Ovary operation turned my life around, says teacher who had hysterectomy in her 30s
TEACHER Dixie-Louise Dexter, 33, was facing a premature menopause before she had an ovarian tissue transplant.
She had suffered from endometriosis – a painful condition where the lining of the womb starts to grow in other places such as the ovaries and fallopian tubes.
To stop her symptoms, she opted for a hysterectomy and to have her ovaries removed. The surgery meant she would enter into an early menopause.
But after Mrs Dexter’s ovaries were removed, some healthy tissue was separated from them. It was then reimplanted in her body to prevent the symptoms of menopause. She said: ‘I was a little anxious at first because I hadn’t heard about it and didn’t really know what it was.’
But she opted to have surgery because of the benefits to her quality of life.
‘My understanding of ovarian grafting is that when I would be having my operation they would have a look at my ovaries and take some of the good tissue from there to construct a new ovary,’ she said.
‘This would be implanted back inside me at the time of the surgery and they would then take a little bit of time to start working in my body. Then that would be able to produce its own hormones so that my body would not go into the menopause.’
Mrs Dexter, from Woodville, Derbyshire, said that treatment for endometriosis had involved blocking her hormones – known as a chemical menopause.
She said: ‘I knew what that felt like so I didn’t want to experience the hot flushes and mood swings and all the other things that go along with the menopause.
‘Being able to have that surgery and then not fall through the menopause, that was a huge bonus for me – really a huge positive reason.
‘It’s six months since my surgery now. It’s been a really hard road to get here but I would choose this a million times over if I could have one more day of just feeling as well as I do now.’