2 Wombs.... How it all Started

Somehow, I always knew there was something different down there! I started my period when I was 11. I was so excited! Periods had always been a very open topic in our house. I already knew a lot about them, so I was very well prepared for this! I don't remember a whole lot about it really just that it sort of came and went and then didn't come back for almost a whole year.

I didn't have any symptoms for the first few years really, none that I remember anyway. It wasn't until I was around 16 that symptoms started. I would get excruciating period pain, cramps, headaches, nausea and swollen abdomen to the point I thought I was about to pop! I remember sitting in double English on a Friday afternoon in crippling pain and thinking that I was about to pass out or be sick. It must have been really obvious because a teacher came and took me out of class and sent me home without me saying a word. That day I went home, and my mum wanted to take me to A&E which is an hour away, but I just went to bed. I couldn't speak with pain. My belly was about to explode, and I had to put a bag of frozen peas on it to take the swelling down! This started happening more often, but I thought it was normal and that I had just been really lucky for the first few years.

My periods used to be quite heavy for the first few days and would last in total for about a week. I tried tampons over and over and over again, wanting to be like the other girls in my class. They didn't work though. I would wear a pad just in case and the pad would be full but the tampon would only have a spot or two. I couldn't sit down for too long because when I stood up it was like Niagra Falls! Which wasn't great when you're 16 and have to sit for an hour at a time. At night-time I couldn’t roll over in bed because I would leak everywhere, even with the biggest hospital maternity pad you could find!

I started university when I was 18. I remember it like it was yesterday, I had just moved into a student house on a Thursday evening, 2 hours from home. By the Saturday night I was in hospital having my appendix out! I took nearly 5 weeks off college. When I went back My period symptoms got so much worse. I remember lying in the bed asking my housemate to call an ambulance and my mum because I thought I was going to die! Sex was extremely uncomfortable, which confused me because everyone always says how great it is. I just learned to live with it because I didn’t want to ask questions. I went to the doctor and told them I couldn’t cope with the symptoms anymore. He told me it’s probably adhesions from the surgery so it should settle down…. Which it didn’t. I went back again and asked to go on the pill because I had heard it helps with the pain. He told me I would need a written letter of consent from my parents (even though I was 19). I went again and he finally referred me to the gynaecology unit in the hospital.

I was delighted when I got the letter in the post. I went to my first appointment and they did a pelvic ultrasound (the one where they put the jelly on your belly like when you’re having a baby). The doctor looked around for a little while then told me there was a cyst on my ovary. He put me on the pill and said come back in 6 months to see if it had shrunk. Great! Sounds like a simple problem with a simple fix… happy days! Little did I know that that was just the beginning! I took Yasmin for the 6 months which gave me headaches even when I wasn’t on my period. But I thought fuck it, if I just put up with it for 6 months then the cyst will be gone, and I’ll be pain free.

So, I went for my next appointment after the 6 months, countless headaches and the pain not subsiding. Hopped up on the table with the nurse standing beside me while the doctor did another ultrasound. He seemed happy that the cyst had gone, but he was very quiet and concentrating on the screen while I was talking absolute shite to the nurse. The doctor turned to me and said he just wanted to get one of his colleagues to come in and check something for him. So, she came in and looked at the screen and they started whispering, which I didn’t pay any attention to because I was too busy yapping as always. The doctors said I needed an internal exam and ultrasound which we discussed and I agreed to. My mum and my friend were outside, so I had to tell them what was going on.

I went back in and they asked me to remove everything from the waist down and hop on the bed. This was sooooo weird to me and I felt so uncomfortable but they we very nice about it all. So, I hopped back on the bed and they put a Styrofoam wedge under my bum to lift it up. The nurse came up to my head and held my hand because she knew I’d never had it done before. The female doctor was at the bottom of the bed asking me to spread my legs to the side. The first thing that came out of my mouth was “well ya could at least bring me to dinner first!” They put the probe inside and moved it side to side (which was fucking horrible!). I was talking to the nurse the whole time, so I have no idea what else was going on until they decided to call ANOTHER doctor in.

At this point I now had a doctor looking at the screen, a nurse holding my hand, 2 doctors rooting around in between my legs and 3 very shy looking student doctors standing in the corner of the room (I don’t remember how they got there but I hope they learned something!) They took the probe out and put in a speculum and used a torch to get a closer look. They took what felt like hours doing this then they finally told me I could put my clothes back on (still no offer of dinner but anyway). After I got dressed all the doctors huddled around the computer bar one who came to tell me that they think they found a tumour and I need a more specific ultrasound in radiology but there was an 18 month waiting list. Great. I’m 19 and just found out I may have a tumour but would have to wait up to 18 months to know for sure. Fabulous.

I finally got a letter a few weeks later after asking my GP to try and speed up the process because I was petrified. I went to the hospital (with a full bladder) and the radiologist told me straight away what it was… 2 wombs, 2 cervix and 2 vaginas. I was in utter shock and so was my mum. I walked out like my heads was surrounded by clouds. What the hell is this? This can’t be real. I’ve never heard of anything like this. I was referred back to the gynae department to a different doctor who said he was referring me to a specialist doctor 4 hours away, as he had never seen a case of this before. So I went to her and she sent me for an MRI to confirm that I do indeed have 2 of everything!