The Big H

[Cyclefrance]

Not really a man's subject, but with Mrs CF currently in hospital having undergone the operation last Thursday, if only because of the remarkable change it has produced from a psycholgical point of view, I feel that I have to mention it.

My lovely wife had been suffering from problems since early last year. She thought she was going into menopause, having continuous bleeding, and throughout the last 6 months involving fresh oxygenated blood which wasn't right or healthy.

Investigations by GP and then specialist confirmed that she wasn't anywhere near menopause and that the bleeding was related to problems in her cervix and uterus. A biopsy followed just before Christmas and this produced the conclusion that she was in a pre-cancerous state.

There was a choice between close monitoring and annual biopsies, or the hysterectomy. As she suffers from an inherited blood pressure problem, operations have always been a difficult area, but the specialist's recommendation was for the hysterectomy.

So it happened, with much uncertainty and wishing to pull out of the operation occuring at frequent intervals - right up until the day and half an hour before going into theatre. But now the relief of knowing that a dark shadow, in the form of cancer laying in wait, has been removed is abundantly evident - she looks a different woman, and all the stress of the last few months has lifted literally overnight (well, 3 nights anyway, but who will argue).

I'm now looking forward to having her home again and to knowing that the future will be so much easier on her than all that the past year has thrown her way.

Who would have thought that something that seemed in itself so dreadful could produce such an amazing result. But then, as I said when I started, I'm a man, so what can I know about such things....