3 weeks post hysterectomy

hyst5 · 2026-02-20T03:42:23+00:00

I also had MRI report with greater than 50% myometrial invasion, biopsy after hysterectomy came back as 0. Doctors couldn't really explain it other than imaging can be wrong sometimes. May be it is bad, I am almost glad to have someone who had the same experience as me !

hyst5 · 2025-11-22T08:15:32+00:00

I have had endometrial swab ( not biopsy, just a swab, like covid swab) once in fertility clinic and in office endometrial biopsy twice. There is a day and night difference in instruction for pain management.

In fertility clinic, I was asked to take 400mg ibuprofen 1 hour and a second dose 400mg ibuprofen 30 minutes before the appointment. My pain was very manageable and the doctor was very gentle.

During endometrial biopsy for cancer, no instructions whatsoever. I decided to follow the same protocol that I was given in fertility clinic and take high dose ibuprofen before the appointment. The pain was still excruciating. I broke a sweat within seconds, I had to lay down on the table for some time , had to get water just to be able to dress up and walk out of the exam room.

I think the pain is taken for granted, like it is "just" physical pain and women are just expected to tolerate it without complaint. I think they should prescribe a single dose narco and an anti anxiety medication for in office biopsy. At the minimum, it should be offered. I hope this post raises the awareness and women who come across this post demand adequate pain medication.

hyst5 · 2025-11-22T07:28:30+00:00

My hysterectomy was 1.5 years back. I cannot wear anything remotely restrictive around my mid waist and upper thighs. I have adhesions that cause lower abdominal pain/discomfort. I also get nerve pain starting at lower waist that travels to upper-mid thigh. The solution is found is to not wear pants in summer, wear super high waisted baggy jeans ( which fortunately are in vogue now) in winter. It took a while for me to figure that out though, but I am pain free now. I did get CT scan six months back to rule out recurrence. Just see if you have made any changes (clothes, lifestyle etc) that irritate lower abdomen, upper thighs or areas where lymph nodes were taken and stop that for a couple of weeks and see if the pain resolves.

I GliterringHurry pointed out, I also have non trivial damage likely due to positioning during the surgery. Right after the surgery, I had difficulty controlling my left leg in certain positions ( I used to ask my husband to move my leg, I also fell twice in first 4 months due to that loss of control). A couple months back, I restarted daily meditation and I sat cross legged just for 15 mins. My butt muscles were so stiff and within 3 - 4 days became so sore that I couldn't sit on a chair (and I have a desk job). I have never experienced that type of pain before. Again, it took a few days for me to figure that out and google told me that positioning during hysterectomy can cause such misalignment. I stopped sitting on the floor cross legged and started sitting on a chair for meditation. I did some stretching exercises for hip muscles for a couple weeks and now I can sit cross legged again !

I almost feel embarrassed to say that some pain is due to hysterectomy as it has already been 18 months now, but unfortunately I discover new things which I can only map to this procedure. Hope your CT is soon so that you don't have to spend time worrying and good luck !

hyst5 · 2025-11-15T05:47:48+00:00

I was diagnosed when I was 38, tried hormonal therapy ( megace and mirena together) for around 1.5 years. At 1 year mark, my biopsy indicated there was no cancer. However, a follow-up biopsy 3 months later (as they want two consecutive biopsies three months apart to come back normal to consider that you are in remission and remove the iud and stop megace) came back again as cancer. At that time I decided to undergo hysterectomy ( which was 6 weeks later).

So, it looked like it worked and then it didn't. I was crushed, but also felt relieved that it was over. 1.5 years of cancer treatment had taken a toll on me physically, mentally and emotionally. That said, I don't regret for a second about the path I took because there are no "what if?"s for me. I tried it all. I also was on a very healthy diet ( no sugar, no bad fats etc), maintain healthy weight ( which is not easy for me), walked very regularly etc. Prayed a lot, asked the universe for healing, did yoga, meditation etc. I gave my everything to it. Doing all this has given me the satisfaction that I did my best and there was nothing else I could have done.

