The Back Story

Over the next three days, I'll tell you about our Divine Intervention. Here is the first installment.

The Back Story

I was scheduled for a hysterectomy. I have uterine fibroids-- four to be exact. My doctor told me in October 2006 that my uterus was the size of a 16 week pregnancy. The fibroids themselves aren’t very large (the largest only about 3 cm), but apparently they make the uterus grow. My only symptom was pressure from my growing uterus. No bleeding, no anemia, just pressure. I decided to wait and see if I could shrink them. I stopped consuming dairy products from cows that were given hormones. I started eating organic produce. I was told that my body reacts to the pesticides and fungicides as if it were extra estrogen. At any rate, I didn’t think I needed major surgery because of a little pressure. I’m a tough girl. I had 5 babies naturally or as my sister calls it “cave man style”.

By January 2007, the pressure was interfering with my daily life. I reasoned that if the pressure had progressed that much in three months, it would be unbearable by June. June would be a busy month for our family, which means I would be especially busy. Not only would we have a big graduation celebration, but we would be moving as well. I also thought about that episode of Grey’s Anatomy where the woman came to the hospital with a 200 pound tumor that grew quickly. When asked why she didn’t come to the hospital sooner, her response was that she had been afraid. Anyway, the outcome for her wasn’t so great, but they were able to make a whole episode about it. The lesson I took from it was that I needed to get over my aversion to surgery and get it done before it became a bigger problem. Michael and the doctor coordinated their schedules in February and we got the surgery scheduled for March 12.