As some of you read here a year ago my doctor here in Mazatlan advised me to have a hysterectomy “chicken louy fast” How fast is that you ask? In Mexico it means tomorrow but in Canada it means a year later...yup I just had it done January 5th, exactly a year since I got back to Canada.
When I first got back to Canada and told a doctor what I was told here the doctor laughed at me, right in front of me he laughed and made fun of the doctor in Mexico. I then asked him to refer me to a gynaecologist, he said it wasn’t necessary. He says that the Depo Promera does not affect bone density. I ask him why it says so right on the package, he claims that is old information and new studies have been done since. I then see a different doctor and he tells me the same thing as if reading from the same script. I again ask to see a gynaecologist; he finally agrees to refer me. In Canada if you want to see a specialist of any kind you cannot just walk into his office and make an appointment, you have to be referred by a doctor; this is to ensure that more money is passed around and it pisses me off. I finally see a gyno and he agrees that the only way off the drug is a hysterectomy but again assures me that the drug is safe, and once again is speaking in a rehearsed tone repeating almost word for word what the first doctor said. They have to stand by their drugs because that is where the money is. They make way more money treating the symptoms and so they don’t want to fix the problem. I tell him that I want off this drug regardless of all their studies. He agrees. The earliest he could book me for was April (it is February now) I can’t have surgery in April it’s the start of golf season so he says he will put me on a waiting list in August. I finally get booked for November but 3 weeks before that I get a call, my doctor has moved and I now have to start all over again with a new doctor, but if course I have to be referred by my doctor here, and he laughs at me again saying that it is impossible that my cervical cannel is collapsed and tells me that if I don’t want to use this “harmless” drug anymore to just go off it, I ask him what happens if I get my period and it all runs into my stomach, which is where it will go if the cervical cannel is blocked, he says “we will deal with that when the time comes” I tell him I am not ok with that and he finally referred me to a new gyno. I am put on a waiting list again. I finally get an appointment for December 02. On the 1st I drive the 5 hours to Grande Prairie where I am to have my surgery and the next morning when I am in the hospital ready for surgery they cancel me due to an emergency. I get sent home and am told to wait by the phone for a new appointment. By now I am very fed up with our medical system, I feel it has failed me. January 5th I finally had my surgery. Shortly before surgery the anthethiogoist came to see me and asked all kinds of questions regarding any health issues I may have had, he asked if I had any health issues other than my collapsed cervical cannel. I told him that I now have osteopenia in my spine; he looked shocked and asked why I would have that at my age. I said “do what the doctors version or mine” he looked surprised again but asked for both. I told him that the doctor thinks I didn’t drink enough milk as a child but I know it is from using Depo Promera for 10 years, he right away said that that those first studies that were done have since then been proven to be wrong, I told him I did not believe him, I said it nicely, quietly, and not in anger. He didn’t say another word, just walked away. He knows I am right and he is wrong but as a doctor he has to stand by the drugs they give. My surgery went well, it was done laposcopically which just left me with 3 same incisions on the outside, I am sure how many stitches on the inside. Half hour after I woke up I was sitting up in bed having lunch, 2 hours later I was up and walking and feeling very good. I was offered painkillers, Heparin, and shots of gravel and declined them all. I think if I would have taken all those painkillers and drugs I would have laid in that bed in a haze for days. The more drugs the doctor prescribes the more he can bill the Health care system and because he prescribed them the nurse has to give them to me so they just keep putting them on my tray and even though I didn’t take them I am sure they got billed for. I went home the next day.
For the next 10days I stayed at my mom’s house to recuperate, there really wasn’t much recuperating as I felt totally fine, unbelievable fine. My doctor told me Advil and Ibuprofen would be my best friends for a few weeks, I never took a single one. I was told I would bleed a bit for about 4-6 weeks which is normal as long as the bleeding gets less and less, I had not a single spot of blood at all ever. Aside from the incisions wounds healing and being a bit itchy I did not feel like I had had surgery at all.
10 days after surgery I got on a plane to come here, Mexico. I didn’t handle my own luggage but other than that it was a normal trip for me. I was not uncomfortable in the least.
