Hysterectomy.

[Beanfield]

Hurrah and Hallelujah. My uterus has been given an eviction notice!

30 years of being a complete bitch. Let me down twice (miscarriage and ectopic). Did what it should do twice (2 grown up DDs). Never officially diagnosed with anything but suggestions have been PCOS and endometriosis. 30 solid years of hideous periods. 30 years of being fobbed off by assorted GPs who told me it was normal to faint, vomit, incapacitate and take over my life for one out of every three or four weeks.
It’s got to the point where my cycles are just 18-20 days long, I bleed huge amounts for 5 days (emptying cup every 2 hours), overflowing, clots. Light bleeding on and off for a further 4 days. Bleeding on and off randomly mid-cycle. Puking and dizzy. Period diarrhoea, excruciating, labour style pain. Another 3 days of pain while i ovulate plus bleeding then too.
Tried everything. Mirena - I bled for 8 months then it fell out. Painfully. Pill - unhinged. Drugs - I’m allergic to the good ones and the others don’t work so well. Herbs, flowers, tea, homeopathy, diet - all bollox.

Finally saw a Dr who actually listened and agreed to whip the bugger out. Not sure how yet as apparently it's ‘bulky’ (like the rest of me) so need a scan to see how big it is. Also waiting on smear results and endometrial biopsy (which hurt like a bastard and is still hurting 4 days later).

Hi Beanfield, My Gynae has said that she needs to do a Lap first as a MRI will not show up where the Endometriosis is lying. Still asked for another MRI even so, it’s her stance on insisting I have a Lap, then followed by full hysterectomy that makes me feel I should get a second opinion. I also have a cyctocele, bladder protruding down into Vagina & don’t know yet what will be suggested about that. Again not sure whether a good idea to get prolapse surgery or to ask for a ring or physio first.

I think if you are having found it or aren’t totally sure a second opinion would be worth it.

I have a scan tomorrow and I’m in the middle of a very heavy bleed. So that’ll be fun

Hi Beanfield, I hope your scan went well today! Periods are nothing but a flaming bug 🐛 🐻 bear!!
I’m asking my GP to refer me for a second opinion.

Scan was fine. I have an in cavity fibroid. 3cm. How can something the size of a sodding grape hurt quite so much. Bastard.

Still want the whole lot out. I’m tired and done with it.

I'm so done with it too.

There seems to be no day in the month I can trust my body not to gush blood at no minutes notice. It is making classroom teaching really tricky.

If I had the gaps between periods I'm supposed to have, there would be one and a half left before they're over forever.

What’s next for you Beanfield? Will they call you back?

I have my consultant appointment tomorrow, I am going to ask outright for a hysterectomy and see what happens. The Mirena controls the bleeding but I haven’t had sex in months because it’s agony, it’s sitting in my cervix.

It doesn’t control the pain of the Adenomyosis though, I feel like I’m carrying a burning bowling ball in my pants.

Shame I start my new job in 4 weeks though, I’m still worried about that.

I can have a hysterectomy! Mr consultant you fucking rock.

I have agreed to an outpatient hysteroscopy first to get the coil out and see if there is anything else to worry about. He will check out the uterine cavity also to see if it will take another Mirena because of all the problems but if it can, I can try that first if I want to. He even offered me the hysteroscopy under general but then said if I'm thinking hysterectomy it might be better to avoid 2 generals.

He will make sure I am added to his patient list so I don't have to go through the same things again. I am a little in love with him right now!

Nice one, Megan! Good luck with the various stages. I had a hysteroscopy with a general anaesthetic in June and I was fine afterwards.

@CarolinePooter sorry to be nosey but how much does it cost privately?

Hi vilamoura, mine was a long time ago now, about 17 years or so. It cost under £4000 as I recall. I live in the east midlands so not London prices, and it included several nights in a nice private room so I came home well rested. Hopefully someone could tell you a more recent price. All the very best.

Megan. That is excellent news. I know how happy and relieved and heard I felt when my doc agreed.

Not heard anything since scan. While this takes me closer to ‘sadly’ being off sick over Christmas it’s also getting into winter and full hospitals and cancelled routine ops. (I’m such a bloody pessimist).

You don't have to worry about facial hair, wrinkles etc . If you've still got your ovaries you won't get an instant menopause. I had mine at 35, best thing I ever did. I had 4 weeks off work ( full time nursing), but that was because I had the hysterectomy vaginally and didn't have any muscle incisions. After that month I was fine to do everything normally. Didn't have the menopause for years afterwards - still had ovaries so the hormones were still there.

