TVH: There are happy stories!

My story started about 6 years ago. It actually started when I was a teen, but we'll just start when things got bad. After I had my daughter, my periods became horrifically painful, heavy and long. I went on BCP and it helped for a little while, until the other bleeding began. Whenever my husband and I were intimate, I would bleed during and after. Not just spotting, but holy-crap-it-looks-like-someone-stabbed-me kind of bleeding. I went to the GYN and they decided to do cryotherapy on my cervix, as I had chronic cervicitis. It worked for maybe 6 months and then the bleeding returned.

Fast forward through many moves (we're a military family) and many different doctors. None of them could figure out what was wrong and I had one even tell me that I should just get used to it, because that's how my body is. Ladies...NEVER ever accept this as an answer! I received a referral to the main GYN clinic at the local hospital and finally someone listened and said that the best option would be a total vaginal hysterectomy.

I was originally scheduled for 3/26/12. I waited in the waiting room for 7 hours only to be told that my surgery would have to be rescheduled for the following Friday (3/30/12). It ended up being a blessing, as my grandmother fell ill and passed away during that time. I was able to say goodbye to her....amazing how life has a funny was of turning out.

I went in at 6am for surgical prep. The anesthesiologist came in and gave me anti-anxiety medication in my IV. I remember going into the OR and scootching over to the operating table. The surgeon held my hand and then I fell asleep. I woke up in recovery and the first thing I felt was pain. It was so much more painful than I had imagined. It felt as though someone reached in and ripped out my insides...which basically they did. They gave me an anti-nausea medication which knocked me out again. They had to readjust my medication, as I couldn't stay coherent long enough to answer questions.

I did well in the hospital. I was on Zofran for nausea and Toradol for pain. I stayed for two nights. I could have gone home after one, however, I was running a low grade fever and they wanted to make sure I was okay.

I am now 6 weeks post-op and I feel almost back to normal. I get tired more easily than I did before, but I'm still healing. The surgeon told me that I had an enlarged uterus and polyps all over my cervix. I kept my ovaries, so I'm definitely lucky there. I am so grateful that my healing was fairly uneventful and that a doctor finally took me seriously. I don't miss my uterus or my cervix at all. Good luck to you and just know that there are normal, uncomplicated surgeries out there.