A positive decision – Suzie’s Story

From around the middle of 2013 I found that my periods were becoming slightly erratic after years of them being regular. By Christmas last year I also noticed a mass or bump in my abdomen which got more prominent during the first part of 2014.

By Easter time I decided to go to the doctor. Why leave it so late before investigating? I didn’t actually feel unwell and am very bad at going to the doctor so hung on until my husband told me I must go.

Our surgery has a visiting sonographer clinic so I had a scan very quickly which confirmed a fibroid which was at least 13cm in diameter.

By May I had seen a consultant and was given 2 options. One was to have a hysterectomy and the other was to have Uterine Fibroid Embolisation (UFE). I chose a hysterectomy as it was possible that the fibroid was big enough to stop the radiographer from being able to see to the appropriate site to treat the fibroid and even if the treatment was successful I would have to wait to see if it worked over the long term.

I went on the waiting list for a hysterectomy and was prescribed Esmya for 3 months to help reduce the size of it in the mean time. This didn’t work and my tummy continued to grow!

I decided on a full hysterectomy as I felt that if I was going to have major surgery I would have everything removed to avoid having possible further treatment in the future – a gamble I know.

In mid October 2014 I went in for surgery, coming out of hospital 2 days later to recuperate for 6 weeks before going back to work at the beginning of December. The operation went well and I have had no complications as a result.

I feel well and am recovering and feel that I took the best option. Although having to be on HRT for some years to come, I am 46, I do feel that the negatives are outweighed by the positives.

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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.