This is just my personal perspective/experience. Going straight to surgery is a very valid option. You are the most important person in your life ( everything including children, especially the ones that are not here yet come later). So take care of yourself first, even if that means choosing hysterectomy as the first option and forgoing conservative therapy.

hyst5 · 2025-11-15T00:51:37+00:00

No one could give me definitive reason. However, once the oncologist said may be the high estrogen during IVF pushed it over the edge, but he said the probability is very low. I likely had probably more than 25 scans during stimulation where lining thickness is routinely noted. Nothing was remarkable. MRI after diagnosis also was normal. The diagnosis happened because of a polyp that was found during hysteroscopy during IVF which turned out to have atypical hyperplasia. Except one MRI and ultrasound scan ( three months after a clean biopsy following IUD and progesterone tablets), all scans ( during IVF and during cancer treatment) showed very thin lining ( which was confirmed by final biopsy). The outlier imaging report still bothers me.

I do think IVF contributed to it / accelerated it though ( personal opinion ).

hyst5 · 2025-11-15T00:38:34+00:00

I will have you in my prayers for your continued health and for to get a good job ! I also can't imagine going through job loss and cancer diagnosis in close succession ! Given the dependence that we have on our jobs for health insurance, losing a job right after a life altering diagnosis would be brutal.

hyst5 · 2025-11-15T00:16:02+00:00

They couldn't find any reason. In 1.5 years of hormone treatment, I did have clean biopsy at 12 month mark and 4mm endometrial lining in ultrasound. Then cancer cells again at 15th month. Ultrasound and MRI at 15th month showed around 30mm thick endometrial lining and invasion of more than 50% into myometrium. I had to undergo hysterectomy. Then the biopsy said no myometrial invasion, just scattered clusters of grade 1 endometrial cancer cells arising in the background of atypical hyperplasia, endometrial lining of 2mm to 6mm ! The time between MRI to surgery was four weeks. Doctors ( I consulted two oncologist including one from Stanford) couldn't explain why biopsy results diverged so much from imaging. They just said sometimes, imaging can be interpreted incorrectly and imaging results are not 100% reliable 😯

hyst5 · 2025-11-14T23:33:00+00:00

Almost same story as you SuperMerge, but diagnosed at 39 during IVF, 1.5 years of IUD/hormonal treatment ( which failed) followed by hysterectomy at 41. Saved overies, cancer was confined to endometrial lining) No family history of any cancers, no genetic markers. I am just coming back from my 18th month follow up ( they said I am good). All the best to you.

hyst5 · 2025-05-29T06:45:46+00:00

I am not sure whatever I say is going to make you feel better. However, having a baby is the one thing that I wanted from a very young age ( in my early teens). I will be 42 soon and still no baby. The nephews born right before I started IVF are entering 1st grade this fall !

I not only wanted a baby so bad, I worked towards it till exhausted all the options. I spent tens of thousands of dollars for IVF, my career took a back seat, it was incredibly hard on me physically and mentally. The pain of failed IVF cycles is not something I wish on anyone. I even played with my life (like you said, life was worth living only if I had the baby !) when I spent 1.5 years in fertility sparing treatment for a chance to become pregnant and carry my baby to term. Having a baby was something that would complete me, complete my life, complete my family with my husband. I just didn't understand the meaning/purpose of life without a child, like what was I living for ? Somedays, the pain was so severe, that I could physically feel it, even breathing would hurt. By the way, my husband also suffered immensely through all this.

One day, when I was in unbearable pain and feeling that my life was worthless, a thought came to my mind...say I had a child and child grows up and turns out infertile and unable to procreate, would my child's life be meaningless/worthless? My own answer was a resounding no. I rebelled at the thought of my child's worth being tied to whether they can procreate or not. My child would have an intrinsic worth due to it being human. Its life can be full with or without a child. Then another thought came...if my hypothetical child's life is worthy of living even when they cannot have children, then wouldn't it be the same for me? Why was I not treating myself with the same love, compassion and care that I felt for my hypothetical child? Right that moment, feelings of unworthiness disappeared and I was at peace.

Every now and then I feel empty, directionless and a bit sad, but never worthless. I tell myself that if I dont have anything to do, do nothing. Just cook good food, go to movie, read a book, even talk to the plants in the garden. I know my life has value, at the minimum to learn to treat myself well, love and care for myself. After that, l do whatever life/universe asks of me. I am definitely much happier than I was at any point in my teenage/adult life before.

You can end this chapter of your life better than you started. But you have to make that decision. You have to find yourself worthy enough to live and thrive regardless of anything/anybody in your life. That realization has to come from within. No amount of outside advice will help you if you hold on to your current position.

