Hello. Been gone for a while due to technical difficulties with the computer!

Well, I got in to see the doctor and he was actually a bit ambivalent about the results of the ablation. When it was all said and done he said "I don't know what to tell you about the bleeding". My response was that I knew what I wanted him to tell me and he said that if I wanted the hysterectomy that he would certainly perform one. It was a quality of life issue and if that was where I wanted to go it was up to me.

He seems to be very concerned that it might effect my ability to reach orgasm or will change the intensity of that feeling. I'm feeling fairly confident that this won't be an issue and based on what I've read here it seems to be a fairly good assumption.

They call back to schedule the surgery some time this next week. I'm hoping they can do this in the next 6 to 8 weeks, I don't know what the surgery calendar looks like so we'll see.

I don't feel a sense of impending loss, it's more like "WHAAA HOOO!"

Hope it continues to feel that way!

Diana

Okay, so this takes it pretty much up to where we are now. At one year post op the doctor asks how things are after the ablation and I say "I was very disappointed". And he says oh really?

Does the exam and leaves the room.

This isn't the normal conversation with this doc so I think, okay I'll give it another try. If we don't come to an agreement at that time I know of a couple of other doctors that come highly recommended.

The ablation didn't stem the flow by much and the past couple of months I've had incredible pain on the left side with each period. I'm hoping next month won't be worse than last because last month was pretty bad. Couldn't sit, stand or walk right and forget bending over to pick anything up or put anything away!

Was supposed to go see the doc last week but my teenage daughter needed to see him asap so I donated my appointment time to her.

When we were discussing what they found during her visit I mentioned that I was supposed to see him today and he said "I thought I saw your name on the list. I can still see you today, I don't want you to feel cheated."

LOL, I rescheduled and will see him in three days. Hope to tell you all that he has agreed that the surgery didn't do what we had hoped and that he is ready to schedule the hysterectomy!

Am glad that my pain associated with this is only a problem one week a month. Feel so badly for the ladies that are posting constant pain = in some ways it makes me feel like my problems are less worthy (Not to be rude, but then that one week comes around and I feel more than justified!).

Thanks ladies!

So here we are in Las Vegas, I certainly won't have to make a 3 hour trip to get to the doctor now! I know that I need to have my annual exam, but hadn't been able to get in to see the previous doctor before the move. (I later found out that she had her own medical problems and had been out on a medical leave.)

We found a new family doctor and I went in because of some abdominal pains I'd been having. He did the battery of tests on blood samples, and ordered some ultrasound tests for the lower GI. Didn't find anything with the ultrasounds but did discover that I was severely anemic and sent me to his wife (who happens to be a hemotologist). She gave me IV iron and we discussed the heavy bleeding. She tells me that due to being a carrier of hemophilia (a blood disease, effecting factor 8 in my case, which prevents normal clotting/healing of wounds) - anyway she believes that the cause of the bleeding stems from hemophilia related issues and sends me home with a nasal inhaler to be used once a day while I'm on my period.

This is supposed to help me not by causing clotting, but by helping my body to hold on to clots that form. Does this make sense to anybody? I didn't understand how that would help, like I would want clots that formed there to stay? Anyway I used it faithfully for several months and at first it did help but it became less and less effective each month until I finally called back and asked if it could be used twice a day instead of just once. They told me no, but they would call in another prescription -- which they never did.

In the mean time I have found a new gynocologist and after explaining the problem he tells me that I'm the perfect candidate for endometrial ablation, or for a vaginal hysterectomy. After looking at both options we determined that due to recovery time we would go with the ablation.

At that time I didn't know about this site and the research I did led me to believe that it would be the cure all for my ills. Off we go for a quick outpatient surgery. No complications and back to work in two days.

Then I had the next period, and was so disappointed that I cried. True enough I wasn't running for the bathroom every 10 to 15 minutes, I was up to 45 minutes - give or take 15. The flow was not that heavy for the whole time, but I had thought that the reason I went through the procedure was that I would be able to put all of that behind me.

