I'm MJ and I'm from a small town in southern Minnesota -- about an hour from the Twin Cities of Minneapolis-St. Paul. I was born in March of 1960, and I have a dd born in 1988 from my first marriage, and a ds born in 2000 from my second (and current!) marriage. My dh and I have been married since 1993.
The issues leading up to my hysterectomy have been with me, in some form or another, since my 20's. I have always had very heavy periods, like my mom and two older sisters before me. In 1970, my mom had a hysterectomy -- she had one large fibroid and a bunch of smaller ones.
When my dd was born in 1988, my doc rather off-handedly remarked that I had fibroids, but they weren't necessarily anything to be worried about. He said the biggest one was about the size of a golf ball. I really let it slip from my mind at that time!
When I was pregnant again in 2000, I had to have amniocentesis, and the doctor doing it had trouble even doing the test because he couldn't get through my uterine wall. He said, "There are fibroids EVERYWHERE!" Later in my pregnancy, I noticed that I wasn't feeling any kicks on one side of my belly, and when I expressed my concern, my doc simply said, "That's because you've got one fibroid the size of a grapefruit on the right side of your uterus." This was also causing the baby to lying diagonally in the uterus, forcing a second c-section.
After my second pregnancy, I noticed that my tummy never really got flat again. Now, I'm not exactly a size 2 anyway, so I figured I was just getting older and fatter. But I also couldn't "suck it in" anymore, and it was extremely easy for me to get out of breath. I also noticed as the months went by that I was losing my singing range, which has happened with pregnancy from the uterus pushing on all the organs, taking up more space than usual.
Finally, in the early summer of 2004, I got tired of feeling this way. After all of the testing, the gynecologist sat me down and explained every course of action from "watchful waiting" to a total hysterectomy and the removal of my ovaires. Then he looked at me and asked, "What do you want to do?" I said, "Well (I had read a bit on this website already), I really want this to be over in one shot -- but I'd like to keep my ovaries if I can." He looked relieved, and he said, "I'm so glad you said that. Here's why you aren't a good candidate for any of the other procedures...." and it made me feel much better. He would have been willing to try something less drastic if I wanted to, but with the large size of my uterus he figured I either had one really big fibroid or lots of smaller ones, and he felt that they would probably just end up doing a hysterectomy anyway. They were very willing to preserve my ovaries if it was possible.
About 3 months after my initial talk with my gynecologist, I had a total abdominal hysterectomy and a panniculectomy to remove part of the apron of fat on my lower abdomen. (I wish I could say that it was like a tummy tuck, but this did NOT make me skinny! It was done purely to make the abdomen more accessible and to promote healing.) I was able to keep my ovaries.
In retrospect, my recovery has been fairly smooth, although I've certainly suffered my setbacks, too. There are few women who can say they've never overdone it, or who haven't had some sort of recovery issue. But mine have been fairly routine.
I am grateful to the Hyster Sisters, and I welcome the chance to give a helping hand to anyone who needs it!
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