Today, 7 weeks later I had what was supposed to be my 6 week check up (ops, a week late) my doctor in Canada told me what the doctor here was to look for. 1) Do a speculum exam checking the top of the vagina to see if stitches are still visible 2) check if any granulation tissue has formed? He did also advise me not to go to Mexico until I had had this checked done by him but I was not about to delay my trip another 6 weeks and unlike him I am very confident with my doctors here in Mexico, more so than with the doctors in Canada. I did however dread this check up, I though the area would still be very tender making a painful experience but it was not....zero pain. He did an ultra sound on ovaries, he could not see my left ovary which apparently is normal, they do float a bit and are not always visible but he had a clear view of the right one and he showed me on the screen that it was ovulating which means it’s working fine, which means I should not be going into early menopause. I was told my ovaries would stop working now and I would immediately go into a state of kookooness which would require hormone crap which would also drive to craziness which would lead to more drugs....ha not happening. After finding that my ovary is all fine and dandy (what a relief) he proceeded with the spectrum exam which was really educational for me. I could watch on a TV screen (why don’t we have this in Canada) he showed me where the markings from the stitches should be, there was not a mark, not a spot, nada, completely healed, he showed me where there had been some “reconstructing” and the tissue was completely smooth, no granulation tissue....by the way, I did not tell him what my doctor in Canada had told me to check for. Watching the whole thing on the screen was so awesome it completely took my mind off the yuckyness of it all. From now on I am having my regular pap exams done here instead of in Canada. From there we went into his office and he just repeated everything he told me in the exam room and he asked me if I had the lap results with me from my uterus. I told him we don’t get to see our lap results in Canada and wouldn’t be surprised if my uterus went into the garbage. He said it would have gone to the lap to get the tissue and cells tested for cancer. So I will be calling my doctor when I get back to Canada and asking him about that. He never said anything about having any tests done on it. I have been poked and proded a lot down there in the last year and I must say this was the nicest experience I have had.....yup it was down right nice, sound crazy huh.
He did also tell me I was due for my first mammogram, which I knew and had already decided I would get that done here as well, in the next week or so I will head back in and do that, I could have done it today but I was so excited about my “nice” exam I just wanted to go home and be excited about this for awhile before I start something else......mammograms can’t possible be “nice” can they?
I accredit a few things to my amazing recovery, the very first being God. I have prayed about this surgery for a year, ever since I found out I needed it. I was so afraid of being laid up in bed and being in pain and not being able to take care of myself, I prayed for God to put his healing hands on me and I believe he did. However, God does want us to help ourselves as much as we can. All summer I have been eating a lot of “healing “ foods, which are raw fruits and vegetables making sure I ate plenty of garlic and onions which are antiviral, antifungal, and antibacterial. I also ate a lot of honey, I bought it by the buckets, honey is supposed to be an amazing internal and external healer. (I have a story about how I cured a very ugly infection in my angle from a burn when I was in Africa) I also drank lots of bone broth (read my story about soup) and I tried to stay away from processed, canned and packaged food as much as possible, these are things that hinder the healing process. One other thing I can accredit my quick recovery to is that I had a good surgeon, I don’t think he is a good doctor, I believe he failed me as a doctor but he is known to be one of the best gyno-surgeons in Northern Alberta and I can agree to that.
I also took Probiotics capsules before and after surgery because when they do surgery they pump you full of antibiotics that destroy all biotics including the good ones that fight infections resulting in what they "secondary infection" I am still taking them, I figured it's a little extra insurance that I don't get sick from all the street food I eat here in Mexico.....I've never gotten sick from it but I know my immune system is working full time healing my body so I figured I'd give it a helping hand.
Even though this ordeal is behind me I am still drinking bone broth because I love it am still trying to stay away from processed, canned or packaged food....except for tomato consume of course and the occasional bag of Cheetos and Toni-col. I have come to love fresh fruit and vegetables and will continue eating them, all 5-10 servings a day
If you are taking Depo-Provera read these;
http://www.lawyersandsettlements.com/case/depo_provera_contraceptive_osteoporosis_class_action.html
http://www.osteopenia3.com/Depro-Provera-Osteoporosis.html
http://www.monheit.com/depo-provera/side_effects.asp
