Too much Tumorous for my Uterus!

A (short, slow) hike with friends in the A-B Wilderness.  8/8/2026

Over the past week I have cycled for purpose and pleasure, carried full loads of wet laundry out to hang on the line, I carried Ginger around the house, soaked in the tub for hours on end, and more.  This is noteworthy because I had to take seven weeks off doing all that stuff, following doctor's orders.

Ginger helping me on a working-from-home project as I eased back into my job duties.  I took two full weeks off and then eased back into work the third week, partially from home.  7/13/2026

This post is pretty personal, but I think it is worth sharing.

Matt made teeny-tiny Jello pudding "cheesecakes."  Which I ate while icing my tummy!  6/24/2026

I had a hysterectomy two months ago.  Wow.  Time is funny.  Those weeks were soooooooooooo looooooooong.  And yet, I recognize that in the grand scheme of things, they went by quite fast.

Matt checking the garden.  The sunset this day was freakin' glorious in 360 degrees.  7/8/2026

My uterus was so full of (non-cancerous) tumors that it weighed more than a pound.  A typical uterus weighs around 1/8th of a pound (1.5 - 2 ounces).

Cool clouds, blue skies, and green trees.  6/19/2026

For almost four years I had been suffering.  And it just kept getting worse and worse.  My period became basically constant.  Rather than a week-on and three-weeks-off...it was the opposite!  Or worse!  Plus, the volume was just unbelievable and the pain so off the chains that it would make me throw up.  It was almost constant pain, laundry, nausea, fatigue, and, eventually, lead me to become aenemic last year.  To say it was "negatively impacting my life" is an understatement.  My uterus was both ruling my life and ruining my life.

One of our friendly neighborhood turkies has babies!  We call them "the turklettes."  7/7/2026

I tried pharmaceutical interventions.  I tried changing my diet.  I tried differnt forms of exercise.  I focused on my sleep and self-care routine.  I tried pharmaceutical interventions again.  ...nothing brought me any notable relief.  So, after consulting with my OBGYN, I decided to go the surgical route. A hysterectomy was the end-all be-all solution to my increasingly dire problems.  

Celebrating the 19th anniversary of our favorite local brewery--from my favorite part of the brewery, the backporch along the train tracks.  7/17/2026

I had my entire reproductive tract removed, aside from my ovaries.  I decided to keep my ovaries because hormones play a part in so many other body systems from the brain (dementia) to bones (osteoporosis), and beyond.  Plus, with my ovaris intact, I didn't take the fast track to menopause and can still experience that phase of life naturally.

Camping and concerting with some of my favorite people.  Val even hung a disco ball in the tree.  This was my first concert post-surgery.  8/6/2026

I wish I had advocated for myself sooner and more forcefully.  I wish I had read Dr. Jen Gunter's book Blood: The Science, Medicine, and Mythology of Menstruation sooner.  It was so educational!  For too long, I had accepted that having "bad periods" is just part of the bargin of being a woman.  That it was "normal" for my menstural cycle to be so excruciating and unpleasant.  That I just had to live with it.  NOT TRUE!!!

The artichoke bounty has been off the hook this year.  Matt harvested 16 in one go!  7/21/2026

(Important side bar:  Not true...because I have health insurance.  It makes my heart hurt to think that there are women suffering like I was who cannot affoard this level of care because they do not have insurance and cannot affoard to pay for it out of pocket.  Consider that my plug for universal healthcare, by the way.  We deserve it.)

Me and my silly sisters.  Photo credit to Sarah.  7/4/2026

Surgery was no cakewalk.  No way around that.  It was the first time I've even been put under anesthesia.  I was pretty dang nervous.  But, it all went according to plan, for which I am grateful.  My surgery was done laparoscopically and with robotic assistance.  This is a whole different ballgame than when my mom had a hysterectomy in her 40s.  I had only four small abdomenal incisions and some internal, vaginal sutures.  The recovery time is generally a lot less with these modern techniques.  I didn't even have to stay overnight in the hospital.  I got to recover in the comfort of my own home.    

Matt has been giving the flowers extra attention this year and it is paying dividends.  These ones are new this year and I think they are soooooooo pretty.  7/17/2026

That said, recovery has also been no cakewalk.  It was painful.  I tired so easily.  I was quick to grumpiness.  It wasn't until about 6 weeks post-surgery that I started feeling like I'd turned a corner.  I'm still not 100% today, but close! 

Me and Matt all dressed up for my sister Lisa's wedding on Independence Day.  I was pretty physically uncomfortable that day.  It was only two weeks out from surgery and I'd had to fly to Seattle and it was a lot of activity, but I still had a lot of fun celebrating.  I am grateful I was there.  It was a beautiful day of love and family.  7/4/2026

Recently, my surgeon gave me my post-op check up and liberated me from my recovery restrictions.  Woohoo!!  

A view of big sky country from my first post-surgery camp out.  7/25/2026

Now I can lift things that weigh more than 10 lbs!
     (And soooooo many things weigh 10 lbs, including my precious Ginger kitty.)  

Ginger has been soaking up all the sun and heat this summer.  She lounges on the patio for hours. 7/31/2026

I can submerge my body for long periods of time. 
      (And I missed my looooooooooong baths and swimming during the summer heat.)  

We re-did our front steps during my recovery period at home.  It is such an improvement!  7/11/2026

Now I can do "exercise" beyond just walking.  Which means I can ride my bike again!
     (And ohhhhhhhhhh,  how I missed my bike commute.)

 My family played Kubb and I cheered from the sidelines.  7/4/2026

I am super-duper, over-the-moon, beyond grateful to my family and friends for being so helpful and caring throughout the whole ordeal.  They have been there for me the entire way--even when I was grumpy and short-tempered.  From encouraging me prior to the big day when I was nervous about my very first surgery... to being there for moral support at the hospital... to visting me and checking in on me up regularly for weeks.  My family and friends have been amazing support.  This whole process would have been so different without that foundation.

Lisa and Jason came to Montana for their honeymoon.  We went camping and made a daytrip to Wyoming to check out Devil's Tower.  We slowly walked the shortest loop around the tower...and it was still almost too much on account of the blistering heat.  7/26/2026

Especially Matt.  He has been an absolute rockstar at caregiving.  Unsurprisingly.  Still, I really put him through the better-or-worse, sickness-and-health parts of our vows.  He picked up so many extra duties around the house--litereally and metaphorically.  He showered me with love and encouragement.  He was invested in improving my life through surgery and the recovery that followed.  I don't know what I would have done without him.  For real.

Going to the fair the day I was released from restrictions!  A double happy day!  8/12/2026

And now the best part is yet to come.   I am "officially" recovered from surgery and can move on to the next chapter of my amazing period-free life!!  There are no words for how excited I am about it.