Facing the fear and doing it anyway – Jane’s Subtotal Hysterectomy Story

Hello everyone! I’m Jane and I had a subtotal hysterectomy 12 days ago now, on 18th December 2013. I kept my ovaries. I’m 45 years old and had had fibroid issues for six years. These started off as just being irregular periods but in the last 2 years had escalated to a combination of hormone imbalance and fibroids leaving me feeling out of sorts more often than I was feeling normal, long stretches of being savagely pre-menstrual and never knowing when my (heavy and leak / flooding-laden) period was going to arrive or how long it would last. I had investigated and asked about the possibility of embolisation and ablation but was it was explained clearly to me why these were not suitable treatment options for me, leaving me with the choice of the “status quo” until menopause or a hysterectomy. I was extremely resistant to surgery initially, for many reasons which will be familiar to those who have had surgery and those who are considering it as an option: loss of independence, even for a short time, risks of surgery, the fear of the unknown – I am childless and had never had a general anesthetic before and hadn’t been hospitalised since my early 20s; but it was mainly the fear which deterred me. For me it was the realisation that there was no other way to change my situation, for better or worse, which ultimately helped me to take ownership of the situation and sign the consent form. I did lots of reading and discussing with people who had ha...
Source: The Hysterectomy Association - Category: OBGYN Authors: Tags: Your Stories ablation embolisation fibroids subtotal hysterectomy Source Type: news