I Had a Hysterectomy… At Age 31

Why a partial hysterectomy to prevent gynecologic cancer was the best choice for my body, my quality of life, and my future.

hysterectomyEvery year in the United States, approximately 89,000 women are diagnosed with a gynecologic cancer — and approximately 29,000 women will die as a result of their gynecologic cancer. It is unbelievably tragic that each year, 29,000 families are losing a woman they love due to these awful cancers, and it can feel overwhelming to think about since it can feel so far out of our control to change that fact.

But there are things we can do to increase prevention and early intervention, which is why I’m writing this now. If we educate ourselves on these cancers — their warning signs, symptoms, and screenings, we can chip away at those statistics mentioned earlier and save our own lives and/or the lives of women we love.

I should take this moment to clarify that this article is not a medical journal, I am not a doctor and if you have any questions or concerns about anything, please reach out to your physician.

So, what types of cancers are considered gynecological cancers? There are five main types: cervical, ovarian, uterine, vaginal, and vulvar. There are a few others such as ones impacting fallopian tubes, but the vast majority fall into the main five categories. While all cancers impacting a woman’s reproductive organs are grouped together as gynecological cancers, each one does have its own warning signs, screenings, and risks. Information can save lives, which is why it’s important to know the signs of each one, what your personal risk factors may be, and to pay attention to your body so that you are aware of any changes and can seek medical help to address said changes. For more information on each of these cancers and their symptoms, please visit the CDC’s Inside Knowledge Report. Additionally, it’s critical that we’re taking care of our annual preventive screenings in addition to regular PAP and HPV tests.

One of the preventive steps I want to share more about here is knowing your own risk factors and making decisions accordingly. Since I was in high school, my periods were marked by awful pain and unpredictability in frequency as well as duration. Because of that, I went on birth control early in my adolescent years and stayed on it until I was about 27. I wasn’t given any formal diagnoses at the time I started birth control, but after a few emergency room visits in adulthood (where my lower right abdomen was hurting so badly that my doctor was worried it was appendicitis), I was formally diagnosed with PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome). While it was great to have an answer, the only preventive treatment for those symptoms was to go on birth control, which I’d recently come off of. Sure, it would’ve been easy enough to just go back onto birth control and re-mask the bigger issues, however, the biggest reason I’d come off of birth control was that after having genetic testing done at my GYN, I learned that my T-Score (score that defines your risk of developing specific cancers) for breast cancer, ovarian cancer, and a few other cancers was extremely high, and the artificial hormones in birth control can be an additional factor that could increase my risk even more. We tried an IUD, however, my cervix was tilted so drastically that after inserting the IUD, my GYN had me return to the office the next day to remove it because it posed a great risk of perforation internally. At that point, I was left without options.

READ: Preventing Cancer: ‘I Did It For My Daughters’

Without birth control, I conceived my daughter in 2020 and gave birth in 2021 (which my labor journey was a wild situation as a result of that tilted cervix of mine). After giving birth and upon the conclusion of my breastfeeding journey, my period inevitably returned. And it returned with a vengeance. Still not wanting to be on birth control because of my cancer risk, I suffered through the pain of PCOS and the co-occurrence of endometriosis that, despite living with it for years, was a diagnosis I didn’t receive until I was 30. This year (2024), at age 31, I made the decision that I didn’t want to be pregnant or give birth again — because I have two wonderful children and because raising children is a lot of work, and it’s also incredibly expensive. Upon making my decision about this, I spoke with my incredible GYN, who I have seen for all of my adult life, and when evaluating this along with my endometriosis and very high cancer risks, she allowed me to consider a hysterectomy.

I know you’re probably thinking, “But girl, you’re only 31… that’s so young for such a permanent decision.” And you’re not wrong. My response to that thought is that I know my body, I spent a lot of time making this decision, and when I sat down and evaluated the pros and cons of this surgery, the pros drastically outweighed the cons. My biggest concern was the possibility of having to go through hormone replacement therapy at age 31 instead of waiting for menopause to happen naturally. I brought this up and discussed it with my provider, and as it turns out, my ovaries could stay and that would eliminate early menopause from the cons list. So, I made the choice and scheduled the operation — and on August 30, 2024, my doctor removed my uterus, cervix and fallopian tubes. Five incisions later, I no longer have debilitating periods as a result of endometriosis, and my risk for developing uterine, cervical, or fallopian tube cancers is gone.

READ: How My Fibroids Sent Me to the ER and Led to a Hysterectomy

I’m sharing this with all of you now because I believe that many women share a similar thread in our stories of our reproductive organ health. We choose to voluntarily live in pain rather than push forward with physicians because it’s what we think is “normal” or “expected.” It’s wildly unfair to our bodies, and it impacts much more than our physical health — it affects our emotional and mental health, as well. But we do not have to continue just merely surviving through pain and waiting for a cancer scare in order to take our health into our own hands. If you’re worried about your pain, have concerns about your body, or want to decrease your risk of developing gynecologic cancer, I’d encourage you to talk to your doctor. And if your doctor doesn’t listen to you or is dismissive, find a new physician who will allow you to be the expert on your own body while giving you the tools and opportunities to take control of your own gynecologic future.

For me, that looked like a hysterectomy, but for you, it may look totally different. Regardless of what it looks like for you, please know that you’re not alone, and you deserve to live in a body that feels like home, not like a battlefield.

Olivia Smith
While not born in Jacksonville, Olivia has lived here since she was 18 months old and considers herself a staunch Duval Devotee. Despite growing up in Jacksonville, she didn’t develop a real love of the city until she was about 19 years old and attending UNF. Olivia started her “big girl career” by working in the child welfare system at JFCS and has a love for children. She is Mama to an energetic, wildly bright boy and a super sassy, clever girl. Since leaving her role in child welfare in 2016, she has remained in the nonprofit sector of Northeast Florida and currently works full time in development. Olivia is deeply passionate about supporting children and teens in her community, and in addition to her full-time job, she channels that passion into her roles as the Chair of the Pace Center for Girls Jacksonville young professionals board and the Advocacy chair of the PTA for her son’s school. Additionally, she serves on the Association of Fundraising Professionals First Coast Chapter board and is an active member of The Junior League of Jacksonville. Because she clearly has nothing else to do with her time, Olivia is also working to earn her master’s degree in public policy at Jacksonville University in August of 2024. When she’s not tied down amongst her roles as mama, professional, student, board member, or volunteer, you can find her cheering obnoxiously for the Jacksonville Jaguars, enjoying a book, looking for sharks teeth at the beach, completing a puzzle, riding her Peloton, enjoying a beer at a local brewery or savoring a French toast crunch latte at Southern Grounds in Avondale or San Marco.

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