Reality Check 1! (Part 2)

⚠️ Warning for all of the ‘delicate males’* out there.

This blog contains a lot of talk of punani but more than likely not quite how you’d like or possibly ever want to imagine it.

It gets pretty graphic.

You have been warned; although I’d urge you to read it if you have any females in your life, just to gather a little understanding to how our lives can be.⚠️

After my day on Wednesday I thought this would be the ideal time for a health update.

At the end of part 1 I told you that I was awaiting a scan. Well I had that a few weeks later and it didn’t show up anything more than a couple more fibroids, but they were relatively small and no issue, so they sent me on my merry way with a few pamphlets on contraception (😑) and said to get in touch if my symptoms worsen…

Hmmm…

On October 11th 2021 I came on my period, bringing with it all it usually does. On October 29th it decided to stop. Yes, please do the math! 18 long ass days of bloody misery! I breathed a sigh of relief that it had finally stopped and carried on living and shit (I say and shit because that’s what it was at the time), but wondering wtf that was all about. I didn’t realise that was the teaser.

On November 1st it returned with full force. I tried to call the doctors and make an appointment but could never get through so left it and just dealt with it; until the early hours a couple of mornings later. I’d already been up twice that night to change my pad as I’d leaked through and was changing them every hour. After a particularly bad cramp I decided to head downstairs to the loo once more.

If you’re a heavy bleeder you’ll know that there’s a manoeuvre you do when attempting to presume an upright position from lying down. There’s no hop, skip and jumping going on. More a slow pivot until your legs are off the bed, then you slowly raise your torso as you try to evaluate the level of gushing you’ll have to contend with.

Then you slowly rise and there she flows! Only this time for me it was with abundance. As I stood up it felt like I was having a wee but I knew I wasn’t. Thankfully I had some old tracksuit bottoms on, and as I put my feet in my slippers I felt the warm blood flowing down my legs to greet them.

Our bathroom is situated downstairs, so I grabbed a hand towel, shoved it in my tracky bottoms and made my way precariously down the stairs and to the bathroom. I sat on the loo and you could literally hear the blood and clots pouring out of me and hitting the bowl. I pulled the towel from my bottoms that I’d discarded on the floor and tried to stem the flow.

I remember sitting there observing the carnage. Quentin Tarantino would have been proud of the scene.

I knew I had to move and get myself sorted so I shuffled off the loo to the sink and grabbed my flannel and body wash and tried to clean myself up as best I could, then wrapped my bottom half in another towel and went back upstairs. I grabbed another towel as the one between my legs was saturated and found some other old bottoms to put on.

I called 111 and explained what was going on and they told me they’d book me into A&E and to get down there straight away. I’d usually get the Mr to take me, but he was laid up with covid, so I grabbed my bag and another towel and pair of bottoms and headed downstairs back to the crime scene and took photographic evidence before cleaning up and knocking on my firstborns door to get her to take me to Wexham.

Yes I took photos. I learnt the hard way that some of these professionals like to think they know it all, yet a lot of their knowledge is based on old findings. Incorporate that with the fact I’m a Black woman I’m making sure no one can doubt what I say. I remember having a debate with a teacher once when she told me you only lose around 2 tablespoons of blood when you have your period. I knew for a fact that was bullshit at my young age but she sat there trying to force this fact down my throat. That’s why I made sure to teach my girls different, and not just about that but many other things.

I’ve said it before and I’ll keep on saying it;

DON’T RELY ON THE SYSTEM TO EDUCATE YOUR KIDS ON EVERYTHING!!

That’s another topic we’ll be revisiting soon. It has its uses but too many are too eager to eat the lies we’re fed…but moving on!

Thankfully when I got to the hospital not only did I get taken through to triage relatively sharpish but a friend happened to be there and got me taken up to gynae quickly too. At this point I was changing pads every 20 minutes.😩

I had a few hours wait as the gynaecologist was in surgery, but was finally seen by some young man who I’m sure could possibly have been young enough to be my son. He asked me a few questions about my period history and what had happened that day then asked me to pop myself on the table so that he could have a look and possibly get a biopsy.

I sorted myself out behind the curtain and lay down on the table. A nurse came in when I said I was ready and put my legs in stirrups, and I sat there legs akimbo feeling blood pooling underneath me waiting for sonny boy to do the do!

A few minutes later he arrived and positioned himself between my legs, grabbed a handful of paper towels and cleared the way before diving in. I lay there watching and feeling him attempt to reach my cervix and get a biopsy, but all he could get was clot after clot. And then, at last, he made it through and whispered those magical words – “I think you’d be a good candidate for a hysterectomy, or at least something more permanent.”

Hallefuckinglujah!!

No more pamphlets on contraception! It only took nearly bleeding out but hey, we got there in the end! He gave me a prescription for something to ease the flow and explained my options, saying that he’d recommend an endometrial ablation first and if that didn’t work a hysterectomy. He gave me some booklets on them and said that he’d be arranging to get me seen as soon as possible.

An endometrial ablation is procedure to remove the lining of your womb in the hope that it lightens or completely stops your periods. On March 4th 2022 I had mine done. It was quick and painless and I’ve been period free ever since! Happy days!!…ish

I can’t describe to you the joy and freedom of not bleeding. You can wear what you want and don’t have to have a bagful of products at hand just in case Aunt Flo decides to pay a surprise visit. I’m still a piece para though so walk with a couple pads. I’ve been here before feeling ‘noice’ and then my body has humbled my claart!😂

I still get emotional and hormonal too but it’s not as severe as it used to be. Overall it’s been fantastic, but I can’t help feeling like I’m still the butt of Mother Nature’s joke! She said ok Dawn, you wanted shit to dry up – tek dat!, and promptly stopped the flow and took all moisture in that region with her to boot! She didn’t stop there though! She replaced the blood for sweat, and I’ve got the tears to complete the set!😩😂

And that brings us to what I’ve now renamed ‘Wilting Wednesday’.

If you’ve seen my social media posts you would have bared witness to the effects of the joke that is the menopause, aka menace-no-pause.

For those of you who haven’t seen it I’m leaving the link for you to have a peek before continuing on in part 3!

https://www.instagram.com/p/CsE4uIDL4eA/?igshid=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

R.I.P to all those who have lost their lives this week.

This week has been an emotional rollercoaster like you wouldn’t believe, but peace is still working her magic.🙏🏾

*I’d love to say that my husband doesn’t fit into that category but he’s a work in progress, after all he has little choice – he’s living the dream with me!😂

Reality Check…(Part 1)

Reality Check 1! (Part 3)

Reality Check 1! (Part 4)