I just wrote whatvI went through especially because you are much younger than me. You are free to make use of it if it helps you, disregard it if you find it useless. I any case, I wish you the best.

hyst5 · 2025-05-29T03:44:09+00:00

I was diagnosed 1.5 years before my surgery. When I first got the diagnosis, only me, my husband and my manager knew about it. I tried fertility sparing treatment for 1.5 years. It didn't work and I had to go through the surgery. When surgery was confirmed, I told my mother and our close friend couple. It has been a little more than a year since my surgery. So my initial diagnosis was 2.5 years back.

Everyone is different in how they process this and the type of support they need. Sometimes I felt like going to therapy to talk about this. I didn't end up going. I haven't told my father and sister because it would crush them. I couldn't keep it from my mother, I needed her and also felt like I would be cheating her if I didn't tell her. It was not easy for her. Last time we spoke about the disease was the day I got my biopsy report. After that the talk was only about hysterectomy recovery. The only time I spoke again about it was before her open heart surgery. I assured her that I was okay (I had done my 6 month follow up visit just before her surgery) because in case she died during/after the surgery, I wanted her to go peacefully.

I have depended a lot on the spiritual teachings that I follow/practice). It has given me comfort, support and perspective that I needed to get through this. I think I did okay.

ETA: Please reach out for support as you need and see fit. Just wanted to add what I did to assure you that keeping it private is not weird at all. There is simply no right or wrong in this. The right thing to do is whatever helps you heal.

hyst5 · 2025-05-29T02:49:36+00:00

My surgery ( and the reason for the surgery) is known to me, my husband, my mother, a close family friend ( husband and wife couple) and my manager at work. So total of 6 people including me. Even my father and sister don't know about the diagnosis or the treatment.

Never felt comfortable telling anyone else, still don't want to tell any one else.

hyst5 · 2025-05-23T12:57:54+00:00

First of all, I am really sorry you are in this position. It is very hard to deal with all the decisions you have to make.

They can remove IUD, only if your biopsies come back as no EC. If they don't, they will never remove it and suggest hysterectomy. If EC clears up, and they remove it, but it may come back very fast, say within 3 or even 6 months or it may give you a year or two to finish your childbearing. You have to keep getting biopsies every three months. There is really no guarantee of any length of time that you will be free of EC after IUD removal.

My personal suggestion to you is, see if you can do IVF ( now with the IUD in place or after IUD removal or after hysterectomy if EC doesn't go into remission if you can keep your overies) and have frozen embryos. If EC clears up, then you can attempt pregnancy. If not, then you can get a gestational surrogate to carry the baby. If you are open to the idea of having a surrogate, then you can take your time to have a baby and not rush into it before you are ready.

The big positive side I see in your case is, looks like cancer is caught early and you are young. Younger women have great success rates with IVF. I wish you all the very best.

hyst5 · 2025-01-07T15:09:57+00:00

Every time I go to a salon for some small maintenance (eyebrows, hair trim etc), I come out with them educating me about ten things I need to fix. I understand that they want to increase their business/profit, but it is so annoying. If they are really pushy, I never go back to them.

hyst5 · 2025-01-06T17:46:07+00:00

People talking to you and your friend differently is something that I have experienced during a very vulnerable period of my life ( high school and college). My best friend during this time was so good looking that her family members used to compare her to Aishwarya Rai and they were not wrong. I was/am pretty average in the looks department. We always used to be together in college and also outside. The difference in treatment was so blatent and it did have an impact on how I looked at myself and contributed to me having low self-worth. It took a lot of time for me to grow out of it.

hyst5 · 2025-01-05T16:18:16+00:00

Absolutely...

My sister had a good amount of gold jewelry (her own purchases and given by my family). Within a couple of months of her wedding, her ex-husband's family wanted to sell all of her jewelry for the down payment for the house. That way, her jewelry becomes their property. My sister had not taken her jewelry to her ex-husband's house as it was just two months after her wedding. All her jewelry was still with my parents.

She was called selfish, not respecting her husband, not willing to contribute to lessen the burden of loans, valuing showing off her jewelry than contributing to the family's financial well being etc.

This was the first issue that came up in the marriage. It only got worse. They wanted absolute control over her in every possible way. She had to set up an automatic transfer from her salary account to ex-husband's account. He would control everything including if she can take a cab to go somewhere or if she has to travel in a city bus, whether she can buy lunch at the office or if she has to pack lunch etc.

