~ • Mishka • ~

My patient who has fought for decades to get a hysterectomy was recently told she would finally get one because her uterine ultrasound showed “probable” cancer. Only caveat: biopsy showed no cancer! She was 20 and a mother of ONE when she asked for a hysterectomy for the 1st time — “you might want a second child.” She was 25 and a mother of TWO when she asked for a hysterectomy for the 2nd time — “you are too young.” Now she is 45 and a mother of THREE, biopsy benign, but getting her uterus taken out because of “shadows on ultrasound.” I had no word to comfort her. We just sat together and wept. The uterus is the only organ in the body whose removal doesn’t require confirmation of pathology — but ONLY if you are old enough to have had “enough” children. Young women = baby vessels. Older women = owners of an “useless” organ. Either our organs get tossed around, or our lives get tossed around. Even shadows in sound wave imaging trumps our bodily autonomy. Its 2024. How about we treat women as who they truly are — owners of their organs, bodies, AND voices?