Removing the Unreproductive

“Insights about hysterectomy from a possible candidate”

My troubles started in 2003.  At least my confirmed troubles did. Before that, I didn’t have the time nor the money to indulge my aching parts. I had laparoscopy to remove an ovarian cyst seven years ago. They said it was benign but they had to remove the ovary as well because the cysts were spread out. It was either removing the ovary or just the cyst which could have taken a lot of time which would have had the risk of me bleeding out. It was a decision they did on their own, I wasn’t consulted and I was not even made aware of until I confronted the hospital with it.

I’ve lived with the on and off pain after that until late last year when they finally had a diagnosis. ENDOMETRIOSIS.  Apparently 1 in 10 women get the disease. There is no cure for it but can be treated. Basically the lesions develop and can be found anywhere inside the body, typically along the pelvic area. And as usual, in my case, my lesions developed not along the typical area. I had surgery last year to remove a lesion which was under the muscle tissues on my lower abdomen. It had to be removed because there was a blood clot that could cause internal bleeding, the doctor said.

One of the options or procedures discussed with me was HYSTERECTOMY. If things would go wrong, if I bled out or if the lesions were scattered, the doctor wanted to know if I was okay with having my uterus removed. I was like “yeah, whatever”.  I didn’t know anything about that procedure, all I could think of was ending the pain and whatever was ailing me.

Now after reading some article, googling and seeing photos online, I changed my mind. Unless my life is hanging in the line, unless there are no other available options, I would not want that procedure.

There are two types of hysterectomy: abdominal (subtotal and total) and vaginal.

Subtotal abdominal

In a subtotal hysterectomy only the uterus is removed while the cervix is left intact.

Total Abdominal

In a total abdominal hysterectomy the uterus and the cervix are removed.

Vaginal

A vaginal hysterectomy is always complete, it is impossible to leave the cervix. The vagina is opened into the peritoneal cavity by cutting around the cervix and than pulling the womb down through the vagina. The walls of the vagina are very elastic. and can stretch wide enough.

Hell, I don’t want any kind of those. But what if it’s the only option on the table? Gawd naw! That last type, the vaginal hysterectomy looks especially nasty! Damn!

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I’m confused…

Doctor Branded Woman’s Uterus after Surgery article at the Smoking Gun website was way more than I can handle. Stories affect me. They either annoy or amuse me, or just goddam stupid I end up ranting about it.

This story is just confusing. My main question is: Did he brand it while the uterus was still inside her or after it was taken out. The story said “after he removed the uterus”. Okay, so common sense would suggest that the uterus would already be outside of her, in a med pan or something after which he did the cauterizing. So now why would she have leg burns?

Another case which was also noted in the article was about a Kentucky doctor who did a similar thing:

used a cauterizing device to place the initials “UK” on the uterus of a patient undergoing a hysterectomy. The branding–which was done during surgery while the organ was in place–was reportedly a way for Guiler to remain oriented during the procedure.

Whoa! what? “while the organ was in place”? So, medical equipments are inside you, while doctors operate on you, which in itself is a very invasive procedure, then they go on burning their initials on your parts?

Ethical or not, that is just plain horrible. No branding, inside or out, period!

Btw, here’s an image of hysterectomy.

Story of Science

Narrated by award-winning and former doctor Michael Mosley, the series “The Story of Science: Power, Proof and Passion” is a short history of nearly everything with colorful imagery, splendid narration, magnificent landscape and accurate alliterations.

Link here

Maternal Instinct

And you thought humans are the only ones capable of this.

The compassion/altruism/maternal instinct shown here which we attribute only to us shows that there are more to life than we think.

Misc.-too lazy to do a full post

1. Lift the Ban in gay men from giving blood donation – I didn’t even know there was such a ban (maybe cuz I’m not American?, oh ok then). The rule was implemented in 1983, back then there was no HIV test screening, no safety measures. And back then most people assumed that gays all have HIV?

It’s 2010 now, so time to lift the ban, eh? Whoa, not yet, said the FDA. Why?