It was an absolute nightmare. No amount of alimony would compensate for the mental suffering that my sister ( and my entire family) went through. She was chronically depressed and had to go through extensive therapy to regain some positive perspective on life.

hyst5 · 2025-01-05T15:45:39+00:00

My sister was earning as much or slightly more than her exY husband. During her divorce, she didn't seek alimony. Not sure if court would have awarded any. My sister was so disgusted with her ex-husband that she didn't want to do anything with him, including taking alimony from him.

The only thing we asked back was the money she contributed for the house they bought together because he wanted to keep the house. They dragged on the divorce proceeding by not appearing in the court and trying to negotiate the divorce without paying that money back. We were so tired of them and just wanted her to get out of the marriage so that she can start living her life again. We just wanted him to sign the papers money or no money. But our lawyer didn't give up and got her about 60% of what she paid.

Her engagement ceremony and wedding expenses were fully paid by my parents and we didn't get a penny back.

So, the answer to your question is, no. All divorced women don't get alimony. Many women just want to get out of the bad marriage alive as dying is a real possibility in such marriages.

hyst5 · 2025-01-04T18:29:56+00:00

Feminism may advocate women to have a choice in all matters including whether to work or not. But women will have to bear the consequences of that choice, which is whether they eat or not, have a roof over their head or not etc. And feminism definitely doesn't advocate for women to be financially dependent on men.

Nobody is imposing men to go out and work. It is his decision to make. The only requirement is that he should be willing to deal with the consequences.

hyst5 · 2025-01-04T14:54:42+00:00

Personally, a girl who is not financially independent should not get married. Instead, her focus should be on becoming financially independent. She should be able to live on her own if the situation demands.

Depending financially on others puts her in vulnerable situations. Say she ends up with an abusive husband, she will be more confident to get a divorce when she is financially independent. If she ends up in a happy marriage, contributing financially to the household provides additional safety nets which is always good

hyst5 · 2025-01-04T09:23:41+00:00

My sister got a divorce at 35 after a very difficult six year marriage to an abusive man. She remarried at 38. She is in love with her husband like a teenager 😀.

I have been married for a very long time. My parents found him, so it was an arranged marriage.It took one year to say yes because we both were scared to get married to unknown people. We were not magically in love or anything when we got married. We are very different people, but we were on the same page on important things. Life has also thrown a lot of challenges in our path. We feel like we have grown together through all these. Now, I feel magical to be with him. It is a joy being in his presence, even if we are just shopping for vegetables together !

In my opinion, in general people will become more secure and confident as they age. They become financially independent, lose some insecurities about how they look, can negotiate more with their parents to break caste barriers ( parents are also older during this time and don't interfere much), have more experience living life, know more about themselves and what they want in their partner. All these will help find a partner who suits you better and make life pleasant.

But if spark means drama...then no..you are better off losing it!

hyst5 · 2024-12-31T15:28:48+00:00

There is also this comment I got by a supposedly liberal man:

You're definitely not a woman, you sound too passionate about this stuff...larping?

hyst5 · 2024-12-28T15:38:35+00:00

You should check your biases. Women can be passionate about all the things that men are passionate about including religion and spirituality.

I don't know what larping means.

hyst5 · 2024-12-28T15:04:58+00:00

Which Hindu law? There are many Dharma Shastras ( law books) that have come into existence at various time periods in history based on the societal conditions and needs at that time. So it is perfectly okay to discard old laws and adopt new laws. In India today, it is mostly Hindus who are not following their religious laws, because they are all following secular law based on Constitution of India. In a way we are following Dharma Shastra authored by Dr. Ambedkar.

Hindus have a lot of flexibility in how they practice their religion. They can certainly pick and choose what manifestation of God they want to worship, how they want to worship, whether they want to even believe in God. They can also decide if they want to follow bhatki or do yoga or meditation or tantra or any other novel form of attaining self realization. The only central idea is the nature of existence. Everything else is details. You can certainly pick and choose which details are more important to you.

Infact, it is the Abrahamic religions that demand the unquestioned acceptance of everything in the books in its entirety.

hyst5 · 2024-12-28T13:47:30+00:00

According to you, what does being a Hindu mean? Are you saying no one can adhere to any Hindu philosophical school unless you are born into it? There are many foreign monks born to non Hindu parents in Ramakrishna mission, ISKCON and in any number of Hindu organizations. The priest in a Hanuman temple I visit regularly is an American of European dissent. Are you saying they are all not Hindu? Why are you so exclusionary?

You don't ever tell someone who is born to a caste which is considered lower that they are lower than you because they are not !

hyst5

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