PUSH!!!

Chapter 5 - Becky

Becky

"No, no don't push anymore; I haven't got my gloves on”

I was unsure what category, if any, Becky would fall into.  I was thinking ‘hardy woman’ as she was composed, seemed confident in her ways and gave the impression that she was more than in control of her own life. Although it is very cliché, I came to realise that you really can’t judge a book by its cover.

Being a single mother of two teenage children she thought her job was done. She had fulfilled her role as nappy changer, midnight feeder and puke cleaner-upper a long time ago, her life was now her own to do with what she wanted, when she wanted.

In August 2011 Becky’s periods were bad, far worse than they had ever been. She had always suffered with heavy periods and we are talking, losing so much blood she needed iron tablets, heavy. The tablets had stopped working and she was starting to feel desperately tired.  After visiting her GP she was referred to the hospital with suspected endometriosis. They scanned her looking for abnormalities in her uterus and as her future did not involve having any more babies they were going to push for a hysterectomy despite her being only thirty five at the time. Family history dictated that this was in the cards for her at some point as the previous two generations of women had suffered with the same heavy periods and early hysterectomies.

Becky was prepared to lose it all, she had suffered for so long and already had one ovary missing so losing the rest didn’t bother her. She could well do without the tiredness, bleeding and the expense of new bedding and underwear. Plus tampons and ‘knicker bricks’ were expensive when ordered by the truckload. She just wanted be able to get on and enjoy her freedom now her children were old enough to look after themselves.

She had waited a week and the results of her scan came in. They were worse than she thought. They had found abnormal thickening of her uterus, which can be caused by endometrial cancer. She was being referred back to the hospital for a biopsy of her uterus. She would hear within six weeks for an appointment.

Coming from a large family of strong women, it did not surprise her that the results of her scan spread through the family. They all wanted to help or became worried whereas she just wanted to put the whole thing to the back of her mind. It was far easier for her to forget it was happening and just get on with her life.

Becky’s biopsy appointment came through and she anxiously made her way to see her consultant but when she got there the consultant refused to biopsy her. She was confused. All that time and worry and now he wasn’t going to go ahead with it?

He didn’t see any evidence of cancer so wasn’t prepared to put her through the worry and anxiety of a biopsy. He gave her a smear test and internal examination and said he would still consider a hysterectomy due to the severity of her periods. She could relax, now all she had to do was wait for the decision to take it all out.

Shortly afterwards Becky missed a period. This was out of character for her body, which normally sought vengeance on her once a month. The first thing that crossed her mind was early menopause due to the problems she had in the past. Would this be so bad? No periods and no hysterectomy, she could live with that.

Having had sex a month previous she thought it best to take a test so she could rule out the possibility of pregnancy. Surely it wasn’t really possible after all the problems she had and only having one ovary, or was it?

She sat on the toilet, legs akimbo and wee’d on that little stick she never thought she would see again. She waited still expecting nothing but a big fat negative. She looked closely and then looked again, oh my god, she was pregnant. Shocked doesn’t even cover how she felt right at that moment. She sat and looked at the little lines and wondered how the bloody hell this had this happened.