Support groups?

There are alot of support groups for hysterectomy out on the web. I joined one, and found it is sponsored by the surgical company that makes the equipment to take girl parts out......hmmmm.

I like the support, and general (non-medical) advice, from the ladies on there, I am just hesitant to trust that this comes from a company that makes money off of selling the equipment to do this. (It does have a cooling pillow that I may splurge on, though....it looks really comfy.)

So I went looking for another, less......shall we say - sponsored?....site.

I must not have been paying attention. Or, I got lucky with the last site I was on. I had no idea that there existed such angry, feminist "how dare you assault our bodies" support groups! Whoa!

One was complete with an art gallery. I love art. I clicked it, prepared to be encouraged, inspired.

I don't know what I was expecting - Georgia O'Keefe-esque representations of the female........or, perhaps feminine affirming art that, despite a lack of fertility, embraces woman as more than her ability to make life, but her ability to nurture and respect a healthy life without those parts.

Nope! Instead a horror show!

Doctors portrayed as the big bad wolf, and the patient as a naive little red riding hood, sans uterus, bloody and ravaged; a nightmare fairy tale gone horribly wrong!

It left me....puzzled, and a bit...amused?

I have feelings about having all of my fertile bits taken out. None of these feelings have anything to do with an ounce of anger at my Doctor - it is not his fault, he is trying to save me.

In Dr. L's office, he has this glory wall of little faces - babies that he has delivered. Birth announcements, little hand and feet prints, a future generation brought safely into this world, as messed up as it is, to give us a hopeful future.

I honestly feel like this is his preferred use of female organs, and these cysts, fibroids and nodes are an aberration. They must be removed for health, safety, and comfort, but this is not what he would have wanted for anyone.

I should not have smiled. The artist is young, and if she wants to be angry at the Doctor, so be it. Her blurb does mention a recent degree from a respected University, but also that she is perfectly healthy, and not (!) a recipient of any surgery whatsoever!