Ending Years of Suffering – Katina’s Story

My name is Katina and I am 41 years old. Three months ago I had a total abdominal hysterectomy. I have always had a abnormal menstrual cycle, but last year in November my cycle started to become regular after 20 years. So in January I had a pap smear and my doctor told me that the doctor before her was doing the pap smear as if I had a hysterectomy. He was just testing the walls of my uterus. So she performed a regular pap smear and the results came back normal.

In February, I started abnormal bleeding which lasted for two weeks. The bleeding stopped for two weeks and then started back again. By this time, I had good health insurance and I found a great gynaecologist. She performed a transvaginal ultrasound and a biopsy. The results came back with uterine cancer. She referred me to an oncologist gynaecologist who performed the hysterectomy.

While performing the surgery, I had a leak in my bowels which my surgeon also fixed. The next day I was sent home. Three hours after getting home, I was vomiting and sick at the stomach. The next morning I was in the ER and admitted into the hospital. I stayed in the hospital another seven days, and was then released.

I then developed an infection at the end of my incision that was leaking. I went to three different doctors including the surgeon who told me to take the antibiotics and it would heal up. But after three weeks the incision was not getting better and I could barely move. I finally found a nurse practitioner who laced the infected site and gave me the right medicine for the infection. After two weeks, I started to feel better.

It took me eight weeks to get over the surgery, but now I realize this whole ordeal has changed my life for the good. I received the pathology reports from my surgery which showed I had fibroids. Because I didn’t have health insurance, I did not go to the gynecologist to get regular checkups. I now know this visits could be the difference between life and death. For me it was life because the cancer was contained in my uterus and removed in time.

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Now available on our online store and all other online book store’s. In My Own Words: Women’s Experience of Hysterectomy is full of many other real-life stories from women the world over.

Other people’s stories help women feel less isolated. They show that they aren’t going mad, missing the point or stupid.