what's a uterus between friends?

my hair is falling out in wig-size amounts and everyone is breathing down my neck to have a hysterectomy.

if my mum and her friends could pull out carving knives and chop it out themselves, they would. in fact, every day, i get another phone call from one of her friends trying to convince me to do it.

and the women who have been castrated - apparently, the medical term of removal of the ovaries - compare it to removing your tonsils, your appendix, your gallbladder - all those other parts of the human body that years ago were considered unnecessary.

look at this:

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/ss5105a1.htm

hysterectomy is the second most common surgical procedure in the united states, the first one being a c-section.

the one thing i get asked over and over again, "do you want to have any more children?" and when i answer in the negative, they say, "well, then get rid of it."

i am finding it increasingly bizarre that the half the world thinks that the only value of a uterus is producing babies.

especially since, immediately after its removal, you start having hot flashes (with or without the ovaries) and you have to move gently so that your small intestines don't slide into its place. and those are the minor disadvantages.

and when i ask my doctor what the disadvantage is to a hysterectomy she says, "just one, decreased sexual pleasure..."

polling the women i know who've recently had hysterectomies, the one thing they all complain about is the ongoing pain, even years after the surgery. the doctors all insist that with a laparoscopy, you'll be up and about in 24 hours. though the reality is, even for that, you need two weeks to recover enough to go back to work.

here's something i found online:

Women report a loss of physical sexual sensation after hysterectomy.

A woman's vagina is shortened, scarred and dislocated by hysterectomy.

A hysterectomy's damage is life-long. Among its most common consequences, in addition to operative injuries are:

* heart disease
* loss of sexual desire, arousal, sensation
* weight gain
* osteoporosis
* bone, joint and muscle pain and immobility
* painful intercourse, vaginal damage
* displacement of bladder, bowel, and other pelvic organs
* urinary tract infections, frequency, incontinence
* chronic constipation and digestive disorders
* debilitating fatigue
* loss of stamina
* altered body odor
* loss of short-term memory
* blunting of emotions, personality changes, despondency, irritability, anger, reclusiveness and suicidal thinking

FACT: No drugs or other treatments can replace ovarian or uterine hormones or functions. The loss is permanent.

FACT: The medical term for the removal of the ovaries is castration. 73% of women are castrated during hysterectomy.

FACT: The uterus and ovaries function throughout life in women who have not been hysterectomized or castrated.

FACT: 98% of women HERS has referred to board-certified gynecologists after being told they needed hysterectomies, discovered that, in fact, they did not need hysterectomies.

FACT: Gynecologists, hospitals and drug companies make more than $17B dollars a year from the business of hysterectomy and castration.

http://www.hersfoundation.com/facts.html

if the doctors are not telling me it is a necessity to get rid of the cancer, why would i want to do it?