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CAS29 - Hostess Alumni 2005

CAS29 - Hostess Alumni 2005

Date : 09-22-2003 - 10:40 AM - Readers : 2347

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When I began to have troubles with my periods I was living abroad, in a country where I spoke the language well enough for day to day issues, but really had some challenges for dealing with medical issues. Having the problems was difficult, but the stress of dealing with it all in second language was really a burden some days.

I'm now almost 3 years post op, and doing well - healthier and in better shape -but it was a long voyage.

Medically speaking… I started my periods at about the same time as most of my buddies , the October after I turned 13. I still remember how excited my Mom was, and how she said "Now you are a woman"…. All I could think of was eeeww yuk. No thanks….. At age 16 I went on the pill to try and reduce monthly pains, and at age 20 I went off the pill because I had phlebitis/thrombosis in one leg. I ended up having part of a superficial vein removed - and no more pill for me!!

Things basically went along without any problems for quite a while then, in about 1998 I started having much heavier periods - which was strange because my periods had actually started to be much lighter as I hit my mid 30s…… I had some tests done and found I was hypothyroid. Started medication for that and waited to see if it would have an impact on the periods. Nope!

I finally got around to seeing a gyn about the problem. She did an ultrasound and discovered several small fibroids. We did some blood tests to find out if I was anywhere near menopause, the answer was NO. So, she suggested a conservative approach, with me taking Farlutal (which I believe is called Provera in the USA). That helped with the flooding and clotting quite a bit, and I took it for about six months - however I found that I felt too crabby and irritable, not to mention really bloated all the time, so at the beginning of September 2002 I said I wanted to stop taking it.

I did stop - September's period was fine, but October's sent me to ER and 2 nights in hospital. I bled an unbelievable amount non-stop for 18 hours…… my poor dh was really scared…. (well, so was I).

I saw 3 doctors during this stay in the hospital who were unanimous in saying a hyster was in my future. My own gyn (a woman) wanted to help me put it off as long as possible. However, even going back on the meds, I was still having more problems than I felt were reasonable --- I was totally stressed out about planning trips, and I was in terror that I might miss a very important scholastic examination because of heavy bleeding….. well the long and the short of it is that by the end of May 2003 I was ready to talk surgery! My dr, being British, is not allowed to operate in public hospitals only private clinics (which I did not have insurance for!!), so she referred me to another dr - the head of one of the top gyn/ob hospitals in Milan. He was wonderful (he actually asked PERMISSION to do an internal examination!!). After our chats, and reviewing all my tests, he gave me five options - which put me into a spin!!! Five -- oh my… well, thank goodness I knew about this site because I practically lived here for the next month! I narrowed down my options (eliminating removal of the fibroids because I thought that surgery was just as invasive and I could easily grow more!, eliminating the Mirena coil - because I refused to consider having another IUD - which brought the choices down to TAH or SAH OR go on Lupron for 3 months which would put me into instant (temporary) menopause to "possibly" shrink the fibroids enough to permit me to have a TVH…… well……

I eventually decided that I didn't want to deal with the Lupron (nor did I want to wait 3 months - I only work 9 months a year, and so scheduling surgery in the summer was important to me). I also decided that as I had polyps on my cervix, and 2 abnormal smears, I would have it removed as well. So, TAH was my choice, and I had my surgery in July 2003.

One of the hardest things about this whole event is that I live in Italy and my family is all in Canada. I felt terribly alone. After I found this site in March, I found comfort in being able to talk to women with similar problems - pouring out my tears and fears in a way I felt I could not do with my own family via email because I didn't want to worry them about how I was doing. This site was a godsend in saving my sanity and calming my fears and lifting my spirits. My husband was vicariously calmed -- he would say "Can you do that??--- I think you had better ask your hystersisters!"

When I received an invitation from Kathy, Keeper of the Keys, to become a hostess I felt terribly honoured to have been asked, and rejoiced at the opportunity to make a contribution to this group which has given me so much.

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