new and evaluating my options

[Guest guest]

Hi! I am yet another new member to the group. I was diagnosed 7 years

ago and am now at " 17-18 weeks " or large melon sized uterus. Lots of

problems and complaints along the way... I'm sure you know the drill.

My PCP was annoyed but willing to let me 'wait and see' until recently

when he did a CBC and realized I was severely anemic. I had been for at

least two years but that is another issue....

So... off to a gyne who, of course, is insisting on a hysterectomy with

all the usual threats about what could happen if I don't have one. She

wants to start me on LupronDepot for awhile and let me build up my

blood, then surgery.

No one seems to care that I have rectified many of my most severe

bleeding issues in recent months using a regimen of vitamins and

minerals. The doesn't solve the discomfort, cramping, etc. though. It

also doesn't solve the huge ball in my belly.

I would like some help in evaluating my options. I have been doing a

lot of reading but that never tells the whole story. Let me know if

this sounds right:

1) I am at peace with not having more children and am still 8-10 years

away from menopause.

2) A myo is not really an option as my largest is well beyond the '12

week' rule. Also, even if the largest was smaller, as I am not

interested in further pregnancies and would probably have additional

fibroids in time I am trying to figure out what the advantage of a myo

would be over a 'one surgery and I am done' hysterectomy.

3) I have long been interested in getting a UFE but am concerned because

I also have Multiple Chemical Sensitivities and am allergic to latex.

Expecting to have PVC inside of me for the next 40-60 years with MCS

seems dangerous. Also, even at a 50% maximum reduction in fibroid size

I will still - always - have a huge uterus.

(Has anyone here had an allergic reaction to the materials used in an

UFE? Anyone with similar issues? I found no reference to allergies

anywhere in the archives of this list!)

4) That seems to leave me one choice - going the route of the dreaded

hysterectomy. I dread the thought of any surgery (I have had 7

operations before and all natural childbirth so I'm not a wimp - I just

hate undergoing more drugs, more chemical exposures, more fights with

doctors and staff, days of constantly being on guard with " are those

latex gloves? " and " I can't have latex adhesives on my skin " , lengthy

recovery times... ugh!). I dread even more the thought of losing my

uterus - but most of the complaints I hear from women who have had a

hysterectomy seem like nothing in comparison to what I have been living

through for several years now.

My best case scenario appears to be that the Lupron also shrinks my

uterus down to a size in which I can undergo a vaginal hysterectomy

rather than an abdominal. I think I know better than to hope for that

though....

So, wise women, does this sound like a reasonable thought process? What

additional information should I have?

Kathy from northern IL