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SHARING A SUCCESSFUL HYSTERECTOMY STORYFrom: Dee (anonymous@obgyn.net)Mon Nov 30 11:58:31 1998
Hi everyone! I just recently got on the mailing list. My heart goes out to all of you, and I feel very lucky to be where I am today. I was finally diagnosed with endometriosis at age 25, after years of pain and suffering. I went through years of really heavy periods and awful cramping, and was told it was just part of becoming a woman. It became increasingly worse and strained the relationship with my now ex-husband. I remember one visit to the doctor when I explained that making love was becoming very painful and the doctor's reply that the pain was because my husband and I were "anatomically different". Can you believe that? I became pregnant when I was 23 and had a little boy, which I'm told was a miracle given how bad the disease was. I had a total abdominal hysterectomy when I was 26 - they took my ovaries, uterus, and appendix; everything was covered with endometriosis. The surgery went very well; it hurt really bad for a couple of days but they had me hooked up to a morphine pump which helped alot. My recovery was wonderful. It took a while to get regulated on hormones because of the surgery-induced menopause. I started out with the estrogen pills, then tried patches, and finally shots. I now get a shot of 1/2cc of Delestrogen every two weeks and have absolutely NO symptoms whatsoever -- no pain, no hot flashes, no mood swings, nothing. I am now 34, so it's been 8 years since my surgery. After reading so many heartbreaking stories, I feel so incredibly lucky that things turned out the way they did. I must admit I was very ignorant about endometriosis at first. Since my diagnosis, 3 of my 4 sisters have been diagnosed and have had hysterectomies, one without being able to have a child. One of my sisters had treatment with Lupron while in the military. While receiving that treatment, she went in for a pelvic CT scan because of a growth they felt, and found out she was 5 months pregnant (which also was a miracle). She had a hysterectomy several years ago but is now having problems again which are associated with her endometriosis. I didn't think that was possible since she'd had it removed but again, I was very ignorant. Evidently, it is very possible and I am very lucky to have had no problems. I still remember the years of pain and being told it was all in my head. Another thing I also feel I need to share is the fact that my symptoms were not all physical. My emotional and mental wellbeing was very shaky, and several of my sisters nearly had nervous breakdowns. The same doctor performed hysterectomies on all of us and tried telling us that the surgery would not take care of any of the mental symptoms. You know what? We all proved him wrong. He indicated we may go down in the history books because: 1) it's not known to run in families; and 2) he'd never seen such a dramatic improvement of the mental symptoms before in his practice. My thoughts and prayers are with you all!! Dee
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