Emotionally Prepping for Hysterectomy

Jenn talks through her preparations for her upcoming hysterectomy and oopherectomy. 

We talk about:

• Our expectations of ourselves while healing
• How we relate to our health conditions and treatments/surgeries
• The positives that have come from having endometriosis 
• Being OK with uncertainty going into surgery and coming out of it
• The surprising emotional impact of removing the uterus and ovaries compared to other surgeries
• Being able to bid farewell to a part of our bodies/selves that is no longer serving us, even if it was part of the best things in your life at one point

Chapters

00:00 Facing Surgery: A Personal Journey
02:45 Emotional Reflections on Hysterectomy
04:49 Navigating Recovery and Expectations
07:38 The Psychological Impact of Surgery
10:17 Finding Positives in Adversity
13:00 The Importance of Language in Medical Choices
15:32 The Significance of the Uterus in Identity
18:25 Preparing for Change and New Beginnings

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We would also love to know what is on your mind. If you were to join us, what would we be talking about? Email us at messymidlifepodcast@gmail.com or message us on Instagram or TikTok @messymidlifepodcast.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:01

Real women.

SPEAKER_02 0:02

Real talk. Real messy. This is Messy Midlife. Hi, everybody, and welcome back to Messy Midlife. Hello. Hi, ladies. Hi, friends. I gotta tell you guys, thing that's been on my mind a lot is my upcoming surgery. And I feel like I'm just gonna take over today and say, like, let's just talk about it for a couple of reasons. One, this is gonna be my last time doing a recording with you guys until after my surgery. So this is the last time you get to record with my uterus and my ovaries. We should have had a going away party. Right? I mean, there is still time to send her a farewell gift or whatever it is that you might think is appropriate for wishing her a bon voyage to wherever it is that uteruses and ovaries go after they are removed from your bodies.

SPEAKER_00 0:55

All the little uteruses and ovaries in the ether out there disembodied. Maybe you need to name her. My friend's sister named hers Marge. Oh yeah. Yeah. And then her kids sent her all these cards saying, bye Marge.

SPEAKER_01 1:08

That actually sounds right up your alley, Jen. To name, you know, I'm not. Maybe, maybe. I don't know. I'm just thinking about Frank the tank. Yeah, you know, Marge the uterus. Why not?

SPEAKER_02 1:21

Yeah. I wonder what I uh that's that's interesting. I'd have to think what she might be named. Not Marge. She is not a Marge. She's not, she is not large and in charge. She is not, yeah, she's she's not a Marge, but you can ponder it and let us know after surgery. All right. I will let you know if she's actually preferably before, so we can send her a farewell for appropriate condolences. I will let you know if she ends up getting a name. So I I've thought that it was was useful to both acknowledge that because there will either be some episodes where I'm not present for a little while, or maybe the maybe won't, maybe like for our listeners, it's gonna be like boop, here we are again, that you guys might actually legitimately need a break of recording while I'm having my forced break because of my surgery uh preparation and downtime. So first and foremost, like I said, I wanted to acknowledge that. And then the reality is there's a lot of people in our age range that are talking about needing surgery. And I was so grateful for the community that we have, specifically on TikTok, actually, which is shocking to me because I thought all the women our age were hanging out on Instagram, but apparently there's enough on TikTok that want to talk to people that gave me some really good advice and good feedback about their experience with uh hysterectomy that I know that there's people who need to talk about it. So we'll probably talk about my hysterectomy one more time. Right now, I'm in the place of grappling with the fact that this is coming and the feelings that I've got about it. I'm having both relief and apprehension. And I've I've got overall pretty positive feelings about my surgery coming up. And I'm also aware that I can sometimes be a toxic optimist. And I'm trying to not be that so that I don't set myself up for things being rosier than they are. For instance, when I had my last surgery for endometriosis, it was really the recovery, the immediate recovery was easy because I did learn from when I had my gallbladder removed exactly a year prior to that. And so they changed some things up with my anesthesia. But then I was like, okay, well, my surgery, I've had abdominal surgery before. Recovery is going to be the same. It was not. It was not the same. It wasn't necessarily more painful. In fact, it was probably mostly less painful, other than, you know, the incisions were in different places. So my sleep was a bit different. It was harder to get comfortable in my typical sleep position for a little while. But I was so much more tired for so much longer. And I remember going into the surgery, and I would was initially told, oh, you should be off work for a week to recover. And she had said no, it probably one to two weeks. And then after the surgery, it was two weeks, was what was on my discharge paperwork. And part of that, I'm sure, is because I had my surprise appendectomy because my endometriosis was literally everywhere, and that had to go while I was under. But I'm trying to not be in the place where I'm really struggling like I did in the second week of my recovery last time because I wanted it to be. I wanted to be further along than I was. I had bigger expectations for myself than I was able to meet. And I'm looking at my calendar up here, and my the timing is actually pretty similar to, well, no, it's a little bit better than it was the last abdominal surgery I had because I had the surgery a week before Thanksgiving. And so the week after, so I had a week, I had like a full week off, and then that, and then it was a week week of Thanksgiving, I think is what it was. And so my daughter was off of school for that whole week. And so I had to deal with her present, like her being around and me not feeling like I was able to do as much with her. And what we're gonna have this time is her spring break is happening. So we're we're like way ahead for recording, just so that we have our buffer because of my surgery. So you might be listening to this and like, wait, what are you talking about? There's spring break and you're you're like you're it's coming. So it might be, you know, way beyond when her surgery has actually happened, or you know, or my surgery has actually happened and when her spring break is. That said, I'm still gonna have that coming to me where I've got time where mentally I feel okay. And I'm like, I should be doing things and all the should, should, should, should, should that comes when you're dealing with recovery from anything, or just in life in general, and probably being in a place where my body is just more tired than it wants to be. So thinking about all those things, thinking about all the decisions that I have to make about my hormone replacement and what to do about that once I am done with and to have everything removed and what that might change with my other things that I'm managing for my health. And it's just a lot on my mind. But I do think weirdly, I think that many things are actually gonna get significantly better. Weirdly, I think my knee pain is gonna get better. It got better when I had my endometriosis surgery before. I think it's gonna get better again. Can I make a comment? Of course.

