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.

Stupid gi-normous uterus. :)

Original Post by kathygator:

Stupid gi-normous uterus. :)

totally.

Original Post by trustwomen:

Original Post by pgeorgian:

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).

Why is that?

To clarify: the question was about the bolded part. :)   (It was bolded then, too, but I should have abridged too, I guess).

oh-kay.

because new job (hopefully), so won't feel good about asking for time off, plus moving, so will need to find a new doctor (two, really; i'll need a GP first, then an obgyn, and who knows how long it will take to get a referral), and then waiting for surgery, which can take months.  if i got right on it, it would still likely be at least a year.

Original Post by pgeorgian:

oh-kay.

because new job (hopefully), so won't feel good about asking for time off, plus moving, so will need to find a new doctor (two, really; i'll need a GP first, then an obgyn, and who knows how long it will take to get a referral), and then waiting for surgery, which can take months.  if i got right on it, it would still likely be at least a year.

Just checkin'. That could have been a "Because if I don't do it this very second my ambivalence will win" statement, if read a certain way, in which case I would have recommended caution if not reevaluation. But your explanation is quite logical and does not involve that.  :)

Good luck with your surgery, you are lucky to be having it so soon!!!

true 'nuff.  but, no, my ambivalence is gone.

thanks for the luck!  i know how lucky i am.  that's the other thing; i really like my doc, and if i'm going to be cut, i'm glad it's by her.

crap, i'm going to hate being in the hospital for three days, though.  blech!

Original Post by pgeorgian:

true 'nuff.  but, no, my ambivalence is gone.

thanks for the luck!  i know how lucky i am.  that's the other thing; i really like my doc, and if i'm going to be cut, i'm glad it's by her.

crap, i'm going to hate being in the hospital for three days, though.  blech!

Do you have people who can bring you chocolate and novels? Those two things are important for hospital stays...

i do ;)

we should lobby to change the word 'hysterectomy' to 'uterectomy'

just sayin.

:)

because of that hysteria thing?  i think the organ came before the condition.  not that i don't blame androcentric psychiatry for pretty-much everything.

if i'm hysterical before the procedure, i'm going to be pissed.

Well if you are, then theoretically the procedure will correct it. :)

at least my surgeon is a woman.

Hey pg, glad to hear you've got it scheduled. Mine is April 17th, I'm having some other tests done before then, but you know I was thinking. Why don't we get a shower or something? I mean you get one when you get married, one when your going to have the baby, now we're getting rid of this thing that causes so much trouble for us and we get nada. You know we should get a hysto shower with all kinds of things to make us more beautiful and lots of sexy nighties. tee hee hee. (maybe getting rid of it is a gift in itself) I'm excited too, your not weird at all.

hmmm...sounds fun!  although since i've boycotted wedding and baby showers as remnants of patriarchal feudalism and oppression of women, i'm probably not entitled ;)

i'll get to have a little anti-fertility celebration, though, as we'll be partying after my defence (defence is the 22nd, and one of my friends defends on the 23rd; party probably on the 24th, since that's a friday).

Here is my story-2 years ago ago I was diagnosed before it was too late with stage four endometriosis-I had a 16cm mass and each of my ovaries were the size of grapefruits-long story short I had to have a hysterectomy-everything removed.  Horrible thing I wasn't able to have children and I was 30 years old at the time-now on the brighter-side, no longer have to worry about the monthly thing :>) I am not going to lie-the hysterectomy was the worst pain I had ever gone through in my life!!!!!!!......the recovery time sucks......abdomen pain stinks.......weight gain also stinks-but I am glad it was done-only wish the endometrosis was found sooner.

Look at the web site www.hystersisters.com  they have a support system and you can communicate with other women who've had hysterectomies.  i had one last year and I'm very happy.

PG and Nomo,

Just a quick note that abdominal pregnancies are here. I was one.  My mother had a hysterectomy 9 years before I was born, after my brother was born.  The doctor recommended it because it was a horrible pregnancy that almost killed her.  They left the ovaries.  8 1/2 years later Mom can't keep any food down and is losing weight left and right.  She goes to the doctor and finds out she's around 5 months pregnant.  She couldn't keep food down because I had attached near her stomach and was using it as a pillow.  She had to go to the hospital once a week for IV fluids and vitamin shots for 2 months.  I was born a bit early, but we don't know for sure how early, but I was born a healthy weight, barely,  and never had any health problems. 

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