PLEASE SHARE YOUR STORY WITH OTHER PATIENTS - WRITE YOUR OWN . . . Dear Reader, Below you will find some guidelines for writing a story around your fibroid treatment. It is meant to be a guideline only - any information is welcome. Short or long, your story will be extremely helpful to other women. Your privacy is ensured ! Information provided by you will only be used for informing other patients on the website. Wherever appropriate, just your first name and town/country as filled in below will be mentioned. Thank you for sharing, Irma Roskam - editor INSTRUCTIONS This document is a regular Text-document and can be edited in any text editor. 1. 'Copy & paste' the text below, between the ********* dividers, into your own text editor (e.g. Word, Word Perfect, Simple Text, or directly in your E-mail) 2. Complete it by placing the cursor on the appropriate line or field to fill out the details. 3. Write your own story. 4. Save it as plain text (.txt) document, naming it: story_by_my_name.txt (include your name in the new filename), so I know who's story it is. 5. E-mail it as an attachment to: editor @ fibroidsolutions . com ********************************************************************************** * NAME: * AGE: * ADDRESS: * EMAIL: * Treatment received: * Treatment Date: * Hospital: * Specialist: We would like to inform your referring doctor(s) about the FibroidSolutions website. * Type here the names and contact details of your GP and gynaecologist: If any, what supplements (natural and/or hormonal or other) did you use around your treatment? * Type here the details and any comment you'd like to share about these supplements: YOUR STORY * Type your story here. See guidelines and an example below. Please use as many lines as you need: ********************************************************************************** GUIDELINES TO WRITE YOUR OWN STORY In your own words - and as briefly as you can - you could include the following topics: 1. your main symptoms - and when they developed; 2. how long before you consulted a doctor - and what treatment options were offered; 3. which treatment you chose and why - and did your gynaecologist support your choice; 4. your experiences during and after treatment; 5. the improvement of symptoms you experienced - and in what time-span; 6. how you feel about the results - both physically and emotionally; 7. what you would like to tell other women with fibroids. Following is a case-story of a woman who had the fibroid embolisation procedure: ---------------------------------- Becky - Age 44 I first started to develop symptoms when I was 38. My stomach was so swollen, people asked me if I was pregnant. The bleeding and gushing were horrible - I'd wear two overnight super pads at a time, which I'd have to change hourly. I'd still have accidents if I found myself in a situation where I couldn't access a bathroom quickly - say, on my drive into work. Usually, when I got out of the car blood would be running down my legs before I could get from the parking lot into the building to a bathroom. When I finally went to a doctor, she said I had four or five fibroids ranging in size from 2.5 to nearly 6 cm, and also some endometriosis. She put me on Provera (the female hormone progesterone) but that didn't work. She said I would just have to face it, that I should have a hysterectomy, and I said, no way. Nothing was wrong with my uterus - nothing. I don't think you should take everything out that makes me a woman and then put me on a bunch of drugs that make me a woman again. She didn't offer any other alternatives and I knew I didn't want to do this, so I started to do some research to see what I could find out. Then one day, my friend saw a doctor on television who was talking about a new procedure for fibroids. I contacted him and they gave me a lot of information. My gynaecologist was totally opposed, even though he knew nothing about the procedure. I resented not so much that he was uninformed, but that his attitude about taking out a part of my body was so casual. What I liked about this fibroid embolisation was that it is minimally invasive. I made the decision to try the embolisation procedure after an incident that happened when I was applying for a new job in my company. I was sitting in the lunch area with my new supervisor, and when I stood up, I could feel this gush of blood running down my leg. I just froze. I excused myself and ran to the bathroom; I could feel stuff gushing out with each step. It was such a mess, I said: "This is it; I'm not putting up with this anymore." My gynaecologist refused to refer me for the embolisation procedure, which I needed for my insurance. So I went to another female doctor who had heard of the procedure and she referred me. The actual procedure was pretty simple. I was awake but I didn't feel anything. I didn't even feel the little incision they made in the groin. I didn't even know it was happening. They had a TV screen up there and I could see the whole thing - the fibroid and the little balls going in there. The doctor made me feel so comfortable - he talked to me the whole time and told me what was going on. He'd say, "Oh, good shot. Good shot." and we'd laugh. It was uncomfortable afterwards and the worst part was that I had to lay still for six hours. They checked my incision every 10 minutes for a while and then we had a little meeting and they explained what I could expect. I had really bad cramps for two days or so and I took prescription drugs for three days. And that was it. I also was nauseated and that lasted for about five days. And I got tired out pretty easily that first week. I'm a jogger and I was back to that in maybe a week and a half. I think I recovered so fast because I am in good shape. When my next period came, I couldn't believe it. I never remember having such a decent period. I only used one pack of pads compared to the five or six I would use before. I did have some cramps that first time but that was the last time. Since then, all of my periods have been manageable. People notice that my abdomen has shrunk - the doctor confirms that my uterus is smaller. No more clotting, no more cramping, and no heavy bleeding. But the biggest difference was in the attitude of the doctors. With the doctors who wanted me to have a hysterectomy, there was this feeling of 'them and me'. I was trying to keep the parts I was born with and they were trying to take them out. With the embolisation procedure, that wasn't the attitude at all. It was, let's fix this,let's work together. It was very comforting. I think my doctor was the greatest - I just love him! And I wish I had done this sooner. I'll tell anybody because I think this is a really great option and too few women know about it. If I could say anything to women it would be: don't be afraid, this will really improve your health and well-being. ---------------------------------------- Email: editor@fibroidsolutions.com Irma Roskam 273 Mt. Burrell Rd. Mt. Burrell NSW 2484 - Australia (c) 2004 http://www.fibroidsolutions.com