A friend of mine

had fibroids for many years with heavy bleeding and cramping as a result. I first met her when she was a Temp at the office I worked at. We became friends, she told me about her fibroids and said that she had no insurance and couldn't do anything about them but take acupuncture for the pain. She subsequently was given a full-time permanent job complete with health insurance. I talked with her again about having a hysterectomy now that she had insurance. She didn't want to because of the down-time and this was a new job and she couldn't take the time off. She also had issues with "western medicine" and preferred other treatments. She was there a couple of years and then moved on. Later, when the bleeding and pain became debilitating, she finally went to a doctor only to learn that she had Stage 4 uterine cancer. The fibroids had been masking the cancerous tumors. She died five months later.

So, when I had some problems and learned that it was fibroids, I INSISTED that I have a complete hysterectomy, just on the chance that fibroids might be masking cancerous tumors, like my friend. I had the hysterectomy and was fortunate enough not to have cancer. Now my daughter has fibroids. She knows about my friend's cancer and death. She has been pushing her doctor to do a hysterectomy but the doctor is one of those "let's wait and see" types. I told her that she should just go to the surgeon I went to and do it before something goes wrong. Taking the uterus out as whole as possible will contain any tumors that might exist. This slice n'dice method spreads cancer if it is present so there's no sense in taking chances.