Scheduled & Scared! (kind of long)

Hi everyone

I am 28 yrs old, mother of three beautiful children ages 6, 4, and 21 months. I started out pretty early, AF first came to town at age 10 and has wreaked havoc on my life ever since. I remember my first pd. was 9 days long!! Anyway, it seems with each child I had, it has gotten worse and over the past 9 months or so, the pds have gotten closer and closer together and have lasted longer and longer. I never know if I am going to have to worry about bleeding or not when I get up. The pain is almost constant, and it ranges from the sharp right-side pelvic pains to dull back/butt pain....ANYWAY, my doctor has tried birth control pills, which only make the bleeding even MORE sporadic and unpredictable. The latest round she has me on is double dose for seven days, followed by none for 5 days, followed by regular dose for 2 weeks. That's so the bleeding will slow down, which seems to work (sort of), but we knew when we started that it was a temporary solution until we figured out if surgery was for me.

So, I've been through a bunch of different BC pills, a D&C which did nothing, if not worsened the pain, removal of a uterine polyp which was "surely causing the problems" (NOT!), a useless ultrasound which gave no clues, an equally useless cat scan which showed "no abnormalities."

The end result is that I have been diagnosed with DUB (dysfunctional uterine bleeding). They are not sure what the cause is, and they suspect adenomyosis. I have an MRI on Thursday, although my dr. tells me adeno most likely won't even show on that. Since hysterectomy is the only definite way to diagnose it, and I am tired of pain & bleeding controlling my life, we have scheduled my TVH on May 10th.

Any thoughts or insights or similar stories would be greatly appreciated.

Anyone have a similar experience?
What will sex be like after?
How soon did any other TVH sisters feel better?
What about all this gauze packing stuff ppl are talking about?
SHould I be as scared as I am?
Am I doing the right thing?

I know at 28 I am young for this, but I want to be on the other side of this pain and suffering so badly! I am blessed to have my 3 babies and will not miss all the trouble this is causing me. I AM MISSING the time I spend every day I have to keel over in pain, and go home to change the clothes I have bled through!

Sorry so long, just reality setting in now that I'm scheduled.


Thanks in advance!


Heather

oh hun
I can't be of that much help becuase I'm still awaiting my day at the castle.
You know....you're one of the very few people I've heard refer to it as back/butt pain! Me too!

I know it gets exhausting dealing with the bleeding and all the pain. It wears you down. It's especially hard on you with 3 little ones to care for.

Every woman is different, and every women heals at her own pace, but from what I've read here....sex is still great after. Some women say it's better, due to lack of bleeding and it's no longer painful. I'm hoping they are right!

Only you know if you're doing the right thing. Are you comfortable with your doc? Would you feel good about getting a 2nd opinion? I'm on my 3rd gyn, so it's been a great experience meeting several docs. You need to be sure that this is the right thing to do for YOU.

It's ok to be scared. We all are. But we are all here for each other for support and friendship. For now, I offer you a great big , and hopefully some of the princesses will offer you some more words of wisdom.


Tam