Unending Drip

It was my first day in 6th grade and I was ready to make you friends and enjoy my day at school, but I was not ready for the how embarrassing my day would be. I was only 12 but at the age of puberty, and the time when the hormones and changes take place. Mom had told me that I had entered puberty and part of this biological change would be that I would have blood flow every month. She told me what to expect, and explained every woman had to go through it. I asked so many questions, where does the blood come from? Will other people see it? Why, Why?

On that day in school, I sat down on my desk but as I stood up for recess, my skirt was soaked. I quickly ran to the rest room but was alarmed because my underwear was soaked too, it was here, my period had begun. Thanks to Mom's tutor ledge, I had some extra underwear and a pack of sanitary pads, she had prepared me for this day but what I was never prepared for was the pain it would cause me, the years of shame, and the pain that accompanied. The blood came every month at exactly the 28th day but each year the flow got heavier and heavier, an unending drip. When I got into college and had to share a room with some roommates, they would mock me and jest at me each time my menstrual cycle came, they would say I might have had an abortion, I would cry myself to sleep wondering why my cycle was different from others.

I was told as I grew older, the blood flow will decrease but it never got better. I would bleed so much that I would almost pass out. I avoided gatherings and stayed up at night at that time of the month, because my sheets were soaked in my own blood, clots, and clots. I could not take the pain anymore, so I consulted with my OBGYN, and the results showed I had a fibroid in my womb, it was the size of an orange. Fibroids? For how long had I had this dreaded growth in my womb? The test results showed that the fibroids had been there for a while, yes all through my teen age. Finally, I had answers to my questions, but not the answers I was expecting. Thankfully, Fibroids did not stand in the way of me bearing children, I have three lovely boys, but my pregnancies were hell. 2 of my kids were born prematurely because the fibroids increased in size as my pregnancies grew, I was put on bed rest and bled until my babies were born.

Now in my 40s, the blood flow continues each month, 7 days of agony with clots of blood the size of an egg. I am constantly anemic and needing a blood transfusion with no easy way out but a hysterectomy or some surgical procedure. I recently decided to treat this beast called fibroid, I no longer want to be watch myself bleed to death. To all the millions of women who are drenched in the sea of their own blood each month from this monster called fibroids, you are not alone, stay strong. Do not be ashamed to speak up, tell your doctor, find support, and please get informed. If like me you are afraid of a surgery, speak to your OBGYN, there are several non-surgical treatments for Fibroids. Do not forget that there is light at the end of the tunnel.