SAH/RSO - No longer scared - Hystersisters Hysterectomy Article

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SAH/RSO - No longer scared

SAH/RSO - No longer scared

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I've had problem periods since they started at age 15. Of course I worried for about 3 years that it would never start.. and then it did with a vengeance! I went on a walk with a couple friends one hot Kansas summer day, and nearly passed out. My friend had to drive me home curled up in the back of my jeep. That didn't happen every month but any time it was hot and I had to walk, for example to & from class. I got on the pill after I started dating, but it didn't help with the heavy periods. I keep trying to remember if they had gotten worse but it seems they've always been bad. But maybe they have because I started scheduling around them during the last couple years. Everything I read said that you should seek medical attention if you soaked through more than 10 pads a day, and not counting nights I only soaked through 10 on the first day each month.
Mentioning it always made me so tearful. I am so relieved that part of my life is over.
In May, June, and September this year I had ruptured cysts. At first we took a wait and see approach, which was good for me, I wasn't ready to talk about surgery yet. But after the 3rd one, I was ready.
My doctor called and said my CA125 was elevated, and we set a date for the surgery. After that phone call, I tried to finish the experiment I'd been working on and I couldn't seem to make my hands or my brain work. I biked home thinking "I won't be able to bike to work much longer".
My doctor was wonderful. (I'm not just saying that because I told him to read this.) Every time he'd make a suggestion I wasn't comfortable with, such as removing my left ovary as well as the right, or taking the cervix, I'd go do my homework and return loaded with research papers & my boss' opinion (he is a breast cancer surgeon). I wouldn't get past "I want to keep my ovary" (or cervix) and he said fine. I didn't have to argue anything.
I'm 3 days post-surgery and definitely the waiting was the hardest part. A woman in my department had died a couple years ago after her hysterectomy at the same hospital, from pulmonary embollism, and she had had the stockings and everything. I knew that was extremely rare, and unlikely in someone as young & healthy as me (I'm 31), but it doesn't matter when the pain of the cyst kept me awake at 3 a.m., that is what I worried the most about. I didn't think much about the other concerns--what if it was cancer, what if he can't save my left ovary. I started a jigsaw puzzle a few days before the surgery and finished it the night before. My family kept telling me to go to bed, that I could finish it when I got home, but I said if I didn't get it finished I would put it back in the box. I got fixated on that puzzle and I thought the worst thing would be if they had to put it away because I never came home to finish it. I finally went to bed and finished it at 5:15 a.m. and then it was time to go.
They didn't use the stockings, they gave me these boots that puffed up with air. I guess a lot of people don't like them, but it was comforting to me, a nurse said they are more effective at preventing clots than the stockings. Sometimes while I was in & out of it, I'd get worried because I thought they'd quit pumping, but in a couple seconds the next one would pump up and I'd go back to sleep.
The ruptured cysts hurt more than anything I've experienced from the surgery. They kept asking me what my pain was and the first day I felt that was beyond my ability to figure out, so I said 5, but the next day I thought I'd guessed too low.
I don't remember a thing after they gave me the Veresed. Waking up in the recovery room was the scariest. I knew my family wouldn't be there, because they'd told me that, but I really wanted to see them. I was cold, I hurt, I wanted to know how many ovaries I had, then they gave me some pain medication and I don't remember after that. I opened my eyes to see my family's faces from time to time.
I remember hitting the morphine button pretty much every time I woke up, and it helped a lot. However, it made me dizzy. They wanted me to stand that night and I could barely do it. I couldn't take any steps, I thought I was going to faint. I did better when they took me off that and gave me Percoset on Thursday. But once that kicked in, I still got dizzy, so they changed it one more time. Yesterday I went down to see the babies three times! Everyone thought I was one of the mamas.
The doctor found endometriosis all over the right ovary, it was glued to everything around it. There were endometrial scars on the uterus and left ovary. He was a little surprised that I hadn't had more pain & problems than I did.
My mom, her sisters, and my grandmother, and my grandfather's family, have all problems like this. My mom got her hysterectomy when she was 34. I wonder how these bad ovary genes made it through evolution. I'm concerned about my 10 yr old daughter too. She might have to have kids when she's 15 if she ever wants any. I sure wish there were a good way to detect and treat endometriosis.

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Mini Somasundaram, M.D. 4845 Knightsbridge Boulevard Suite 220 Columbus OH 43214 (614) 583-5552	Liza M. Colimon, M.D. 21 W. Columbia St Suite 101 Winnie Palmer Hospital Orlando FL 32806 321-841-6060	Marshall Bovelsky, M.D. 200 Banning St Suite 320 Dover DE 19904 302-674-0223
Aileen Caceres, M.D. Center for Specialized Gynecology/Florida Hospital 410 Celebration Place, Suite 302 Celebration FL 34747 407.303.4190	Arnold Advincula, M.D. Florida Hospital Celebration Health 400 Celebration Plac Celebration FL 34747 407-303-4190	Margaret Jones, M.D. 311 W. Idaho St. Boise ID 83702 208-888-2080
Jon Nielsen, M.D. 9825 Hospital Dr. Suite 205 Maple Grove MN 55369 763-587-7050	Laurence Orbuch, M.D. 202 Spring Street 2nd Floor New York NY 10012 212-343-3040	Jennifer Schnee, M.D. 3001 Coral Hills Dr., Suite 300 Coral Springs FL 33065 954-341-2916

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