Hysterectomy Diary

19^th June – Saturday

People worry about the emotional/psychological effects of hysterectomy. I suppose it depends how old you are when you have it – and of course, whether or not you have children already. If you’re twenty, it’s a tragedy; if you’re between forty and fifty, it could still be upsetting – the realisation that your child bearing days are over – and of course that applies in other circumstances, too. As for me, I have no emotional problems. That isn’t to say I wasn’t worried about the operation. I was very dubious, particularly, as the surgeon herself warned me that one operation can sometimes lead to another; that if you can avoid having one, it’s all the better. I worried about it from the time, I first saw her in the winter. I asked lots of people who had had an hysterectomy, and also those who had the same problem as me – prolapse. I listened to people who had strong views on both sides of the debate, and I took three or four months to make the decision.