My Decision

In case you missed the little blurb, my surgery is scheduled for Thursday March 12. I figure I would tell you why I decided to go with the hysterectomy.

My doctor and I talked some about other options that I had besides the hysterectomy. One of the items she described to me is called a pessary. She described it as being similar to the outer ring of a diaphragm, made of plastic or silicone and used to support the uterus, vagina and/or bladder. It is a very common treatment to help with prolapse. They can be temporary or permanent, must be fitted by your doctor and most can be worn during intercourse. Although, if desired and you have the temporarily placed pessary you can remove them. The pessary would only deal with the issue of my prolapse though and that bothered me. Not to mention, that the idea of something constantly being in place to hold my uterus up just didn't sound comfortable. I am sure that, with correct a fitting device, you wouldn't notice it much if at all but the idea of it still nagged at me. I also conjured up visions of recurring yeast infections. I asked my doctor about it and she said that it wasn't likely but some people could be more sensitive than others so there was a chance of it. I've never had problems with yeast infections so it probably wouldn't have been an issue. I think my biggest concern with this was that it only corrected one part of my problem.

So to help with the bleeding and hormone fluctuations, I went back on the pill. This has worked some but as mentioned, created other problems. I could try other pills or hormones and may be able to find something that would work for me. So between the pessary and hormone treatment I could not have the surgery and check back in a year or two and re-evaluate my situation. One thing that kept popping up in my mind is that there is a family history, on my mom's side, of hemorrhaging. Again, after talking to my doctor, she said that without a crystal ball she could not say if I would hemorrhage like other women in my family but it definitely appeared that I was heading down that path. She then said that I needed to decide, if I was leaning towards a hysterectomy, if I would rather wait until the possible hemorrhage occurred and I had to have an emergency procedure/surgery with whoever happened to be on hand OR make that decision for myself and hand pick my surgical team. Again, without the crystal ball to see into the future, I will never know if that would happen but it was something to think about.

We also talked about the ablation procedure to help with the bleeding. This is less invasive, could be done in the doctors office and had less recovery time. This however did not help with the prolapse, hormone issues, cramping, etc. There was also the possibility that my uterus would heal itself (still confused on how that could happen but I'm not the doctor) and that I would eventually end right back where I am.

The ONLY procedure that would eliminate the bleeding, the cramping, the prolapse, the hormone issues, etc. was the hysterectomy. Don't get me wrong, I've thought a lot about it and if this really was best for me and in the end I truly believe it is. For those of you wondering, I am going to have my ovaries removed too. This was another discussion that went on for a while. Pros and cons of both but I decided, in the end, to remove them because of the severe PMS/PMDD. The only way to eliminate it completely was to remove the culprits. Now this means that I will still have to be on some sort of hormone treatment for about ten years BUT I would have to be on some sort of hormone treatment for the next ten years or so to treat the PMS/PMDD anyway. With my ovaries gone, my hormone levels will be controlled by me and my doctor. There is also less of a chance of ovarian cancer, because it is impossible for the doctors to get every last little cell of the ovaries there is still a slight chance that I (or any woman with her ovaries removed) could get ovarian cancer but the likelihood is significantly lower.

There are other risks involved with surgery, as there is with any surgery, but I have a great doctor and great team of doctors that will be doing my surgery. Side note: my doctor told me outright that she would not perform my hysterectomy and prolapse repair because she knew a doctor that was much better at the prolapse part than she was. How can you not love my doctor? But don't worry, she will be there assisting and making sure that things go as they should. I'm not sure that some of the other doctors that I've seen would have been as honest.