Hysterectomy

A hysterectomy patient talks about her experience

Pat Reilly: “I just knew this was what I wanted to do”
Pat Reilly took a break from teaching school to squeeze in what she thought would be a routine follow-up visit with her gynecologist. She returned in tears. During a recent D&C procedure for vaginal bleeding, they ended up removing a precancerous polyp in her uterus. Among other things, the doctor had talked to her about having a hysterectomy.

The polyp was up so high on her uterus that the doctor had not been able to spot it in a routine exam. There were also fibroid tumors and annoying spotting every day.

Reilly was 51, her children were 22 and 26, and she was certainly not planning to get pregnant again. Still, if it wasn't for the precancerous polyp, she said she probably would have opted against a hysterectomy even though the alternative would be repeated D&C's (dilation and curettage, a procedure that involves stretching the cervix and scraping the walls of the uterus) to check for more polyps.

When she told her friends she was considering a complete abdominal hysterectomy, they advised her to get a second opinion. Reilly's doctor, Mary Jane Minkin, MD, a clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the Yale University School of Medicine, encourages some patients consult a counselor if they have any anxiety or if they worry that they will end up losing their femininity.

Reilly began to wonder, “Would I feel OK parting with a part of my body? Was I going to feel less of a woman? The answer was no,” she said. She talked to her husband, and he said he would support any decision she made.

The choice seemed clear. Both of her parents had died of cancer, and she was anxious to get rid of the polyps. “I just knew this was what I wanted to do,” she said.

The surgery went smoothly. The next day, Reilly was spending time with visitors and walking around on the floor. A month later, she was home, still recovering, but feeling her energy gradually return.

Minkin credits the fact that her patient was in excellent shape. “If you are going to have a hysterectomy, get yourself into as good shape as Pat Reilly did,” she said. “She was a marvelous surgical candidate. She goes to the gym, she doesn’t smoke, she swims. All of those things made her recuperation terrific.”

Reilly says she would tell other women contemplating hysterectomies to think carefully about their feelings and get in touch with any deep emotions about losing a part of their body that represents womanhood.

“Everyone I talk to says that after the first six weeks it’s the best thing you'll ever do,” she said. “But you have to be honest with yourself. Pray and talk to your family and make sure it’s the right choice for you.”

She would also tell them to prepare themselves for a big interruption.

“It’s not an easy thing to go through,” she said. There was fear of the unknown before the surgery, discomfort when she woke up, pain and the inconvenience of a long recovery period.

“But it’s major surgery. I think people have to remember that.”

Last revised: October 5, 2004 (jj)

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