New to forum.....have dumb question

Hello ladies. I am a newbee to the board, I am so glad that I found this site. I will be having a partial hysterectomy next Wednesday, 12-18-02 and am getting a little nervous. I am only 31 and feel that I am so very young for this but I count my blessings b/c I know that there are may women out there who are much younger than me who are going through this who haven't had their families yet. I am just thankful for my three babies. Now, with that being said I'm still a little sad that I won't have that one last baby. I always wanted four kids and would have had them too if this hadn't come up. My hubby thinks I'm crazy for feeling this way but I can't help it. It's nice to know that I'm not the only person who feels this way and that I'm not crazy. Anyway, I have a really stupid question. After I had my D&C I had no idea that there would be vaginal bleeding...I just assumed that all of that would be taken care of when they did the surgery and there would be no more bleeding. ( I thought that was the whole point of the surgery) Anyway, after a hyst. I guess it's safe to assume that there will be no bleeding, correct? This is an embarassing question but somebody here is bound to know the answer so if you do would you please email me with the answer?

Thanks so much

Wendy:

You'll find out from further reading of these boards that there are NO embarassing questions!

You can have some bleeding IF you keep your cervix and at least one ovary. The cervix does contain some endometrial cells, which will be active under the influence of your ovary (ies) if they remain. Some women have experienced this with supracervical hysterectomy, they're called "mini-periods". If you do a search on this topic, you'll find a number of posts.

About the baby issue: we have a forum, called "Aching Hearts" which is the place to find support for those feelings. I knew that I couldn't have more children when my DD was born (I was 40 at the time) but it still didn't stop a little "pang" at the thought of never being able to do it again when I had my surgery. And that's given that I was 47!!! If you read and post over there, you'll find many ladies who understand those feelings and will be able to support you.

Good luck!



Audrey

Hi Wendy

Just wanted to let you know that I had some small amount of bleeding after my TAH. The doctor assured me that this was normal, as long as it wasn't heavy. She said it could last up to 2 months. YUK. Anyway, it didn't las but a few weeks and was a very minimal amount daily.

Please ask your doctor tho. Everyone has their own opinion. This is a wonderful site to come to with questions. The sisters are wonderful and have helped me tremendously.

Don't worry. I promise you will be okay.

I understand when you say you feel alittle bummed about not having anymore children. I was remarried almost a year ago and together we have 4 children. There is a part of me that wishes my DH and I could have had a child of our own. But, our children are older and my DH and I agreed that having another child was out of the question. We didn't want to have to go thru all that child rearing again. So, I'm thankful I have the ones I got. God is good. The feeling will go away.

Merry Christmas and keep us posted.



Kim

your life mirrors mine in lots of ways. first i am so very grateful for the three wonderful boys i have had. i found out that i needed to have my hysterectomy because i was trying to get pregnent. but it will get better. the pain lessens with time. and while i will never be able to have the last child that i so wanted, it was through this child that my life was saved and i will always be grateful for that. i want to see my kids grow up. and they deserve to have me there for them while they are growing up.

i will be having my TAH on the 18th of december as well.