Full of Relief

[Wanda4]

Hi everyone I’m Wanda and I’m new to the group. My story began when I was 35 years old and my doctor informed me that my uterus was enlarged and I had fibroids and I should think of having a hysterectomy. Feeling as I would be left unwhole I threw the idea on the back burner because I was never bothered by it only experiencing painful and lengthy menstrual cycles (which I had become used to after 3 c-sections and a tubal ligation). I continued every year without fail to have my normal paps and checkups with my gynecologist repeating to me each time her recommendations. Shortly after I developed pica (an ice eating disorder) which lead me to extreme anemia and very thin blood because I did this on a consistent basis all day every day for over 6 years. About 8 months ago I began to feel a large lump in my stomach and ignored it until I went in for my yearly check up in February (because as I said I was only experiencing the normal pain from the cycles that was being controlled by medically prescribed ibuprofen 800’s.) and my doctor asked me if I ever felt that lump in my stomach and I said yes just a few months recently and she said that’s because you uterus has now grown into your stomach region. NOW was the time for me to be alarmed at age 43. Her next question of course was what am I going to do about it and my response was quick before I thought surgery time!!!! My primary doctor had already placed me on vitamins and an high potency iron for my anemia because he stated to me that I was so anemic that I should have been having dizziness and fainting spells and I should have been passing out, but the only thing that I noticed that had changed with me was I would become short of breath and times and I often felt tired. Well after I decided to get on board with my gynecologist for the surgery once I had my ultrasound, it clearly confirmed that I had an enlarged uterus and 2 fibroids that visible 1 being 7cm and the other 5cm in size. Because of the size that my uterus had grown, I was well passed keyhole surgery and she was unsure if she was going to be able to save the Fallopian tubes and ovaries and gall bladder depending on what she found once she got inside. Once she explained everything to me and the recovery process, I decided to schedule my surgery for beginning September since I had just started my new job, my son would be returning to college, and his birthday is August 29th. As soon as I agreed to all of this I was scheduled to see her back mid August so at that time we can decide on an actual date for my procedure. The very next month at the start of my cycle, I began experiencing excruciating pain in the vaginal area along with my right side which sent me to the emergency room every month. At the beginning of July my pain was so horrible that it wouldn’t subside that they admitted into the hospital and ran numerous amounts of tests on me because they couldn’t believe that my uterus and fibroids alone could cause that much pain. They first told me that I had colitis (which is inflammation on the colon) so I was being treated with antibiotics for that, then they told me that they thought it was my appendix because of the pain I was experiencing in my right side and it just never went away and I was receiving morphine every 4 hours and Percocet every 6 hours and I was still in constant pain for almost an entire week. Well after 3 cat scans, 4 ultrasounds, and a number of unknown blood tests, my gynecologist and the hospital surgeon decided it would be best for them to team up and expedite my surgery because there was no way I could wait until September to get it done. My surgery was performed on July 26th which entailed of me having a full hysterectomy and my appendix removed because my uterus grew to the size of almost my entire stomach which pushed my ovaries up into my rib cage region and rearranged almost all of my vital organs. So I now know the feeling of feeling empty inside which actually feels great and my gynecologist stated to me that I had close to 20 very large fibroids the largest one being almost 10cm which was the worse case she has ever seen in her entire life and she clearly understood at that point she opened me up why I was in so much pain. I’m in my second week of recovery and I don’t know if it’s because I’m older now but I’m healing very slowly compared to having 3 c-sections and having babies and the pain is no joke!!!!!! So sorry for my lengthy story but for those who are reading this and are having issues and are on the fence about what to do I say find out what is going on with your body and have it taken care of immediately because being in the hospital for 2 weeks being stuck with needles on a constant basis and in pain while doing so is a horrible thing to experience and thought my recovery maybe a bit longer than I expect it to it’s way better than dealing with that big ordeal and all those complications I went through. I’m glad I got it done and it’s water underneath the bridge. Me before surgery. No I’m not pregnant

[JH19]

Wow Wanda. You are so brave. Well done. X

[AuntieH]

How are you feeling now?