This entry was posted on Friday, July 23rd, 2010 at 5:13 PM and is filed under What Women Are Saying. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
“My doctor detected a tumor as big as a softball, and he thought it was cancer….Well, old girl, my doc told me, you need a total hysterectomy.”
Read the full story…
It’s May 2004, and on my way in to my annual exam I felt O.K. I had the same San Francisco gynecologist for 20 years, and these exams had become very routine. I was 55, was taking a low-dose birth control pill to control hot flashes, and had had heavy periods for several years, which I expected would just end on their own. My abdomen was a little thick, but I attributed that to some modest weight gain. I had no idea I was anemic or that I was in for quite the roller coaster ride over the next weeks.
My gynecologist detected something and scheduled an ultrasound for the very next day. I couldn’t believe anything was seriously wrong, but I did the test. Then he wanted me to get an MRI. After the MRI, he said I had a tumor as big as a softball, and he thought it was cancer. Soon I had a D & C in a hospital, where he did a hysteroscopy and biopsy. However, since he had me stop taking the birth control pills before the procedure, I was bleeding during the D & C and he said he hadn’t been able to see what was wrong. The biopsy was interpreted as being cancer, although I would find out later it wasn’t. Well, old girl, my doc told me, you need a total hysterectomy. There will be a big scar–it will be ugly. He gave me the name & number of a friend of his for a “second opinion” and said the 2 of them would operate on me together. What a nightmare. And I still hadn’t read about the possible complications of hysterectomy—potential incontinence, difficulty having an orgasm, a long recovery, and the financial cost–especially for someone like me with a PPO.
That weekend was Memorial Day, and I went to a party. When I talked with a dear friend, she suggested I do some research on the Internet beginning with About.com. I started that very night. I found no local experts, but a specialist in New York. I sent him a concise, detailed e-mail and within 24 hours got a message that he didn’t know anyone in San Francisco, but he knew a Dr. in L.A., whom I also e-mailed. Then I found Dr. Indman’s website. The morning after the holiday I was on the phone scheduling an appointment. In a couple of days I heard from the fibroid expert in LA, who highly recommended Dr. Indman.
From the beginning, Dr. Indman was reassuring and very informative. He gave me a diagnostic hysteroscopy in his office. I was pretty scared—after all, my former doctor thought I should be under general anesthesia to have this done. Dr. Indman was so skilled I could not detect that he had given me a local anesthetic. And with the camera images of my fibroids visible on the monitor, I could see there was no tumor as big as a softball, but a lot of smaller submucous fibroids and one in the wall. I also had a blood test that indicated I was very anemic. I started taking iron, and was scheduled for hysteroscopic removal and endrometrial ablation.
The afternoon before, I arrived at the office for some prep. Then I stayed at a pleasant local hotel and took a cab to the Surgical Center. I was given anesthesia, was out for about 45 minutes, and then rapidly woke up, feeling great and talkative. [J.S. had a hysteroscoic myomectomy and endometiral ablation. - P.I.] A friend picked me up and drove north for an hour. I was very surprised to have no post-surgical pain or bleeding. A girlfriend came over, expecting me to be very out of it and we spent the evening chatting. And in the six years since my procedures, I have had no problems or recurrences. I consider myself very fortunate. I found Dr. Indman just in time! — J.S.
Comment: I saw J.S. this week for her routine exam, which was essentially normal. After menopause, fibroids often shrink, as had happened to J.S. Had I relied on the medical records, instead of doing my own evalution to determine the best treatment, I would have made a serious error, as I found no evidence of cancer, and found a submucous fibroid that could be treated as an outpatient by hysteroscopic myomectomy. In addition I did an endometrial ablation, which destroys the lining of the uterus to decrease the chances of further bleeding. This was easily done with the same instruments I used to remove the fibroid and were already in the uterus. A hysterectomy is not a bad operation if it is needed, but J.S. was able to solve her problem after accurate diagnosis with a quick outpatient procedure. Now that six years have past and she is well into menopause, it is very unlikely she will need further surgery. —Paul Indman, M.D.
