TRANSCRIPT
Real Patient
I had two very large babies 10 and 12 years ago. A nine-pounder and a ten-pounder. And after my second one was born, during the birth, my cervix prolapsed.
I didn’t plan to have any more kids after that. But they said you know, you’ll be okay, it should all go back up there. And it did, but you know, 10 years later, gravity and time, the cervix and uterus were prolapsing and pulling out my rectum and my bladder. When I saw Dr. Torres, you know, she took a look and was like well, all this stuff’s coming out and being pulled down and that’s what’s causing the problems.
The worst part – probably the worst thing that I did because of the problems I was having is I didn’t drink enough water. Because, I didn’t want to worry about when I was going on a shopping trip, you know, with the kids like, Mommy’s going to have to use the bathroom 10 minutes after we get there because I drank too much water. It wasn’t even too much. It was just, you know, little, tiny bottle of water. I’m going to have to use the bathroom when we get there. Or laughing, you know, with a full bladder. And the bowel issues because, because the uterus was falling and it was pulling that so when I would have a bowel movement it would never feel like I was completely done.
The symptoms I was having did affect intimacy with my husband in a couple of different ways. The bleeding between periods and there was a time where we had intercourse and afterwards there was blood everywhere. And that was, actually that was the point where I was like, I need to have this taken care of. I need to go and see what they can do about this. ‘Cause that was, you know, kind of what freaked me out.
So she proposed, you know, to take the cervix and the uterus out vaginally. So, I wasn’t going to have any cuts made in me at all. So that was an upside for me. And then she was going to sew my bladder back up where it needed to be. And after having the surgery, and now that, you know, a good portion of time has passed and I’ve completely recovered. Yeah, I don’t, I don’t have the bladder leakage anymore. I can sit through a whole movie without running out to use the bathroom. Which seems like a little thing, but it’s a huge deal. And the irritable bowel stuff I was having. And I don’t know if this is just, you know, this is my personal experience, but I don’t have those issues anymore. I mean, a little bit, but nothing near what I was having.
So, I think just the way everything was arranged in there and after having two big kids that having everything put back where it needed to be made a huge difference for me. When she did go in there to take everything out, she was also able to tighten everything up. Because I’d had two kids with giant heads come out of there. And so she was kind of able to put me back to pre-pregnancy form, shall we say. So, that was a nice benefit too.
My advice to someone who was having symptoms like that, intermittent bleeding, bladder leakage, would be absolutely go have it checked out. Like I said, I was scared, I was worried about having surgery.
And there, you know, there were other things that they can suggest. Other things that you can do that aren’t necessarily the surgery too. You know, when I first started having the bladder problems, they offered physical therapy for it. I mean there are things if it’s not that bad, that they can do.
And yeah, I would just say go and talk to your doctor. I mean, Doctor Torres was so understanding and put me so at ease. She just made me feel like, wow, this is not a big deal. This is going to be easy. And, you know, and it was, you know, fairly simple. In the end, it was a lot less invasive than I had expected and I’m so glad now that I did it. I’m sorry I waited so long.
If you are having problems, have it checked out right away. You can always say no if you’re not comfortable with what your options are. But, it might turn our really well. And for me it really did.
Yes, I do feel like women should listen to their bodies. And I am, you know, not, I’m trying to do that more now. But I am, you know, I hadn’t in the past been so, so good about doing that, you know. It was just like oh I’m sure that will get better. I’m sure, you know, this will, I’m sure that will just go away. And it really doesn’t. Sometimes, you know. I mean my bladder leakage wasn’t just getting better. So, yeah, I say definitely listen to your body and, you know, don’t be embarrassed.
I mean that was the thing too for me was that the doctors I saw, they do this everyday, this is, they hear these stories. And you know, I was shy at first, I didn’t want to tell her, like, oh I’m having, you know, bladder problems or problems with my rectum. I mean, things that are embarrassing to say, but that’s their job. And you know, they made me feel very comfortable and okay about talking about that stuff.