Disappointment didn't quite cover my feelings as I continued to buy my super sized box of tampons and a package of pads to get ready for the next week.

Okay, so I thought that 30 wasn't that old...and from this side of it I still don't think so!

Made the trip to see the Gyno and explained that I had been having some problems that had been attributed to my age. She did the exam and took blood, all the standard stuff. She called me at home a couple of days later and said "you're really, really, really anemic". I told her I wasn't surprised and she said she didn't think I understood, that if it had been any worse she would have put me in the hospital. So I started on iron supplements and quarterly visits to the doctor.

Iron supplements did what they needed to, but the heavy bleeding just never seemed to quiet down. I told the gyno that every 3rd or 4th month seemed to be lighter. Her theory was that every 3rd or 4th month my body was so depleted that it shut the flow down a bit knowing that I couldn't afford to lose any more.

In the mean time I am experiencing flow that is so heavy that I can't make it from my house to the office (4 miles) without going through the tampon and pad, and forget groceries, kids soccer games, going to the post office....anything.

She sent me for ultrasounds which never showed anything unusual and finally said lets do a hysteroscopy and find out what is going on in there.

She came back with a verrrry long worded diagnosis which meant that the different areas in my uterus believed that it was a different time in my cycle, one area thought we should begin menstration and another thought we had just finished. She continued to monitor the situation quarterly. Finally she said that we had done all of the things we could do without invasive procedures and our next step would be a hysterectomy.

I'm not mournful at this news.

I'm also not destined to be in the area for long because my husbands job took us 500 miles away from where we had been living. New town, new doctor.

More on that soon!

Diana

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April 17, 2004

Hello Ladies:

I've agreed to share my journey with all of you via this "Blog"
As I started I thought "what if all of this is just repetition to everyone?" Then I remembered going in and reading the messages that have been posted here and how some of them made me think "OH, I'm not the only one!"

So, we're off! Back to the beginning. Aunt Flo started visiting when I was 11. How new! Exciting! How that opinion changed!

I was always right on time, every 30 days. It never occurred to me that my periods might be any different than anybody elses - one certainly wouldn't discuss this subject manner with the other preteens that might or might not be having their periods.

In Junior High and High School I had to go home more than once because I couldn't make it through that 45 minute class and get to my locker and then the bathroom in time to prevent an accident - thank goodness Maxi length coats were the fashion then (and mine was navy blue, that was good too).

It was also a good thing that some of my friends mothers were stay at home moms, because they came to rescue me when my mom was working and unable to lend a hand. I look back now and have to laugh and what those neighborhood mothers knew about the kids that hung out with their own.

Eventually I went on Birth Control Pills and they seemed to calm the beast to a reasonable level. Didn't have to worry as much about the gushing, but then I thought everybody had gushing. Just never thought to ask if that was unusual (and I lived in a house with two other teenaged girls).

Because I carry hemophilia, which is a blood related disease I always thought that the heavy periods were associated with that. I was aware that both my mother and my grandmother had hysterectomies in their mid 30's/40's due to heavy flow, just following in their footsteps huh?

Then the next chapter, child birth. We had two over the course of 5 years and I had my tubes tied (okay snipped and cauterized). No more need for BCP! No more wondering if I took my pill! No more going to the pharmacy for refills!

No more regulation of flow.

I don't regret going off the pill. By then I was over 30 and had been on the pill for 13 years and was smoking. I didn't think it was a bad decision, still don't.

Living in a very remote rural area of Northern Nevada with no gyno in residence leaves you visiting the Family Doctor for everything. When I went to him and he kept telling me that my problems were "because I was getting older" for two years that's what I was told. I determined that the three hour drive to see a Gynecologist was worth the time!

That's where I'll sign off for now.

The next chapter "The Real Fun Begins" coming soon!

Diana