The FDA defended its current policy in an e-mailed statement to CNN.com: The policy, it said, is “based on scientific data that show that certain medical, behavioral and geographical factors are associated with increased risk of transfusion transmitted diseases.”

Really? C’mon. Just say it. It’s not about the blood. It’s discrimination. Thinking that gays are more at risk than heteros. So, straight men don’t get AIDs? A gay man in a monogamous relationship can’t give blood but a straight guy who has sex with hookers can? That’s fucked up!

2. Ben Stein on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson – “The Republicans are a Party of a Penis”… bwahaha… ’nuff said!!!

3. Info about Taytay, Rizal on Facebook – All people are religious. HAH!!! Fuck that!

4. Sex alters the woman’s body chemistry, her scent changes (with regards to attraction and smell) – CSI Las Vegas

5. Beware the devil’s errand – FMA.

6. Art of Seduction – green m&m’s, candles, Hinder’s “Lips of an Angel”… that’s all I need.. Oh, and rum and coke 😀

7. Time can heal wounds but it can never get back what we once had and lost.

8. The gauge of how much you truly treasure something is not how happy you are with them but how sad you are when you lose them.

9. Stray memory.

Fatherless Mice

Wandering through the vast online universe, I came across this article: Mouse created without a father. Whoa! Say what? Really? Does that mean that we don’t need men anymore?

Before I started jumping to conclusions, I had to read the article more than once. Ya know, science can be a tricky thing. For a layman like myself, understanding how what works takes a lot of time and effort. Ok, ok, a bit melodramatic, I know. If you like the subject, naturally, it would be easier for you to understand stuff.

To create mammals you need an egg and a sperm.So, what have these Japanese scientists done now? They created a mice without using a sperm. Parthenogenesis is a form of reproduction in which an unfertilized egg develops into a new individual. It has happened in plants, some fish, frogs, insects, some chickens and up until now mammalian embryos created this way died halfway thru pregnancy.

So they experimented more than 400 times. Damn, how many mice did they have to use? Anyways, ten were born, one survived (lucky bastard!). His name is Kaguya. Isn’t that the cutest? and kinda gross, btw.

So they used two eggs wherein one metamorphosed into a sperm thus creating an embryo. How? Before that, there’s this; embryos need materials from both the sperm and the egg to grow and survive. Now, although they both carry equivalent set of genes, they have different imprints. Imprints are gene expression (what the heck are those?) wherein certain genes are active in eggs while others are silent in the sperm and vice versa.

So how did they do it?

1. They started with an immature egg, one that has no imprint yet, by genetically engineering it to lack the genes thought to control fetal growth. ( So they made it, huh? Messing with nature, eh?)

2. So the egg then acted as if it was a sperm.

3. Now, they fused the two together then Voila! we have Kaguya.

There is a lot of happening and going on in that experiment. A lot of ethical issues to deal with before it is even remotely considered applicable to humans. Moralists would scream and demand nothing of this sort even gets close to being done to us. Even if it were possible, what will the implications be? As I said, a lot of issues to be dealt with.

Evolution has made sure that both men and women survive. If parthenogenesis would happen, men would be extinct. Evolution has made sure that reproduction cannot happen without them. Imagine a world where men are obsolete and inferior. Huh. That’s something to think about. It’d even be a great idea for a sci–fi movie or a novel. Hmm…

Not just humans eh?

These National Geographic articles titled: Chimps trade meat for sex- and it works and  Male antelope scares females into staying for sex prove that not only human males use tactics to “score” on a date.

“Wild male chimps that share meat with females double their chances of having sex with those females, a new study says. The findings support a long-held hypothesis that food sharing improves male chimpanzees’ chances of mating.”

“If a female starts wandering out of a male’s territory, the male will begin snorting and staring, ears pricked, at nonexistent predators.”The female will be walking away, and the male runs in front, looks not at the female but where she’s going, makes this snort, and she typically stops”

The example behavior above could be compared to human males using dinner and scary movie on a date.

So, males (humans or not) will do things to have their chances of mating improve.

Inneresting eh?