Ok, men, I’m gonna give you the heads up. This may be a little explicit if you don’t like talking about the female anatomy and how it functions! You’ve been warned!
So as you all know, one of the things I absolutely love about this blog is it’s my/our platform to not only share with you things that may benefit his, hers, or our lives, it’s an outlet for us to be able to talk about LIFE. This blog in particular is for the ladies, or from “her” perspective.
Something some of you may not know about me is that since starting puberty, I’ve had issues with my monthly cycle. They were always super heavy and clotty flow, HORRIBLE debilitating cramps, fatigue, you name it, I had it. After running several invasive tests at a young age (12) it was discovered that I had cysts and fibroids. As a result, I was put on birth control at 16 years old. Of course it worked, help ease the symptoms, and even cleared up my skin. Fast forward to high school, college, then marriage, the only time I stopped taking it was when Lowell and I decided to have children, hence Max , Peyton, and my heavenly baby that I miscarried.
June-August 2019
Well, it dawned on me at 37ish that I should probably stop taking birth control, hoping that it would have changed my body from the experience of my teenage years. Especially since we decided we were done having children, and Lowell already had his vasectomy. Also, I had no idea what the long term effects would do to my body. I was hoping it was for the better. WRONG!!! I stopped using the NuvaRing and within 1 month of me stopping the birth control, my symptoms started again, as if I were never on the birth control. Actually, they were worse than I remembered.
September 2019
So on top of the excruciating cramps, bloating, headaches, fatigue, etc, I started feeling a new sensation prior to my period. These sharp pains alternating on my side, maybe a week before my cycle. They hurt so much that I had to go to urgent care. And then the tests began again, to either find out the problem, or rule anything serious out. Come to find out, this was my body ovulating. And the cysts were back.
October-November 2019
Fortunately, I’ve been with the same OBGYN during this entire feminine journey. She was in her residency when I started with her, and I stayed with her until she had her own practice. She even monitored my 3 pregnancies, and the 2 days she told me not to go into labor because she wasn’t available to deliver were the 2 days I went into labor with Max and Peyton, smh. Keep in mind, she had already been monitoring my situation as it progressed. We created a plan of action once I got off of birth control, and told me what to pay attention too. And before we made the decision to have a full blown hysterectomy, she recommended an endometrial ablation, where instead of removing the uterus entirely (which speeds up menopause), they burn the endometrial lining in your uterus through a tool inserted in the vagina, which eliminates the egg from implanting In the lining, which would eliminate the period. It’s not surgery, because there’s no cutting or incisions involved. This was probably the 2nd most painful thing through all this, the biopsy! Even though it only lasted about 30 seconds, IT HURT! But it was necessary to get the results I needed for the pre-op to the procedure.
December 5, 2019
Procedure day! There were so many emotions going through my head, but ironically, fear wasn’t one of them. Not only did I know that God had the situation under control, but I was so ready for relief from this issue of blood! And guess what, MY PERIOD STARTED THE NIGHT BEFORE, super heavy, but we were told this didn’t matter, cause they were going to roto-rooter me anyway, lol. I was calm, collected, and surprisingly excited. We arrived to the facility, I undressed, took the jewelry off, laid on the bed, I was rolled to the operating room where they were prepping (and it was freezing), the anesthesiologist told me to take a deep breath, and next thing you know, I was waking up in a completely different room with no cramps or bleeding. Little did I know, I’d be in some pretty bad pain for the next 24hrs, but it was so worth it.
Today
It has been more than 2 months since the procedure, and I have not had 1 period!!!! I did spot a little after the procedure, but THATS IT! No more cramps, no more bloating, no more headaches, no more loss of iron, no more fatigue, NOTHING! I praise God for my Dr and my husbands amazing PPO. I am so grateful for the healing that God has given me, and if I could do it again, I would do it in a heartbeat. Ladies, if you’re lifestyle is slowing down because of your cycle, I highly recommend that you find yourself an amazing OBGYN, and find out what your options are. The way I feel right now is absolutely amazing, so I encourage you to take the steps to do what you need to if your periods are slowing you down!
