Looking back on that date over 2 years ago, I still get angry with the medical profession. The doctors I've had over 5 decades of my life all decided for one reason or another to keep what turned out to be a life threatening condition from me and my mom, is just beyond comprehension. The uterus I had terminated in a blind sack. Several years prior to its discovery, during a cat scan for an infection back in 2006, I was passing blood from the penis. Subsequent research concluded that the uterus developed a fistula to the bladder. The blood was actually from the uterus menstruating. I was having a period!
Several doctors were consulted, none of which could (or would) explain the blood passage. In fact one doctor concluded that I had bladder cancer and I had a year to live. That turned out to be woefully inaccurate, thankfully! This imbalance of hormones and stress caused a great deal of harm to my health. I gained several hundred pounds of weight. This added to my medical condition due to rampant fat bias practiced by many doctors in the profession today. At my heaviest weight, I was an astounding 587 lbs. I actually died in an ER in Arizona. They performed a tracheotomy, and restarted my heart. I remained in a medically induced coma for 5 days. During that time in the hospital, I was routinely humiliated by the medical staff. Because of my bleeding issues, they took the liberty of issuing a kotex to me and left me to my own devices.
Not once did any of those charged with my care ask the question...why am I bleeding? Thanks to a wonderful Pulminologist, we got a handle on my respiratory issues and started the healing process. This was back in 2009. Eventually, the bleeding stopped. This was good and bad.
Fast forward to 2013.
I went into my general practitioner to complain of severe abdominal pain. I explained my condition to him. He was very honest and admitted that he knows very little about Disorders of Sex Development "DSD" or Intersex conditions. As researchers, my wife and I took this as a challenge and began an education of my doctors. We provided a medical text, several research papers, and the cat scan that started it all. He then felt the need to consult an Ob-Gyn. This was yet another challenge.
This conversation was interesting. First, I had to convince him that I was the patient, not my wife. Then I had to convince him that I needed a hysterectomy. After presenting my research, and the DSD textbook, I was able to get him to agree on the needed surgery. He disagreed with my assumption that my abdominal pain was caused by the uterus right up until I was in recovery. He conceded that I was indeed right after removing the uterus which was inflamed and filling with blood. Apparently the fistula was damaged and no longer allowed the blood to pass to the bladder. Five hours and three organs later, I'm am once again on the road to recovery.
The DSD text book
Fast forward to 2016 (today)
I'm now on Testosterone therapy. My weight has since stabilized at 180 lbs, a net loss of 407 lbs. My health has never been better.
I am an Intersex person!
Me in 2009 with my wife Laura
Me in 2016!
