my hysterectomy

Hello readers, I owe you all an apology for not posting in so long, but I promise, I have a very good excuse … I was recently gutted by robots … No, really … I had a hysterectomy and they used the Da Vinci surgical robot system.

I have only two thoughts on this in retrospect, why did I not do this sooner? And why didn’t my parents take my uterus when they took my gonads? I was sore for about a week and a half but the recovery really wasn’t bad, the Da Vinci is the best in terms of being noninvasive just five little holes, not the big belly slit of the old days.

I had several reasons for doing this. The most obvious is that it was the cancer risk my uterus posed. It was small (similar to a prepubescent or postmenopausal uterus, not a typical 25 year olds) and somewhat malformed. The mixed gonadal tissues in a true hermaphrodite (like me) can often go cancerous, and there is a higher risk for the entire reproductive system. I was quite relieved when my pathology report came out clean.

The other reason I did this, admittedly, was the periods. I know, the women reading this would give me a sarcastic “poor baby” but I HATED the periods. They had no biological purpose in me, and were very embarrassing. Every time I started menstruating it felt like a slap in the face. On top of all the biological/sexual difficulties I was dealt out in life, I just couldn’t catch a break on this menstruation business. In any case I am no longer afraid to wear white or khaki pants anymore.

Another factor that should be noted is that they greatly reduced my hormones. I took 0.6 mg of estrogen since puberty until my hysterectomy. Now I am on a 0.1 mg/day patch. I like this so far, it’s still too early to say what, if any, effect this will have on me. I never liked taking hormones, popping pills to provide the world with a more acceptable façade just reinforces intersex invisibilit. In conclusion, I am happy to have this done with. It removes a serious cancer risk and makes me happier with no periods (just exclamation points and question marks from here on out). On a symbolic level, I have had horrific unwanted surgeries related to my intersexuality, but this one was completely my choice. It felt very empowering to regain some control over my body, which is really what the whole intersex movement is all about.