I hate hospitals. I'm really fortunate that I've been pretty healthy -- the only time I've ever been admitted to a hospital was when I had my baby.
But now that it's determined that I need to have these uterine fibroids reduced (or removed), I guess I'm going to have to spend some time in one again.
The radiologist finally analyzed the results of the MRI I had a couple of weeks ago and all systems are "go" for a uterine fibroid embolization...
...except I'm not really sure I want one. I don't feel I've been given enough information for truly informed consent.
"Why are you doing that?" asked a friend who had a similar condition. "Why would you want to have them put radiation in your body?"
She opted for a hysterectomy. "It was no big deal - one week in bed and I was fine."
That could be. But I remember my c-section, which took me a lot longer than a week to recover from. And my doctor tells me a hysterectomy is a bigger deal than a cesarean.
I've had other friends tell me that I should avoid a hysterectomy if I can.
"Mark my words - if you have the UFE, you'll just end up having to do the hysterectomy anyway in a couple of years."
Well, hell. THAT wouldn't be good.
The truth is... I don't want to do ANYTHING about the stupid fibroids, which are roughly as large as a couple of grapefruits. (Right now, my uterus is the size of someone who is five months pregnant.)
But the doctors tell me that waiting for menopause to shrink them naturally is not the best course for me to take, as they are making me so anemic, doing nothing is also dangerous.
So I followed my doctor's instructions this morning and showed up in person at Holy Cross Hospital's radiology department and handed them my referral. I was going to do this on Monday, but until today, I was feeling flu-ish... and didn't feel like hanging around a hospital like that.
"Oh, the radiologist you need to see isn't here this week," I was told. "If you come back on Monday, he may be able to see you between his scheduled procedures."
So... I'm relieved that I'm not the reason I still don't know WHEN this thing will be done... or IF I'll ultimately decide to just take out the whole enchilada.
Hey! I have some new posts up: I'm shopping for a school again at 50-Something Moms... Whale Watching at SoCal Stuff... and logging readers' favorite Disneyland rides (Pirates of the Caribbean is the front runner now! Take my survey and you may be able to join me at a Disney blogger event on Nov 21.
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