As many of you know, I recently had surgery. I didn't post or blog about it beforehand for personal reasons (to be addressed in part 2 of this blog post). What you don't know is the why or what. Since this would have been a VERY LONG Facebook post, I chose to do a blog post about it instead. Let me just forewarn you, I will be sharing some very intimate and personal details in this post. If you are uncomfortable with "details" or you're uncomfortable with "TMI" then I encourage you to STOP READING THIS NOW. I'm submitting this post so that other woman that are experiencing this or have experienced this know that they are not alone. After all, the name of my blog is NEVER ALONE. With that said, here we go!
First, I will admit that at 56 years old, I am not as familiar with my body as others are with theirs. I know we, as females, have "three holes," as it's said. One for peeing, one for pooping and one for sex or tampons or birthing babies. That's about all I knew or needed to know, so I thought. I would suggest women become a bit more familiar with their female bodies. I am NOT suggesting anything weird or kinky so don't go there. I'm simply suggesting you know what parts are what parts. For instance, I thought the vagina was everything. Well, it's not. The vagina is simply PART of our pelvic region. It is actually the canal from the uterus to the outside of the body. The uterus is above the bladder and the urethra is the tube that carries urine out of the body from the bladder. And, of course, the third "hole" is the "butthole" where the rectum (just on the inside of this "hole") stores stool until a bowel movement occurs.
Yes, you needed to know all of that before I begin my "pelvic floor" journey.
While at home one Sunday in March of this year (2023) I went to the restroom. As I wiped (I had peed) I felt something that I have never felt before. Again, remember, I was not "familiar" with my body but this was something very abnormal. I called my husband upstairs and said to him, "Don, I have something terribly wrong going on "down there". I feel like I have BALLS! I need you to look." He said, "Uh, sure! I'll look." Such a man thing to say. Then he registered the concern and looked. Then, the poor guy, says something a woman never wants to hear, "I wonder if it's a tumor?" Well, if I wasn't panicked before, I was DEFINATELY panicked now!
We were leaving to take our daughter and then fiancé, now husband, to the airport for them to fly back to Idaho. I didn't want to alarm them so I didn't say anything about it at the time. Meanwhile, after dropping them off and getting home, I decided to Google my issue. It was a Sunday...what else was I going to do?? So, I type in 'Why do I have balls hanging from my vagina?' Let me tell you, I was soooooo concerned that I was going to get porn popping up on my cellphone, but I just had to know. I closed my eyes and pressed "search." After a moment, I peeked and saw 'Vaginal prolapse.' I was SOOOOO relieved that nothing else populated my screen except articles of vaginal prolapse. I read the first article and found that I fell into the category of a woman with vaginal prolapse.
There were several criteria one would meet to be in this class of women. I met MOST OF THEM.
- Large babies - I had three vaginal births with the smallest being 8.9 and the largest being 10.1
- Constipation - I had been having a difficult time recently pooping and had been pushing a LOT
- Over 50 years old - yep! That's me! 55 at the time
- Menopause - I was halfway through in March. Hit "full menopause" last month
With that info in hand, I called my gynecologist the next day, explained my situation and they got me in the very next day.
At that appointment the doctor did an exam and told me that I did indeed have vaginal prolapse. That was my uterus poking out of my vagina. She introduced me to a disk like object. I've never used a diaphragm for birth control but that's what you can compare it to. It was, apparently, firmer than a diaphragm and would help keep my uterus up and in. I would have to take it out before having sex. Well, there goes the spontaneity, right?! "Oh wait, honey...I have to remove this huge disk from my vagina before we continue on." Anyway, she inserted one and it popped right out. She tried a larger one. Yep, it popped out, too! She tried two more and then looked at me and said, "You need to have a hysterectomy. None of these are going to work for you."
ALSO, at that appointment I was informed that my rectum had herniated into my vagina!! That would need to be fixed as well. Remember, that's the third "hole" and is super close to the second "hole." That also explained why I was having such a hard time pooping lately!!!!!!
This story can get longer and longer if I give ALL the details. So, let me try and sum this up sooner.
About 10 years ago I had a bladder lift. All those women that have to cross their legs when they laugh or sneeze or cough because they "pee a little" need to have a bladder lift. It is a game changer. I would wear a pad when I went running and by the time I got home I could wring that pad out with pee! It was horrible. I consulted the doc and was eligible for the bladder lift. And for 10 years, it was wonderful...until my uterus tried to escape!
I tell you that because once the uterus dropped, the bladder decided to follow suit! So, now I was back to "peeing a little" and it was very frustrating. Besides walking around with the feeling that a tampon was falling out (you ladies know that feeling) but it was my uterus instead, I now had to deal with wearing a pad again because my bladder was acting up. It wasn't as bad as 10 years ago but it was going that direction.
.jpg) |
| Our Europe trip |
I ended up having my uterus and fallopian tubes removed by the gynecologist and my bladder lifted and held up with a mesh/sling as well as had the herniated rectum fixed, reinforcing the wall between the vaginal canal and rectum by the urologist. More about the surgery and recovery in my next post.
I'm two weeks today post surgery and doing well. I had follow up appointments with both doctors/surgeons last Friday and they both said everything went well with surgery and I appear to be doing well in the healing process. I still need to refrain from heavy lifting and running or hard exercise for the next 4 weeks but all in all, I'm on the road to good health. I had heard of women that had hysterectomies and how some were up and about days later. I asked my gynecologist if I was being a wimp. She said, "Your surgery was much more extensive than "just" a hysterectomy. You need to recover slowly and properly." I felt better after she said that.
Ladies, there's something you NEED to know. Remember when you had a baby? Remember when the doctor said to do Kegel exercises? Remember that? Well, may I suggest that you DO IT. It's sooo easy to do it. Sitting at the dinner table, watching TV, driving the car. Heck, even sitting in church. Just tighten those pelvic floor muscles!!! If I had done that, especially after having a 10.1 baby, I may have been able to avoid the vaginal prolapse. Just maybe. The doc did tell me that it just may have prevented future problems. If we don't exercise other muscles in our body they go weak. It's the same with our pelvic muscles.
I'll share more about the surgery, problems and the "why" behind me not telling anyone in my next blog post. Until then, SQUEEZE those pelvic floor muscles every darn day!!! And remember, you DON'T have to live with this. It can be rectified. You are NEVER ALONE...others are experiencing this same thing but my doctor told me they just accept it as "old age." Don't do that. Most problems can be fixed.
Here's to happy health!
Debbie
