The Decompression of a Boomer

To continue the saga of my uterus…um…let’s see, I left off where I had stormed out of the doctor’s office pissed off at my wait (that wouldn’t be “weight” because they never got around to it) and pissed off at my uterus for getting me there in the first place. However, I quickly recovered from my angst toward my uterus.  Because I remembered: Your uterus is something you don’t want to piss off;  it could turn on you.  I remembered that from when I gave birth to our third child. I said horrible things to my uterus (when my husband wasn’t there). The pain was so bad I thought I would die.  But then, maybe that wasn’t my uterus’s fault.

Then again, I can’t be too unsure about that.

So, I saw the ob gyn today. We (that would be me, the receptionist, the 3 other patients who were waiting, the nurse, and the doctor) were all on our best behavior, the perfect picture of punctuality and manners.  Sure enough, the doctor confirmed that “something is up there” in my uterus, a polyp or something, and he has to go and investigate it with his scope. Afterall, the biopsy which came back a week ago indicating ‘normal cells,’ was only a two per cent sampling of the lining of my uterus. So I am scheduled for a D&C this Monday, four days from now.

The doctor asked me if I had questions. I checked my notes.  He had answered them all.  I was mum.  He said I could call the office if I thought of questions later.  I did think of questions for the doctor:  If you remove a polyp could you put it in a pan so I can see it before you send it off to pathology?  Can my husband be there during the procedure to take pictures?

Okay, so I realize this is not funny because of the big looming question in everyone’s minds:  What if the pathology report comes back positive for cancer?  Of course I had asked this question.

“Then you will need a hysterectomy.” the doctor replied.

“What if it comes back precancerous?” I asked.

“Then you will need a hysterectomy.”  He replied.

“Even with precancerous cells?”    I inquired again.

“Yes, because the cancer will come back.”

Gees.  Okay!   The doctor also said that the chances of a polyp being cancerous are about 10 per cent.

I’m showing up Monday for the D&C:  A ‘hysteroscopy,’ is what the nurse called it.  For now, better than a hysterectomy.  And what better time than now to think kindly and lovingly of my uterus?

Just in case…

Tags: post menopause

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