h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I have just written my Guide Entry on the above subject & I'd like to put it up for Peer Review. I tried my best to use descriptive language, without being gory, using layman's terms as I am not a medical personage. Thank you!

I forgot the link, sorry.
http://www.h2g2.com/A429365

I have just read your article, very nicely written from your point of view, but it didn't really explain a lot about Hysterectomies. Not all prople are so fortunate as you, and some take years to come to terms with losing what for them is a large part of being a woman.

I have a very close friend who had to have a hysterectomy, due to cancer. She had no children and now can never have any, and it is quite a crushing blow, and one you don't recover from very quickly.

She, like you, sailed through her operation, though she was on a morphin drip for a couple of days. And now, a couple of years later you would never know she had had an operation.

But when I look at her looking at her small nieces, when she thinks no one is looking, her eyes are very sad. I think part of her will never recover.

Maybe if your article had a few of the negative aspects of having the operation, it would be more informative. Also a little more research into the reasons for having one.

I may have got the wrong end of the stick, and maybe your article was just your point of view on the subject, but I think that something of this nature deserves a little bit more depth.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed reading your article and wish you all the best with it, and I am really interested in what other people think.

WbB

Quite right, I did write it from my point of view. I, unfortunately don't know the reasons why they are necessary, other than the obvious. Quite honestly, I would have died without the operation. I grieve for your friend's loss, I was lucky that I had four healthy children before my op. Maybe someone like her could add a negative perspective to my Entry. Is it the ability to have children that is lost, causing the most grief? In your friends position, I would be grateful for my life, and channel my maternal instincts in other directions...but that's easy for me to say. I cannot imagine my life without my children in it & three of them are grown up.

While this is a very informative entry, it doesn't quite meet the criteria for the "edited guide" as it now stands. The edited guide tries to steer clear of first person accounts, personal stories, etc. An "edited guide" entry on hysterectomy would need to focus more on the general (as in, applying to many people) rather than the specific (as in, your particular experience).

I do, however, think you have a good start, and that your personal experience would make you a good person to write an edited guide entry on hysterectomy. Here are some things that such an entry should include. Although (obviously) a good edited guide entry would necessarily need to include *all* of these topics, they make a good place to start.

1) Different reasons why a hysterectomy would be performed (i.e., severe endometriosis, cancer, labor injury, etc.)

2) Some background on the history of hysterectomies (i.e., why they used to be performed much more often than they are now, when was the first one performed, etc.)

3) Some of the medical/technical details on how a hysterectomy is performed.

4) Physical recovery -- how long is bed rest required, what are some common complications, etc.

5) Emotional recovery -- what are some of the common emotional issues women have to deal with after a hysterectomy, what kind of support may be available to them, what are some different ways of helping this recovery process along, etc.


mikey

While this is a very informative entry, it doesn't quite meet the criteria for the "edited guide" as it now stands. The edited guide tries to steer clear of first person accounts, personal stories, etc. An "edited guide" entry on hysterectomy would need to focus more on the general (as in, applying to many people) rather than the specific (as in, your particular experience).

I do, however, think you have a good start, and that your personal experience would make you a good person to write an edited guide entry on hysterectomy. Here are some things that such an entry should include. Although (obviously) a good edited guide entry would necessarily need to include *all* of these topics, they make a good place to start.

1) Different reasons why a hysterectomy would be performed (i.e., severe endometriosis, cancer, labor injury, etc.)

2) Some background on the history of hysterectomies (i.e., why they used to be performed much more often than they are now, when was the first one performed, etc.)

3) Some of the medical/technical details on how a hysterectomy is performed.

4) Physical recovery -- how long is bed rest required, what are some common complications, etc.

5) Emotional recovery -- what are some of the common emotional issues women have to deal with after a hysterectomy, what kind of support may be available to them, what are some different ways of helping this recovery process along, etc.


mikey

oops! sorry that went in twice -- my computer hiccupped and crashed!


mikey

Do you want me to re-write the whole thing?

Some entries on deeply personal things, I think there was one on coping with diabetes, can go in as a first person Entry, some things are just too hard to adapt to third person. I would leave it, at least for the mo'. It is quite posible that it can go in, with very little revision. I will go and find out for you.....
BCNU - Crescent

Thank you!
*waiting with baited breath*
I don't mind altering anything & I am available to any woman/partner for one-to-one discussion, if they need privacy....

I think that it is a wonderful entry, and one that all junior gynaecologists should have to read - As doctors progress up the ladder of seniority, they tend to forget that patients aren't 'interesting cases', they are what we in the medical profession call 'people'

As far as the business of getting it into the edited guide goes, I don't think it would be accepted as an entry entitled 'Hysterectomies' or the like. It would (should) get in as an entry entitled 'Hysterectomy - A personal experience' or something like that. It is my opinion that every entry related to a medical condition should have a companion entry written from personal experience, and vice versa. That way, a subject can be covered from a factual and personal point of view, giving a much better all-round picture.

Does anyone agree?


- Adam

Thank you...you want me the change the title & re-submit?

*looks around*

Where did he go? What did he find out?

hi AGB.

Just a quick comment - you remember all the uselessly longwinded garbage I wrote about the miscarriage entry? Well go and reread it all - because I think it's all relevant here too...

Specifically, blockquote the personal bits, and make the rest I-less. If you found anyone else who's been through this, they might be able to give you another viewpoint.

Good luck!

I've written a hysterectomy article & linked to this personal account.
I thought this had been sin-binned, as it's in the wrong format!
I will work on it some more though.
When I've written my account of the "Contact" film for this week's post.

If you could make links here to the other thread & article for the lazy?

(IE, me... )

Here's the other thread: http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/F48874?thread=97614

Did you want to move this to the sinbin or not? It's entirely possible to have a personal experience entry to compliment your other one, you know...

Sorry about that, Lucinda!
I blame the Rupert/fall-out/foop....
Is it possible to have this entry moved out of Peer Review without sin-binning it? As it is linked from my other entry, which is still in Peer Review. {still researching fibroids as well!}

I could move it to the entry itself. Would this be better?