Staring Down a Hysterectomy

I have battled with stage four endometriosis for fifteen years now. I was lucky enough to get the endometriosis under control for a portion of time after so many specialists and equally as many treatment plans. Unfortunately, my body has yet again adjusted to the treatment and has left me in a lot of pain all over again.

Past thoughts of a hysterectomy

For so many years, I have been waiting on a doctor to decide a that a hysterectomy was the treatment option that I needed... But they always had excuses. At first, it was because I was not married. Once I was married, they did not want to do it because I did not have biological children of my own- Despite the fact that my husband has four children and we did not plan to attempt to put my body through the process of trying in vitro fertilization to conceive. I was pretty much hit with one excuse after another about why the hysterectomy was not an option. Yet they did not have a problem with putting my body in a medication-induced menopause for years.

My sister's hysterectomy

For all the years that I have been waiting on a hysterectomy, my sister had one shortly after having her last baby girl. Her experience was all but pleasant. They nicked her bladder which caused her to need a catheter even when she got to go home. Unfortunately, this caused four more emergency room trips due to issues with the catheter in just a week. For her husband to be able to return to work, I stayed with her and her kids during the day so she was not alone trying to manage everything. She was in a lot of pain. This kind of made me second guess my initial desire to have the hysterectomy that I have been waiting on for so many years.

When medical changes happened on my end

My specialist retired and he referred me to another specialist. Unfortunately, this happened at the same time as my endometriosis decided to start revolting against its treatment plans. After getting updated on my medical history and doing an examine, my new specialist presented two options for me. He said we could keep band-aiding the situation or go ahead and do the hysterectomy if I was positive I was not looking to have more kids in the future.

Conclusion

As long as I have been dealing with stage four endometriosis, I believe a hysterectomy is really the best option for me to try at this point. I cannot help that I find myself slightly nervous about having a hysterectomy done after what my sister went through with her surgery. All I can do is remind myself that we have very different doctors and mine has already said he will not be doing it alone since he is quite sure that I have a frozen pelvis.

If you have had a hysterectomy, were you nervous before hand and did it help? Comment below!