California Bloggin' v5.0 :: Desiderium

Let the 'thon begin!

During the next 24 hours I'll be writing about my hysterectomy, the experiences leading up to it and my continuing recovery. In a way, I'm lucky that the reason for my hysterectomy was fibroid tumors, not cancer. However, the reason for the surgery doesn't make the experience any less traumatic. Granted, there's one less concern leading up to the procedure and fewer concerns afterward but, it's still major surgery and a life-altering event. Please don't think the next 24 hours here will be a downer. I will attempt to add some humor into as many posts as possible because, believe me, there is some funny stuff that happened.


For the record, although I had a total abdominal hysterectomy on May 12, 2005, and I'm very happy that I did, I am neither pro- nor anti-hysterectomy. I'm in favor of women getting as much information as they can before making an informed choice. I hope, in some small way, this will help someone do that. I'm not anti-doctor either. I liked all my doctors through the years. The point of writing about my experiences with them is that I should have taken control and forced them to treat me for a problem that was obviously bigger than they believed it was.

The reason I'm doing the Blogathon, despite that fact that I'm still early enough in recovery that I should be taking it easy, is that I believe it's not only women with problems who need to learn more about the surgery, the recovery process and the reasons for it. I'm writing this for

Men. I'm hoping that men who read this may get a better understanding of how their wives, daughters, mothers, sisters, aunts, teachers, girlfriends, co-workers, classmates are feeling and what they're going through. It may be easier to “hear” coming from a stranger than from someone you're in contact with regularly. I'm sure many of you have brushed off the problems of the women in your lives as “that time of the month” or “a female thing.” While it is a female thing, that doesn't make it irrelevant and, therefore, something to not take seriously. If one man learns something from this and gives one woman in his life the compassion and understanding she needs, it'll be worth it.

Women With No 'Female Problems' First of all, consider yourselves lucky. I hope that doesn't sound snippy. It's not meant to be. It's written with all sincerity because, from what I've learned over the past several months, women with no problems are the lucky ones and don't realize how good they have it. I believe that's why they tend to minimize the problems the rest of us have been dealing with for years, decades in some cases. If you don't have to carry a box of tampons with you everywhere you go everyday; if you don't have to worry about when you're going to have an 'accident'; if you've never had cramps so bad that you're bedridden you need to read this. There are women out there who are in agony more days than not every single month. It affects every aspect of their lives. They're not whiners or big babies. They have real, physical ailments that won't just “go away.” If even one woman treats another woman with respect and compassion instead of writing her off as a complainer, it'll be worth it.

Women Who Are Suffering from 'Female Problems'. They need to know they're not alone and what they're feeling is real. I suffered from the day I got my first period when I was 12 years old. It took 33 years to find someone who took me seriously. Thank God he was a doctor who found and treated the problem and didn't just try to mask the symptoms. If one woman who is suffering finds the courage to empower herself and make someone to listen to her, it'll be worth it.

Doctors and Other Healthcare Workers. From what I've learned in the past few months (and from my own experience), I know that it takes many doctors several years to take a patient seriously when she says she's experiencing pain, irregular periods, migraines, exhaustion and many other symptoms. I know it's especially common for women who are in their 40s to be told everything is just part of “getting older.” This, despite the fact the problems have been plaguing them for years. I also realize doctors and health care workers have to deal with hypochondriacs and complainers every day and it can be difficult to determine which problems are real and which aren't'. If even one doctor takes one woman seriously and gives her the benefit of the doubt, it'll be worth it.