Tag Archives: Hysterectomy

Cancer, Endometrial Cancer, MS, Narrative Writing, Poetic Medicine

14 Day Blogging Challenge: Day 9

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14 Day Blogging Challenge: Day 9

“Facing the Fear”

My biggest challenge in the last year was facing the fear of my having cancer. I was looking cancer in the face. Thoughts were racing. I’d noticed bleeding. I’ve been postmenopausal for five (5) years now.  I remembered being told by my mother that if I ever noticed unusual bleeding to be checked by my doctor. Now the question was, ” Doctor, what doctor?”  I’d had the same doctor for many years, yet questions lurked: “Who would be my doctor now? From whom would I receive treatment?  Stress, I have MS.  Pain, I have chronic pain, and from more than having  MS.  Sometimes, to learn where the pain is originating and what to do about it,  we have to realize we are more than an illness we’ve been diagnosed with.  Reality check: In my life, I was facing even another.

Insurance, what insurance? Obamacare, who in our system is it who was really caring? I no longer had the insurance I’d had for many years.  I was no longer working. I no longer had COBRA.  I’d already applied for Disability.  I had been in an appeal process.  I did not yet qualify for Medicare.  Medicaid, which program, the authorities that be figuring out for which I qualified?

What doctors?  Where?  My medical team was in need of coming together.

New travels. First stop, Family Health Center at White Plains Hospital.  Second stop, the White Plains Hospital ER.  Tests ordered: Blood Test, CAT Scan, Ultra Sound. Upon discharge being told to follow up with my own doctor. Informing the nurse with the discharge instructions, “After all these years of seeing a gynecology specialist, I didn’t have insurance my specialist accepted.” Thinking aloud: Really, really now, and this is the system here in the USA, in NY, in Westchester County?  Third Stop: The Greenburgh Health Center – Another examination and recommendation.  Fourth Stop: White Plains Hospital Radiology for the hysterosonogram which had been recommend.

All the uncertainty, the stress of the uncertainty. Anxiety, Depression you had a deeper hold on me. Time, precious time, having to take the extra steps, to getting necessary treatment.  What feels like an eternity.  Days, leading to weeks, and weeks leading to a few months. MY AFFIRMATION: ” I CAN OVERCOME FEAR!”

I OVERCAME THE FEAR!!!  Fifth Stop: Advanced OB/GYN Associates at Westchester Medical Center.

My medical team had been brought together…

My doctors were the best!

Excellent! Knowledgeble! Understanding! Caring!

Willing to listen to me!

I had a D & C, and then a Hysterectomy!

With gratitude, I thank Dr. Tarah Pua and her team, for giving me another chance at life.

Sixth Stop: Westchester Medical Center and the Radiation Medicine Team…

When I met Dr. Chitti Moorthy, little did I know what lie ahead of me.  I’d never heard of brachytherapy, a type of radiation therapy. With his expertise and guidance, and a caring staff attending to me all of whom I’m grateful to, I’d take a gulp of air, a deep breath, tell my body to relax, and meditate (which I reflect on and look at as sacred time given to me).

Seventh Stop: Home, Recovering, Moving On,  and Living Life  ~ with love and gratitude to my family and friends who have been with me, each of you know who you are, totally supportive and sharing your love. Now it’s time for me, with faith in G-d above, to inspire and share with others.

Endometrial Cancer – American Cancer Society

Is there some fear you have, or have experienced, maybe overcame, or would like to overcome? If you’d like, you are welcome to share it with me.

Endometrial Cancer, Health Advocacy, Multiple Scerosis

After Surgery as a New Endometrial (Uterine) Cancer Survivor

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I am one week out from surgery and feeling great.  This doesn’t mean that I’m going out dancing or doing acrobatics, lol, it means I feel as though I’m having a good recovery and I feel blessed. That fist night after surgery surely is the hardest. The pain is so grueling, the details need not be described, any post surgical patient knows what I’m talking about. I’d had surgery before, as an in-patient, fifty years earlier, and I knew I would tough this first night out,  this body having grown and weathered many seasons.  After I woke up from surgery, I remember seeing Norman (my husband) and a good lifelong family friend of ours who was keeping him company.  I remember speaking with my sister and another good lifelong family friend of ours who was staying with Francine and caring for her.  My husband stayed through the evening to see to it that I was comfortable and that I had what I needed, which was mostly apple juice and water.  I was heavily medicated.  I sent him home to get some rest.  How does one find a comfortable position during that first night, so many things have changed, a mattress that keeps pumping and changing position, and leg pumps to help with circulation. My left and right legs feeling so different from the Multiple Sclerosis, and this heightened sensation of numbness and heaviness in my right leg with the changing pressure of the pumping.  Nurses taking the time to find what would work, and using pillows, and rolling blankets, bringing extra pillows and blankets, to cushion  around my body, head and neck, stomach, waist, back, hips, legs, to help me lean into my side and give me cushioned support, comforting me after the Hysterectomy and with my symptoms from MS. There truly is something very special about those in whose care we are during that time. I am so grateful for the comfort brought to me during all those hours.