I had a lot of fibroids and had very painful periods. Had a hyst in '02. If I had to do over again I would have opted for uterine artery embolization. Its a procedure where they do an angiogram and insert a substance into the blood supply of the fibroids. Achieves the same results without major surgery. I would look into it and see if it is available. It is done by an interventional radiologist, not your OB-Gyn, so they may not offer it to you, as there is no revenue in it for them. Much less pain, quicker hospital stay. I also opted to leave my ovaries in, so didn't need hormone replacement.

I just had surgery last week to remove a 2-by-4 fibroid that was 90 percent in the uterus, 10 percent in the wall. It's been causing problems for four years, long story as to all of the heartache, money and medical efforts that went into getting it gone. At one point, I lost half of my blood and had to have a transfusion. But the doctor took it all out without damage to my uterus, he thinks!

I sympathize with what you're going through. Nuff.org has a Yahoo group that has been a good resource for me. I'm not very active on it lately, with the problem falling behind me.

Good luck!

I had a myomectomy in 2004 and have had no recurrence. I had to shop around to find a doctor who would respect my wishes at 43 but it was worth it. My fibroids were the size of a cantaloupe but I had just two. Apparently if you have a lot of them they are more likely to reoccur. Hysterectomy is a solution for a lot of women but there are other options. There is some really good information on the net and it's worth doing some reading to find the best solution for you.

Murphmitch, Ufi and CyndiM, thank you all for your posts. I appreciate all of them.
I am going to talk to my primary care doctor on Tuesday and she will do a gyn referal. Our brick wall is the military medical system. It's always full of surprises when it comes to treatment and where we can go. My primary doctor is wonderful and I know she and I will discuss all my options before she sends the referal. I'm not sure exactly where the fibroid is located. I'll find out when we see the films.
I have researched online the options to treat this. There is so much out there, I could spend days reading. But its worth the time to learn what's going on.
And hearing from wonderful people helps a great deal also. I can't thank you enough for taking the time to post.
Murphmitch, where in Iowa are you? I grew up in Sioux City and my son was born in Cedar Rapids. There are many time I wish I could be back there.
Thanks again to all of you.
Take care!!!!

I had a hysterectomy last year after suffering many years with them. There are a lot of different options now.

They don't always remove the ovaries when they do a hysterectomy, it can be just the uterous. If you keep your ovaries you won't have to deal with the sudden menapause.

If the only one you have is pedunculated-you may not need to have a hysterectomy. They could just do....oh, what's it called-I call it a lumpectomy but that not the right word at all-where they just remove the one fibroid, and they can even do it through your belly button without a big huge surgery.

here are a couple links when I did mine asking questions to the fellow chicks:



http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=123693

http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=128894

I had a hyst about 10 years ago and it was the best thing I ever did! My horrible 2 week long periods just stopped.

My only suggestion is to keep your ovaries if you can, depending on your age. My oncologist says he only takes them out if they're affected or if the patient is post menapausal.

Good luck,

The doctor didn't even need to go through my belly button. He used the, erm, natural opening. I'm still tired, but I'm free of pain and feeling pretty good. Took only a couple of days off of work. No heavy lifting or anything, you know, but overall recovery has been pretty light. Some people have the hysteroscopic myometomy done as an outpatient surgery.

It does depend on the size of the fibroid. I discovered cantaloupe sized fibroids require an incision. My Doc did a lovely job should I ever decide to wear that bikini (never have worn one so seems unlikely at this point!).