Hysterectomy at 50 – Lisa’s Story

I had my hysterectomy at 50. I was told that I had a large fibroid after a routine examination but was told that I didn’t need treatment unless I started having problems. One year on I was having increasingly heavy periods and my stomach looked like I was 5 months pregnant. After various scans and a visit to a consultant I was told that my only option would be a hysterectomy. There was concern over the very rapid growth of the fibroid and cancer couldn’t be completely ruled out until it had been removed. I did feel extremely frightened at this point.

I was also advised to have my ovaries removed due to my age but after careful consideration I decided to keep them as I didn’t want to be going through a surgical menopause while recovering from a major operation.

I had my hysterectomy within 4 weeks of seeing the consultant. Due to the size of the womb I had to have a vertical incision but it was all straightforward. I had an epidural as well as a general which I was quite nervous about but it was the best decision because I was in no pain for pretty much the rest of that day. I was also hooked up to a morphine pump but I reacted badly to that so just relied on paracetamol and ibuprofen for the rest of the time.

I was only in hospital for 3 days and was told that my uterus was the size of a 22 week pregnancy and that although everything looked normal I would have to wait for the histology results to be sure.

I had very good care in hospital but absolutely no information about what I could or couldn’t do when I left. I asked one consultant about when I should start pelvic floor exercises and he just looked blankly at me ! I had to find out everything from websites like this one.

My recovery went very well, better than I expected. My husband and son were great and I was able to get lots of rest. I was little shocked when I first looked at the incision site, it was from above the belly button right down to the pubic area. Eventually after a nearly 7 week wait I got the letter from the hospital confirming that no evidence of cancer had been found. My uterus was very enlarged due to big fibroids and weighed 1.5 kg. I was now able to finally relax !

Looking back the hysterectomy was for the best and I can now get on with my life without heavy periods and a great big pregnant looking bulge (not a good look at 50 years old ! )

And finally for other women who are worried that a hysterectomy will spell the end of their sex life and orgasms (I was one of these) everything is still in good in that department. In fact its better!

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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.