Surgery no. 4 (Hysterectomy)

The average lifetime risk of ovarian cancer is around 1.3%. My lifetime risk hangs out at about 5% because of my ATM gene mutation. Uterine cancer risk for the general population is around 2.8% while my risk could be up to 12%. (My risk for breast cancer was up to four times higher than the general population.) Those risk factors combined with the prospect of ditching one of my cancer treatment meds (my monthly injection I now have to order across the country and take at home) have lead me and my oncologists to decide I'm getting a hysterectomy at the end of November. Bonus: I won't have to go through menopause again!

This will be my fourth surgery related to cancer. In 2023 I had my mastectomy and in 2024 I had reconstruction followed shortly by another surgery to take out tissue that became infected at my abdominanal tissue "donation site." I'm feeling thankful to have insurance (I max out my deductible every January thanks to the aforementioned monthly injection) and my support people who will care for me and my babies. Grateful to have a therapist who specializes in cancer survivors so we can do the work to get my anxious self through being put under and cut open with less fear of dying. I'm also feeling like I hate cancer and IT NEEDS MORE FUNDING FOR RESEARCH. 

How can we live in the most powerful country in the world and be on a space quest to put people on Mars while slashing funding for cancer research and gutting healthcare? If I ever have a recurrence of cancer it will be stage 4 and I will need all the options I can get. (That was extremely difficult for me to write by the way. I very much dislike thinking about my mortality, especially with young kids.) How I wish scientists and medical professionals could have the funding they needed to be working on those options for me and other cancer patients, especially pediatric patients. 

I know I'm in good hands with this surgery. 🫶🏻

Xo

Lauren 

Source: American Cancer Society