Hysterectomy

 

Back in January, I finally went to see a doctor about pain I was experiencing every month. Yep, the girl kind of pain, but worse. 

Doctor #1 sent me for an ultrasound and then called me on my way out the door to catch a plane to inform me that I had a birth defect - something called a septate uterus. The best way to describe this is to say that if a woman's womb is the home for her unborn child, then I have a duplex without enough square footage on either side for a kid to live safely. She suggested something called an oblation.  She also said this would not explain my pain at all so this explanation did not sit well with me. Her non-chalant attitude in telling me that I was deformed also didn't charm me much.

Doctor #2 looked at the ultrasound results for a second opinion, and correctly diagnosed me with something called a penduncular fibroid. This thing was apparently pushing into my uterus and splitting it in half (without breaking it). THAT explains the pain! She ordered a laparascopy and hysteroscopy to be sure. 

Surgery #1 was in April (with Doc #2) and confirmed this diagnosis along with the discovery of endometriosis. Conclusion: I need a hysterectomy.

After reading up on all the different kinds of hysterectomy (total, supracervical, laprascopic, abdominal, etc. etc.) I made a decision to go with an LSH (Laprascopic Supracervical Hysterectomy) - the conservative choice with the least scarring and recovery time. When I informed Doc #2 of this, she said it was a newer operation and she did not perform it and promptly referred me to Doc #3.

Doctor #3 was a laid back but thorough and knowledgeable guy who made me feel instantly comfortable and confirmed that I had made the right choice about which kind of surgery to have. He even scheduled my surgery on his day off since I had been waiting a while. Of course, he loses points for saying when Randy came in to the room for my pre-op appointment/exam, "Oops. I forgot to do a breast exam! I'll just do that now." AWKWARD!

Monday, the surgery went very well and I was done by 1:00pm. They told me I could go home as soon as I "peed." Of course, with nothing to drink or eat for 12 hours, this was no easy task. The anesthesia made me incredibly nauseated, and I had a migraine going in, so I wound up there until 5:00pm because they maxed me out on nausea drugs and I was still sick as a dog. At last, I lost my liquid lunch and felt okay enough to get out of the backless gown and head home.

Once home, the process started again and it was a long night of migraine, nausea and soreness. Randy is taking amazing care of me. Our church is bringing meals by three days a week right now, and lots of love is being sent my way. I feel lazy and spoiled but very glad to have this behind me.

This morning I looked at all the photos from my surgery. Randy is easily freaked out by this stuff, but I am fascinated. They're really gross though. I found some other photos from a similar surgery online tonight that helped me figure out just what I was looking at, and I feel like I have a good understanding of why my body felt the way it did for so long. I look forward to much better health in the coming year. 

I'm sure there is a lot more to say about the emotion of losing something as significant as my womb, and the finality of it all, but for now, I'm just grateful to have a solution without major complications.