Thursday, April 28, 2011

The Big H!

Today I had an appointment with my new gynecologic oncologist for my Lynch Syndrome.  She is awesome and if any of you need to see an oncologist for lady parts I recommend her at Dana Farber in Boston (just send me a FB message!). 

I really had no idea what to expect but I knew that one question I had was about a hysterectomy.  I've gotten the run around, kind of, whenever I ask about it with other doctors.  Even my regular OB-GYN was a little hesitant to say yes go for it.  Totally understandable it is a HUGE choice to make.  But I also wanted to hear from a doctor that deals with cancer regularly.  Someone who would be able to say yes you are a good candidate or no you should wait a few years.  Someone who would take into account the CF aspect and not my age.  Yes I am young to be totally taking away my chance to have a baby.  However, given the set of genes I was dealt, I don't think I want to risk passing it on.  As much as I would L-O-V-E to have a baby it is not an option.  I won't bore you with the intricacies as I have posted many times about it.  And something I have been thinking about since my diagnosis almost 2 years ago.

When I mentioned I was thinking about a hysterectomy she immedicately jumped on board with it.  She actually just recently performed one on another CF patient!  That eased my mind a great deal to know she has dealt with a CF patient before.  She completely understood my concerns, my excitement, my questions and my slight hesitation.  I've asked other CFers that have had this procedure done so I was able to ask some other things about afterwards, sex, hormones etc.  Nothing is as scary as I had thought, and the whole thing is done by laproscopic surgery.  That means I will only have a small 1-2 inch scar on my abdomen!  I can deal with that!

I was caught off guard when they came in to schedule the surgery!  I was so used to hearing, lets talk about it another time, that I hadn't expected to walk out of there with a tentative surgery date in place.  Works for me though as I know I want to get things scheduled so when I have to make my transplant consult I will know my free time.  And this also takes 2 questions off of my transplant list. 

So all in all I was quite happy with my appointment today and am looking forward to a period free life in just a few months!

5 comments:

  1. wow thats a big decision....but it sounds like you have thought it through so I am happy for you that you finally have a dr willing to work with you. Good luck with your surgery let us know how you do! :)

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  2. Congrats on finding a doctor that will do that. I have been begging for one for years... they won't do one. Hope it all goes well.

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  3. I am curious to know more about your reasons for wanting a hysterectomy. I am wondering because this is something I have thought of for myself. It seems the more time goes it seems the worse I feel during periods and the worse the week before is. I already know 100% that if we were to decide to have children we would do so through adoption. I just know my body couldn't handle a pregnancy and it's not something I personally want to risk. So I guess I am just curious if your reasons were mostly CF related. You can always message me via FB too! Or you can tell me to bugger off ;]

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  4. wow, Am, this is big news! I am playing blog catch up today and thought the hig H was going to be hospital. What about an ablation? I don't know if that actually changes fertility though. This must be a hard decision for you, but it sounds lilke you're in very capable hands. It's always scary when those surgery schedulers come in - it makes whatever you're doing very real, doesn't it? Good luck Amy!! <3

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  5. My reasons are more for the Lynch Syndrome than for CF. However, if I didn't have CF or my lung function was in the 80s say, then I would not even be considering one :)

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