Post Hysterectomy – 2 Years Later

On October 5, 2011, at age 34, I went in for my Total Laparoscopic Hysterectomy. It was unbelievably hard. Recovery was painful and slow. But, I was so thankful that I was able to get it in the first place.

With a pre-existing condition and no health insurance coverage from my then day-job, no company would insure me. After months of struggle and realizing just how complicated and nearly impossible it was getting access to health care when you’re sick and uninsured, I was able to purchase insurance called PCIP (Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan) that was created as part of the Affordable Care Act. (aka “ACA” or “Obamacare”)

Two weeks after my surgery, I posted my now (in)famous “I am Obamacare” image HERE on my blog. Over the next two years, it would pop up and make the rounds in literally all corners of the web, going viral multiple times and crashing my poor website several times due to overloaded servers. (Big thanks to my ever patient and awesome webhost, Wbws.net for not only not kicking me off but not charging me for the overages of bandwidth for a humble blog that never planned on anywhere near that much traffic!)

Well, here we are two years later and Health Care is once again in the news due to the opening of the marketplace on October 1, 2013. And with it, my I am Obamacare image is going around once again. Seemed like a good time to do this:

Two years later, I’m healthy. Doing wonderful. You’d never know how sick I was then to look at me now. I’ve since gotten engaged to my wonderful guy and we’re to be married soon. We celebrated our 15th anniversary together the end of last month. We’ve added a third cat to our household (a little kitten rescued off the side of the road.) I’ve successfully taken my part-time hobby into my full time job. I have more energy, less migraines, and zero days lost to uncontrolled pain and bleeding. I’m free from any medication and feel like a new woman.

Even my scars have gotten tiny and insignificant:

In short, though it was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to go through and I don’t ever want to face such serious medical issues again in the future if I can help it, it all worked out so well in the end that in a weird way, I’m better for having been through it. For women out there who are getting ready to go through this, or who have already and are looking for long-term experiences, I can say personally, I don’t regret it for a moment. I can’t tell you if it’s the right thing for you or not. That’s something you and your doctor need to discuss. But, I will say there is a light at the end of the tunnel. And it does get better.

Older Post-Op Hysterectomy Status Updates

• 18 Months Post-Op
• 1 Year Post-Op
• 10 Months Post-Op
• 8 Months Post-Op
• 16 weeks Post-Op
• 3 Months Post-Op
• 6 Weeks Post-Op
• 5 Weeks Post-Op
• 4 Weeks Post-Op
• 3 Weeks Post-Op
• First Month daily updates in October 2011 Archive