I was told at the age of 29 that in order to get rid of my endometriosis and fibroid cysts covering my ovaries that I would need to have a hysterectomy. This would mean that the 2 kids that I had would be it. If this meant that my pain and gushing horrible periods lasting 2 weeks each month would stop, I’m all in. What I didn’t know at the time was that gyno #5 would be wrong. Having a hysterectomy does not get rid of endometriosis forever. Endo is invasive and like cancer….it can hide and wait for the right moment to pop out. Like waiting for the guest of honor at a surprise party….squatting in the dark waiting for the right moment to jump out yelling surprise!… (I’m back). But I was taught never to question the doctor…they were the trained ones and you just trusted their judgment of your health care.
She (gyno #5) would remove my uterus, cervix and left ovary. She cleaned the cysts off the right ovary, but left it in place so that I did not have to deal with menopause and hormone replacement therapy under the age of 30. She made a bikini line incision that was about 8 inches in length horizontally across my pelvis. I was reassembled with sutures, staples and steri-strips. I spent the first few days after surgery in the hospital just to make sure everything was healing well. What they don’t tell you about this surgery is that they cut through your stomach muscles. You use those damn things for EVERYTHING. Sitting up, standing, walking…literally everything. You take these muscles for granted until they are severed and you no longer know how to stand much less sit up. It takes a few weeks for these to begin to heal but in the mean time you have to use your arms and legs to pull and push yourself up. Sometimes you forget about the incision if you have been stationary for a bit and the sharp pain kindly reminds you that you do not have the muscles…nice try meat sack, use your arms to pull yourself up.
In addition to the missing core strength, there are hot flashes, sweating and mood swings. Yes I still had that other ovary, but it apparently worked in shifts with the now on permanent vacation, MIA left ovary. And this month was NOT its shift to do anything. This phenomenon would go on for a few months until the right ovary finally got the memo that it was the only employee within the department now and it had to work 24/7. I would be pissed too if I got that notice and would occasionally take days off too. Over time, these issues would improve and self-regulate but the idea that endo was gone forever would be short lived as I would start having what I thought were periods again. Turns out, my endo was not removed completely and was waiting for the right time to make its appearance known again. I would soon be looking for yet another gynecologist that could remove my ever occurring endo and pain on a more permanent scale. Clearly my current 1 who told me that a hysterectomy was the cure for endo was dead wrong. I was tired of feeling like shit and wanted this fixed once and for all.
This post was originally published on October 30, 2018 on Do You Endo at https://doyouendo.com/hysterectomy-endo-specialist/
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