Another bloody bastard period. It hurts.

But! A potential date. End of November. Hurrah!

Urgh Beanfield me too- a hideous period on top of a cold/cough that's so bad I feel justified in calling it flu. i took a day off work today but I've had a high temperature on and off since Sunday.

There shouldn't be many more bastard periods for us though now.

I actually wondered if my two awful colds in less than a month might be because I'm quite anaemic from the blood loss. I'm starting back on the mega iron tonight, having phoned the GP .

Glad you have a potential date!

Now I have The Fear!
Pain
Dying under anaesthetic
More pain
The large layer of gross yellow fat I know will need to be poked out of the way.
Boredom
Pain
Christmas shopping
Bleeding
Leaving my work caseload to someone else
Sleeping next to random strangers
Being a patient
Being cancellled because of winter bed pressures
Other stuff

I remember The Fear stage, it's horrible .

You should get plenty of pain relief and the thing to do is speak up if you need more. The first 36 hours for me were very painful, but after that the pain receded drastically.

If anything goes wrong with the anaesthetic they will be onto it long before you are in danger; you are constantly being monitored.

Stock up on books and things to watch/listen to to stave off boredom.

I was hugely relieved to hand off my workload. I just decided to put work completely out of my mind.

Mine was at the start of December and all my Christmas shopping took place online. You have an unassailable excuse if there's anything you can't get or forget about! By Dec 25th I was recovered enough to do all the normal Christmas stuff bar anything that involved lifting.

I do hope you're not cancelled - that would be the worst thing I could imagine.

Thanks Val. (Wibble). I’ll see if I can get some admin time to sort out work so nothing gets forgotten or missed.
Going to need to do some yarn shopping and line up a lot of Netflix. And get over it.

Beanfield I'm having all those thoughts too! Wahhh. I'm on 20 November. V worried about work and pain and not healing well. I still think it will be worth it though. I'm looking forward to having recovered and being free of my bastarding womb. I'm wondering if my tummy might be a bit smaller.

Fanny an actual date, how exciting!

beanfield great you have a potential date and Christmas off. Brilliant.

villamoura I checked out the Nuffield hospital for prices £7,500

Megan fantastic. Hope things move quickly for you.

I'm wondering if my tummy might be a bit smaller. I’m estimating at least a stone in weight loss when I finally get rid of mine it must be HUGE judging by the amount of blood loss I suffer every 3 weeks. Still waiting for a possible date ........

Fanny. I’m the 28th. We can be in recovery together

I phoned the GP yesterdayto see if they’d check my Hb. But they wont without me seeing an actual Dr, so i have an appointment in 10 days. I think i’m anaemic. It’d be bloody surprising if i wasn’t after losing loads every couple of weeks.

Hi Meganchips,
Great to hear you have the result you wanted with a Hysterectomy!
Doesn’t it make a huge difference when your consultant actually listens to the reasoning behind our decisions? I noted with interest your comment regards the “burning ball in your pants” & wondered if I could ask your opinion? I’ve had MRI twice, awaiting result of second this Friday - anyway first MRI suggested Endo, Adenemyosis, Fibroids & Prolapse (yippee 🙄)
For 2 years I’ve suffered with my skin burning all around my “underneaths” from perineum backwards & around my butt & travels upto coccyx. I have a feeling of burning inside, electric shock/nerve pain & wowzers my lumbar spine kills with pain when I walk, bend forwards, Hoover, clean etc. Does this sound anything like your experience? No GP, Consultant or Dermatologist has been able to explain this. Thx if you’ve read this manuscript!! 😬

@Whirlygigwendy Your symptoms are similar to those I had before my hysterectomy.

Endometriosis causes radiating pain - I used to have pain right down to my ankles as well as all through my lower back. During my periods, I would have a dragging, burning sensation going down from my womb and anus to the whole of my pelvis. This might have been due to my adenomyosis and fibroids because it seemed to start in my womb, but it was impossible to tell which symptom related to which problem.

Has your consultant talked about treatment options yet?

Hi ScreamingValenta,
Thx for replying to my post 😊
I’m going for a second appointment this Friday to my consultant- treatment options will be discussed following the MRI I had last week.
Initially she said she strongly advised total hysterectomy, including cervix. She has also said I have a cyctocele prolapse- bladder fallen into Vag - great!! I don’t know yet whether they will deal with prolapse at same time as the hysterectomy 🤷‍♀️ Feeling quite fearful at the prospect. She also said she wants to do Laparoscopy first to find how much the Endo is there. This will mean two separate operations & obviously two general anaesthetics which I don’t want.