Meet my sister Lea. She tried to keep her mouth clean during this episode. So did I. She’s a hoot and a half…and my guest for this episode of Planet Noun….where it’s all about people, places, things, ideas.
So this time…. It’s a thing… well—depending on how bad you’ve got it, it’s a whole bunch of things….
It’s also about a place that all people encounter during life’s dawning days. The human uterus.
So it’s the last day of Uterine Fibroid Awareness Month… And Lea and I know about these benign tumors very well… They’ve been our fairly constant companion—for some YEARS now.
We want to be free of the monsters—that’s what she calls hers. But we’ve learned to live with them… Mostly in the shadows…mostly quiet about them. But we’re tired… Let me speak for myself…. I’m tired… woe’ out….and want freedom from the secret.
Hello there….My name is Liz… the host of Planet Noun…
And I have uterine fibroids that beat me up on occasion.
According to a National Institutes of Health fact sheet on Uterine Fibroids…
Most American women will get them sometime during life. They say one study showed by age 50…. 70 percent of white women and 80 percent of African-American women were graced with these bastards.
I saw one place that upped it to 90 percent for African American women…
My sister and I are NOT 50, and we have them. So we’re part of that number.
The fact sheet continues:
“In many cases, fibroids are believed not to cause symptoms, and in such cases women may be unaware they have them.”
We wish ours were docile. But nah, we’re all symptomatic all up in this joint.
This is a fragment of our story:
We’re also not alone in wanting freedom from these things.
From The National Uterine Fibroids Foundation to The White Dress Project
to the Fibroid Foundation… and also the doctors who are coming up with innovative, less invasive treatments…. There’s company on this journey.
Guest: Lea (with no ‘h’) Anderson—My lovely sister!
Hosted by: Liz Anderson
Links either referenced in this episode or for more information :
Fibroid fact sheet from the National Institutes of Health
The disturbing reason some African American patients may be undertreated for pain
A common problem few women want to talk about: Fibroids cause more than just pain
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