Listen to YOUR Body

I was always the runt of the family. Small frame and shy my entire life (until I hit 35). Unlike most of the women in my family, my cycle, yes that "blessing" or dreaded curse for some started for me at age 9. Yes, 9 years old. Lucky me. Thankfully, I had an older cousin living with us at the time that gave me some information on it because at that time we didn't discuss things like that. Can you imagine being 9 and this happening to you? I thought I was DYING!

Quick backstory. As forestated, my cycle began when I was 9 years old. From that day, my cycles were never "normal." After the birth of my first child, I started on the Depo shot for birth control. I was told of some of the risks etc. I still had concerns though because most who take the Depo shot their cycle STOPS. That happened to me. I was on the Depo for almost 2 years before deciding to stop taking it. For the time that I was taking the shot, I had absolutely no cycle. I still would have the usual PMS symptoms; irritability, mood swings, cramps, cravings and so on, but no actual blood flow. I was concerned about this simply because I had always been taught that a woman's cycle is a woman's natural way of 'cleansing' itself. My top concern was where is all of that going if it is not being expelled from my body! Was it harmful and would it have lasting effects on me later? No medical professional at the time could provide me with any of that information. Or they simply chose not to disclose the information. Since starting my cycle and starting the routine of having pap smears, I NEVER had a normal pap smear. The results would always return abnormal. Still no explanation. I still felt like crap and being anemic did not help. Then one pap revealed some abnormal cells on my cervix. I had a LEEP procedure, biopsy, and cryosurgery to freeze the cells. Biopsy... cervical cancer! What wait?! How can that be? Again, I think it was due to the Depo shot but no one would ever confirm or deny that.

I started treatments right after my son was born for the cervical cancer and I also had my tubes tied. Treatments went well. I had since stopped taking the Depo shot and seemed to be back to normal. I enlisted into the Army and something still didn't feel quite right. I kept having the exact same pains on my right side like I did when I was diagnosed the first time. Test were ran and come to find out that one of the plastic rings had worked itself off of my right fallopian tube. I opted to just have my tubal ligation reversed. What sense did it make to have one tube tied and not the other. Just remove the other one too and I'll begin birth control pills. 3 years to the day, another abnormal pap smear. Dread! Here we go again. It was the why me that most people ask themselves. One advantage that I had was that I had been down this road before but I was at my duty station. No family but plenty of friends that were like family. Same treatment just amped up a bit. Again treatments went well. No major issues after treatment but still no normal pap smears and still that horrible pain on that one side.

Fast forward. I am now 26 (that was then), no longer enlisted in the Army, separated from my husband with 2 great kids. I'm working and all of a sudden it felt as if I had been stabbed in my right side. Blood everywhere. I'm sent home. Mom makes me go to bed and the pain is so unbearable that all I could do was lay in a fetal position and cry. My cousin comes by to check on me. He says you are running a fever and rushes me to the local ER. Fever has spiked. Still bleeding. A plethora of tests ran. I'm being admitted. Why am I being admitted? I was told simply, I had a fever and I was dehydrated and I would be there for 24 to 48 hours. I was placed in a room and I literally felt as if I was dying. When I began to vomit bile... I knew then this must be the end for me. What is wrong with me?! I had not been formally diagnosed with anything but clearly something is wrong. I laid in the hospital for almost a week. Doc comes in and says I am being discharged. Wait! You must be with the wrong patient because you all still have not formally diagnosed me with anything. Plus, why do I still feel as if I am being stabbed - NOTHING! I received a call from my cousin who was a Chief Warrant Officer in the Army at the time. She stated, tell them to run a CT Scan, MRI or something because something isn't right. She said demand it if necessary. I did. Lo and behold, the CT Scan showed a cyst/mass on my left ovary the size of a fifty cent piece. Emergency surgery was scheduled to remove the cyst and to clean out any infection. Surgery should take less than 4 hours. I saw my parents briefly and the doc assured them that if anything else needed to be done that he would come out and get consent. Fine!

Waking up from surgery... Surgery lasted much longer than the expected 4 hours. Closer to 7. I open my eyes and my mom and stepdad are there. Doc comes in. Mom has a worried look on her face, stepdad exits the room. I'm beyond worried now. What is going on? Doc produces some images. I have no clue what the heck I am looking at. I just woke up from surgery for goodness sake. The only word I heard was HYSTERECTOMY! Huh! Who? Me? I am 26 years old and I have had a hysterectomy. They removed EVERYTHING except for one ovary. I was devastated. I could not believe it. It seemed as if everything that medically made me a woman was gone! The cyst had fused to my fallopian tube due to infection on the left side that had spread to the right side that caused phantom pain. In order to remove the cyst, the left ovary and fallopian tubes had to be removed. After reading my prior medical history, the last pap showed abnormal cell activity on my cervix so they removed that as well as my uterus!!!

After coming to my senses, I phoned mom and asked if the doc ever came out to tell her what he was going to do. She said no and at all times, her or my stepdad was there to confirm if necessary. They were never notified. To this day, I feel that this could have been avoided if the doctor had just consulted with my mom first. Not to mention, every doctors visit or call that I made saying something was wrong and that I did not feel right if they had taken my concern more seriously this could have been avoided. Ladies - well men too - LISTEN TO YOUR BODIES! You know your body better than anyone. If you don't feel right or feel that something is wrong do not brush it off. If your medical professional brushes it off - get a second opinion!