DES daughter with problem

I just started my research today so bear with me. I was diagnosed in 1966 at 16 as a pre-cancerous DES daughter. Over the years I have had numerous "bad" abnormal paps, many biopsies, 6 miscarriages, and no successful births. Now (this week) I have been told I have pre-cancerous lesions and a vaginal nodule (new one on me) and so far the thought is to treat it conservatively by removing the lesions and the nodule.

Right now, my immediate thought is "enough already"! I am 50 years old, newly remarried (first husband died 4 years ago), and feel like a time-bomb! I have lived with the threat of "C" for 34 years! Am I being hysterical? or reasonable? Any thoughts anyone? My husband will support anything I decide. Right now he too would like to see the "threat" removed. He lost his first wife to breast cancer and really doesn't want to lose me anytime soon.

I apologize, if this was too long! Any input would be appreciated!

Alipierce

Ali,
I think you are being very resonable. Ever woman on my mother's side of the family has had some sort of "problem" with their female parts. I am 26 and recently had a hysterectomy. I have had 3 children, however the pregnancies were awful on me (premature labor, cervics diolating to soon, things like that) my doc told me that my uterus was green and ugly so I am sure I made the best choice. You don't worry to much about and remember do what is best for you.

Hope this helped at all.
Kacey

Ali,

I too am a DES daughter and just had a hysterectomy 11 weeks ago. For me it was definitely the right decision and I believe prevented horrible problems later on from cancer or something like that.

Gather all the information you can, but remember that 85% of hysterectomies are done for "quality of life" reasons -- and that's okay. What kind of life can you have if you are always worried or dealing with some sort of potentially bad news?

Whatever you decide you will find support here. Hysterecomy Options and Alternatives is a good place to go if you decide to postpone a hyst and want to check out other options. The pre-op and post-op sites will be invaluable if you have the surgery. And if you have your ovaries removed, you'll find Hormone Jungle to be informative. I also spent a lot of pre-op time at Prayer Requests for Hystersisters, and post-op have really enjoyed Hysteritaville (for ongoing health & fitness post-op).

We will definitely help you any way we can!

Rosa