I use to hear news about fibroid from afar until the abnormality happened to someone very close to me - my elder sister to be precise. She got married rather late as far as the societally acceptable age of marriage is concerned here in Nigeria. Thus, she conceived her first baby when she was in her late thirties. According to medical experts, the optimal age for childbearing for a woman lies between late twenties and early thirties. Beyond this range, several pregnancy risks or complications may set in.
Hence, when my sister conceived her first baby, many health-related issues surfaced. Eventually, she had the baby through Caesarian sectioning and even despite that, several health issues surfaced thereafter. She was experiencing non-menstrual related bleeding and a chronic back pain months after giving birth. She had to travel about 600 km from where she was based to mine in order to get better medical attention. It was here she was diagnosed of having fibroid in her womb. The diagnosis was initially presumptive, thus, an ultrasound scan was recommended for confirmation.
Apart from ultrasound scan of the uterus, a couple of other tests such as magnetic resonance imaging or hysteroscopy could have been used to confirm the presence of the abnormal growths. I guess the former was recommended because there are probably no machines of technical know-how to opt for either of the other two.
After diagnosing what the actual problem was, a session of counselling followed. She was made known of the options available for treatment of the disease and which is applicable to which depending on the stage of growth that the fibroid is. In her own case, surgery was excluded based on certain reasons:
- she just went through a delivery by Caesarian sectioning
- the fibroid cells are still in their early developmental stages and she is still producing oestrogen. Meaning that the fibroid may regrow even after removing them by surgery.
Another option that is surgery related would be to remove the uterus entirely. However, the fact that she has just a kid means that she may still have a use for the uterus. Thus, she was advised by the physician to try and conceive as much as early as possible before the fibrous cells make it difficult to conceive or cause complications during pregnancy.
Luckily for my sister, she got pregnant again after some months and delivered 9 months after by another Ceasarian sectioning. One would expect that this time, the fibroid cells would be removed along with the baby or even the uterus removed completely. Alas, this was not the case. The surgeon opined that this will make the caesarian sectioning more complicated and may lead to further complexities. He recommended that surgical procedures to remove the fibroid may only successfully carried out after she is fully healed from the effects of the Casearian sectioning.
The months that followed the delivery was hell for my sister. It was from one pain to another and at some points, walking uprightly became extremely difficult. She was managed with different medications for about 2 years after before a surgery was finally scheduled to remove the fibroid. Throught the waiting period, one would think that she was pregnant with a twin, at least.
During the period of waiting, several alternate options were recommended by concerned families and friends. Many of the herbal treatments recommended were rejected because I was not entirely sure of the efficacy. I managed to make some background research and what I found about them were not entirely convincing. One person even claimed that there is water that would be given to my sister to drink and she will push out the fibroid in a way similar to to how babies are vaginally delivered. I thought of all the suggestions as avenues to extort because they were not coming for cheap.
Fast forward to the day of the surgery and my sister was wheeled into the theatre and operated on for about to 5 hours. It was really an anxious moment for us the siblings but at the end of the day, the doctors declared the surgery a success. A period of recuperation followed and today, my sister is doing totally fine. Whether the fibroid s were removed or the uterus in its entirety remains unknown to me, and I do not bother to inquire. I am just more than glad to see her up and going again.
Final Words
Fibroids have no specific cause and it is an abnormality that can be experienced by women of fertility ages - as oestrogen and progesterone seem to be the main foods they consume for growth. The knowledge of the subject is something every woman should know.
If you have a fibroid-related experience, feel free to share below as this could benefit many.
Thank you all for reading.