I am a breast cancer survivor. It was caught early and I had surgery and received treatment immediately. I do not believe I will have more breast cancer in my future. I have this notion probably for two reasons; it's good to think positive and a doctor told me I had clear margins. I had two children after breast cancer and now they are telling me that even though I tested negative for the BRCA genes, they still suggest I have a hysterectomy of sorts. I say 'of sorts' because in their opinion, I have options - all of which will catapult me into menopause.
One option is to do nothing, which to me, isn't an option at all. I have fibroids and they are causing me so much pain that some days I am literally doubled over. My stomach is swollen from bloating and the pain is something no-one should have to live with.
My second option is to change my medication from Tamoxifen to an aromatase inhibitor which will shut down my ovaries immediately and cause me to acquire arthritis.
Third, I could just have my ovaries removed and that will lessen the estrogen in my body. The surgery is called an oophorectomy.
And finally, fourth, have almost everything removed. That surgery is called salpingo-oophorectomy and is robot assisted by DaVinci.
I have wondered about the state of my middle section after a surgery such as this. With two cesareans behind me, my stomach isn’t perfect but I definitely don’t want it to be worse. Or become worse over time. I do not understand why the options before me are not in any way great options for someone with a little pride in how she looks.
There is downtime with all of these options, scarring, and surprises since they do not know what they are truly looking at until surgery time and you are already on the table. This scares me. I have to do something but the question is what. (?)
I do not want my stomach muscles cut into. I want minimal scarring if any. And I want to look decent in my middle age life. Is that too much to ask for?
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I am a breast cancer survivor. It was caught early and I had surgery and received treatment immediately. I do not believe I will have more breast cancer in my future. I have this notion probably for two reasons; it's good to think positive and a doctor told me I had clear margins. I had two children after breast cancer and now they are telling me that even though I tested negative for the BRCA genes, they still suggest I have a hysterectomy of sorts. I say 'of sorts' because in their opinion, I have options - all of which will catapult me into menopause.
One option is to do nothing, which to me, isn't an option at all. I have fibroids and they are causing me so much pain that some days I am literally doubled over. My stomach is swollen from bloating and the pain is something no-one should have to live with.
My second option is to change my medication from Tamoxifen to an aromatase inhibitor which will shut down my ovaries immediately and cause me to acquire arthritis.
Third, I could just have my ovaries removed and that will lessen the estrogen in my body. The surgery is called an oophorectomy.
And finally, fourth, have almost everything removed. That surgery is called salpingo-oophorectomy and is robot assisted by DaVinci.
I have wondered about the state of my middle section after a surgery such as this. With two cesareans behind me, my stomach isn’t perfect but I definitely don’t want it to be worse. Or become worse over time. I do not understand why the options before me are not in any way great options for someone with a little pride in how she looks.
There is downtime with all of these options, scarring, and surprises since they do not know what they are truly looking at until surgery time and you are already on the table. This scares me. I have to do something but the question is what. (?)
I do not want my stomach muscles cut into. I want minimal scarring if any. And I want to look decent in my middle age life. Is that too much to ask for?
March 31, 2015 - 9:04amThis Comment
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