  I had the emobolization procedure done a few years ago and felt great for about a year.  The fibroids grew back and I was complaining of pain once again.  What finally convinced me to have it done was my last annual.  Because of 1 large fibroid getting in the way, he was unable to inspect my ovaries.  I am currently unemployed and my husband has good health insurance through his work.  The timing seemed right. 

When I saw the doctor on Saturday, he said he was surprised as to how many fibroids I actually had.  He took out the cervix and said the ovaries looked great.  He released me that morning and ordered bed rest at home for 3 days.  My biggest complaint about the procedure was the catheter.  I simply don't do well with them and was counting the minutes until the nurse's instructions said to take it out. 

I am taking it slow and easy for a while and expect a good report at my post-op appointment tomorrow which I should be able to drive myself to .   My husband was of great help during initial recovery.  When I am up to it, I plan to make him a gourmet romantic dinner.  Good luck with your decision.  You will know when it is right for you.

PG,

 have you talked to your Dr to see if a thermal ablation would be possible?  It would depend of course if the fibroid would be removed with a d/c of course...if they can, I would recommend looking into it.  I had cysts, not fibroid, but it changed my life...literally!  I was like you  in how long they were and being anemic all the time...

it is much less evasive, but for me was perfect.

PG,

 have you talked to your Dr to see if a thermal ablation would be possible?  It would depend of course if the fibroid would be removed with a d/c of course...if they can, I would recommend looking into it.  I had cysts, not fibroid, but it changed my life...literally!  I was like you  in how long they were and being anemic all the time...

it is much less evasive, but for me was perfect.

thanks for your story, buddster.  sounds like your situation is quite similar to mine; good to hear it wasn't too traumatic. 

hope you feel well soon!

kae, ablation wasn't an option when i was still trying to maintain fertility.  and that was before i had the embolization, when we didn't know that the biggest of the fibroids was outside the uterus.  pretty sure it's not an option.

anyway, my doctor all but told me a year and a half ago that i should have a hysterectomy; i just wasn't ready.

ablation does get rid of fertility as well (well technically I could, but doubtful and dangerous) but I do still have light periods and don't need hormones...an option if the fibroids allowed...but they don't.

As hard as it is, this sounds like the best for you. 

my sister has adopted both her children...

okay, so i saw the doc, and she's going to try to book me in for april 27.  she only has three OR days in april, the 6th, the 20th, and the 27th; the first is booked, the second is too close to my defence.  she said that she has women who've been waiting a year for surgery, so it's nice to know that she gets my sense of urgency (if it's not now, i'd end up delaying indefinitely).

it will be an abdominal procedure because of the size of my uterus.  she's going to take everything but the ovaries, and i'll be in hospital for three days (poor bubby will probably have to go to a kennel), but she said i'd be up and around the day after surgery.

is it weird that i'm excited?

I had a hysterectomy about 15 years ago due to cervical cancer.  Like you, I kept the overies.  I want to warn you that the recovery will take quite a bit of time.  It took something like 6 months for me to feel completely recovered.  "Up and around" will mean hobbling down the hospital hall pushing your IV.  Have you talked to your doctor about how much time to expect to take off work?  Expect a lot of pain at first.  Plan on taking it easy for a couple of months.

No more periods is really nice though.

sending energy for quick recovery and the all clear when she's done.

Original Post by pgeorgian:

okay, so i saw the doc, and she's going to try to book me in for april 27.  she only has three OR days in april, the 6th, the 20th, and the 27th; the first is booked, the second is too close to my defence.  she said that she has women who've been waiting a year for surgery, so it's nice to know that she gets my sense of urgency (if it's not now, i'd end up delaying indefinitely).

it will be an abdominal procedure because of the size of my uterus.  she's going to take everything but the ovaries, and i'll be in hospital for three days (poor bubby will probably have to go to a kennel), but she said i'd be up and around the day after surgery.

is it weird that i'm excited?

Why is that?

Ok 2 years ago i had massive bleeding, had a D & C and a coil fitted, went back in due to massive pain and the coil was removed they thought i had an infection !!The next day i was taken to a room and told i had womb cancer and had to have a hystorectomy in 3 weeks time !!!!!!! Now i was 26 stone and terrifide !!

I had to have 2 teams of anesatiths and i was so scared that i tried to make a run for it whlst they where knocking me out .

Had the op they removed the lot, i was told i copuld keep the ovairys but didnt fancy another op if they became cancerous and to be honest my thoughs where better out than in !

I woke up fine and even moved myself into another bed 4 hours after my op ! they where amazed, no pain i had the morphine pump but didnt use it much.

I was home in 9 days not the 12 days i was told it would take and had no problems since. I could not have HRT due to the cancer and it came back that i had stage 2b soooo close to it spreading !!!

My advice to you is dont mess about and dont wait ! this is one area that once its removed its over and you can get on with life, i had 25 shots of radio therapy just incase and i found that far worse than the operation.

If i can come through it at 26 stone anyone can !

Please girls if you bleed heavy (i bled for over a year and i mean i couldnt walk more than 50ft without flooding ! but my sister died and my mum had alzhimers and died i put my health on hold) DONT !  get it sorted out please !!!

I was very lucky and had a great team caring for me.

Please dont look apon a hystorectomy as an end its a new begining and its great to not bleed any more.

If anyone is scared or worried im always here to lend and ear, shoulder or a kick up the rear if needed.

Please don't bleed in silence !

I mentioned to my dr last week that I would like to have my tubes tied because I'd like to eliminate the possibility of having another child, but would prefer not to live the next 10 years as a nun.

He said we could definitely schedule a tubal ligation.  And then he said, But I just want to mention that a tubal ligation doesn't eliminate the possibility of pregnancy.  And then he told me about a European woman who had a hysterectomy and then got pregnant and delivered a baby because they left her ovaries, and so her ovaries continued to release eggs, which settled down in her abdomen and most of them probably dissolved, but then a wily sperm got in there and found one that was still ripe and wa-boom!  Behbeh.  The placenta attached to a small fistula on her interior abdomen.  The baby was perfectly healthy.

Abdominal pregnancies aren't unheard of.

That was the scariest bedtime story I ever heard. 

holy crap, nomo!  you always have the good stories.

flowerofshona, thanks for sharing.  i don't think my story is as dire as yours, but i really appreciate it - especially since it has a happy ending ;)

trustwomen, i don't understand the question.  are you asking why i'm excited?  that's easy.  first, i've been living with this ridiculous bulge in my belly for two years (that's as long as i've been aware of it, but who knows how long it's been there; i had to lose 25 pounds before i noticed it).  second, i'm only going to have to buy tampons one more time!  and third, i'm sick of feeling my best only 10 days out of every 23. 

clharr, i'm not worried.  i have a high pain tolerance, i've always responded well to anesthesia, and i bounce back fast. 

edit: and thanks, 'gator!

just thought of another reason to be excited: my bladder will have so much more room when this thing is gone ;)