I don't know how much I've talked about this, but now that it's been over a year, I should probably talk a little about mini-periods.

If you have a hysterectomy and keep your ovaries and your cervix, there is a 7-15% chance that you'll have some cyclical bleeding.

What is a mini-period? Basically when a partial or supracervical hysterectomy is performed, a little bit of the uterus is retained to make a pouch that's sewn shut (where the uterus used to be, basically think of a pear and the neck of the uterus as it leads into the cervix and birth canal is the narrow top). The endometrium is naturally thinner there and most surgeons will either core out the remaining endometrium or cauterize it to prevent cyclical bleeding.

However, sometimes doctors miss some of the endometrium or don't perform this service so the ovarian hormone still cycle and the endometrium builds up and is shed monthly.

The amount of blood in my case is minimal, it's a panty liner during the day and a panty liner at night. I don't always even need it, but I use it just in case. The period itself lasts about five days (my old ones lasted eight).

If you're pre-surgery, I urge you to talk to your doctor about this issue. It's not something that should be discussed afterwards when you actually discover you have it. It's also pretty important for a good inspection to be made of the cervical stump if you're having a hysterectomy for adenomyosis or endometriosis as this would be where some of that tissue would lurk.

If you're post surgery and think you have a mini-period (and it's not a substanial amount of bleeding), relax. I consider mine a good reminder that my ovaries are working, which is far more important than that pesky light bleeding. However, talk to your doctor, it's possible that either freezing the cervix and the cervical channel can eliminate the problematic endometrium, or using a cauterizing technique through the dialted cervix. The last ditch effort would be to remove the cervical stump which is actually a rather involved surgery.

Me? I'm not really that disturbed by them and don't plan on doing anything to get rid of them.

Posted by Elizabeth M. at 7:01 PM | Comments (4)

I'm a little crampy, a little cranky.

I ovulated early last week, which means I'm premenstrual this week and if I do have the dreaded mini-period, it will arrive on Saturday morning.

My breasts are a bit tender but my skin isn't too bad right now. I have a breakout of the painful cystic acne behind my ears. Thank goodness no one can see it, but it does hurt. I've been using progesterone cream in the morning faithfully this cycle and I'm hoping that my breasts don't hurt any worse then they do now. It's quite bearable at the moment.

The swollen belly has disappated almost completely and I'm wearing my normal clothes. Tights with a seam up the center get a little irritating towards the end of the day, but other than that, the incision looks great. I'll try to photograph it this weekend and post some updates. There's even one little spot on the left side that has no discoloration at all, so that gives me hope that it won't be this huge purple stripe across my pubic bone forever.

Posted by Elizabeth M. at 5:21 PM

Yes, here I am again, exactly on time. I'm ovulating. Started on Tuesday as far as I could tell, which was exactly four weeks from the last time I ovulated.

Yay for ovaries.

In other news, there is a new fibroid treatment announced using sound waves. I'm still reading up on it and will post this weekend about it.

Posted by Elizabeth M. at 8:34 PM

I guess I'm getting back to my real life.

My recovery was overshadowed this weekend with a bit of a startling health problem with my husband. He came back from his most recent trip with what we thought was a stomach flu. Well, it wouldn't go away so he went to the doctor and they suspected appendicitis.

Some blood tests still didn't rule it out so he went back the next day and they decided it was diverticulitis. So he's on massive doses of antibiotics. He was running a fever for the whole week and horrible night sweats.

But he's a trooper and insisted on going on his latest business trip.

That's not something I would do.

Other than that, I'm feeling good. The belly is still big at the end of the day. I'm pre-menstrual (sorry, post-ovulatory), so my breasts are a little sore and my chin, neck and chest are breaking out.

I need to start working out more and of course eat a little better. It'll be easier when my husband gets back from his trip.

Posted by Elizabeth M. at 1:58 PM | Comments (1)

You might recall that back on August 29th I mentioned that I was ovulating.

Well, here it is exactly 30 days later and I do believe I've ovulated again. I was a little worried, since I think that one of my ovaries is lazy (one of them skips about twice a year). But here I am, not skipping a beat from my pre-hysterectomy ovulation which was July 27th.

Frankly, I've been worried.

I guess part of it is trying to rationalize the surgery. But I've been on this kick to help inform women about keeping their ovaries. Half of all hysterectomies include removing the ovaries (oophorectomy). I can understand getting rid of them for recurring painful cysts, endometriosis and of course ovarian cancer or having the genetic marker for ovarian cancer/breast cancer. But I really don't understand removing healthy ovaries just because they're down there. I mean, you don't see doctors recommending removal of the testicles when they're doing a vasectomy! Why would doctors want to remove healthy glands?

I know that ovaries in women who have had hysterectomies fail on average five years sooner than women who keep their uterus. I don't want to be one of those. I want my menopause at 56. I want my ovaries to keep producing androgens well into my seventies and eighties. I love my ovaries and I hope they stick around for a long, long time. The fact that I'm ovulating normally is such a huge relief. It almost makes me look forward to PMS, since it means that my hormones are at the same levels as before surgery.

Any questions or feedback? Feel free to email me.

Posted by Elizabeth M. at 7:38 PM

Well, I'm greatly encouraged to report that I believe I am ovulating right now.

Since Friday my temp has be one half of a degree higher and for the past two days I've had that slight clear and stringy discharge that I used to get when I would ovulate when I had a uterus. I think this is a great sign that my ovaries are quite happy to continue working.

In other not so great news, my back hurts. I have a muscle problem in my back on the left side of my spine around my shoulderblade. It's been a problem since I was seventeen and hasn't been troubling me for the past four years, since I started yoga. Well, I'm not doing yoga so much at the moment and I think I tweaked it and it hurts a whole lot right now. Enough to have made me take one of the prescription ibuprofens last night and I'm seriously considering a vicodin this evening. Either that or a glass of wine and some more ibuprofen.

Any questions or feedback? Feel free to email me.

Posted by Elizabeth M. at 6:29 PM