SPEAKER_00 6:29

I think that there is a component to where like I've noticed, and I used to do this too, like my endometriosis. And I think that like I used to say my Crohn's, my melanoma. It's not mine. It's melanoma. It's Crohn's. It's not my like I don't have to I think that they're like how we speak is really powerful about things. And I think that I don't know that attachment is the right word, but there's some connection we have with that thing happening in our bodies. And I've been really I don't know, I've been really thinking about that a lot, like when I speak with patients or when I hear patients describe their stuff. Um and maybe part of like that healing is also like letting go of that it's not it's not ours, and so it can leave and not be an issue. I don't know. It's just something that catches me. I also think that feeling of I should be doing these things, having that awareness is really powerful. And I'm glad you have that because there is so much that our bodies are healing from with surgery, even though surgeries are common, right? And they're something that people go through all the time, it's still not something that our body is meant to go through. Our body is not made to be cut open and taken apart. And so, yes, they're absolutely necessary, but I think we have to give ourselves that grace too in recovery. And I I'm guilty of the same thing, right? Oh, I have an acendectomy, I'll be back at work the next day.

SPEAKER_02 7:59

Or thinking, like, I know I can't necessarily get up, but I can work from my computer in bed and not and not recognizing the toll that that does take on the just our energy levels that we have to put toward recovery and the silent things that are happening in our body. That there's a reason your body's tired and you're tired. Yeah. Like there's a reason we're tired after that. I'm gonna push back a little bit on the my I saw that in your face. Uh I think that I 100% agree with you, especially when it comes to I am this. So I am a cancer patient. I am a depressed person, I am whatever the that thing is. I will 100% agree with you there. I do think that what you experience, what what happens to you, that it's not, it's not who you are, and it does shape who you are. And I think that the truth of the matter is my endometriosis is different than somebody else's endometriosis. You guys might have it and just not know. And so to give a like connection to your experience with this thing that happened to you that does shape part of who you are and how you relate to the world and who you become, I don't think that that for me doesn't feel helpful right now. I might change the way I see that in the future, but I I don't identify with endometriosis. You know, I don't think that it dictates who I am or or how I move forward in my life necessarily. And it has had a really big impact on how I'm able to live my life and the things that have impacted me and and both for the good and the bad. And so I don't feel like that's harmful for me personally to own it even if it's not something that I chose.

SPEAKER_00 9:57

Can you tell me about or tell us about the good? The good that's come from it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:02

Well, I ended up in the hospital because of it, and it made me really reflect on the choices that I was making in my life and ways that I could have been fine with it for a very long period of time because who knows how long I've actually had this, and it went unnoticed to it taking me to the emergency room and an ambulance. And some of those things were not be not within my control. And it was definitely heading in a worse direction anyway, before the HRT, because I'd had an episode before, like the period prior where I was questioning, is this the worst period I've had in my life or is this appendicitis? And so it was definitely heading in the wrong direction. And I was also living in a very, very, very stressful, like self-induced in many ways, stressful life that I wasn't handling the most effectively as I could. And I was putting too many expectations on myself and not necessarily connecting with my values. So having it thrown in my face, the positives are that I was able to look at the things I did have control over and make some changes because of it. Also gave me an answer that while gave me a really big pause in my life and an unpleasant hospital stay, it gave me an answer for something that I was able to have clarity on next steps and options and things that I would need to consider moving forward. And who knows what would have happened in the future. But if I had not caught this, the fact that if I had such an intense and high, like severe form of endometrosis, and it was specifically on my ovary, I had a substantially increased risk of ovarian cancer that I am now able to proactively prevent because I am having my ovaries removed in part because of that, because of the substantially increased risk. And so those are all, I think, really good things that came to my life because of endometriosis that I'm grateful for and I do want to own, but I can't own it without the presence of the endometriosis.

SPEAKER_00 12:14

Yeah, that makes sense. I think it's important for people to hear that too.

SPEAKER_03 12:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:19

I'm really glad that we're talking about this because the the part of you that has had to manage the endometriosis, regardless of if even before you knew it was endometriosis, right? There's a part of you that had to be responsible for managing all things related to the debilitating pain and all of the other things that have come with it, is a part of you that had to sacrifice their innate self, right? So I'm I'm using internal family systems here, but I think this is this could be really valuable in your process, you know, of working through the identity and the just personal evolution and healing psychologically that goes along with a surgery like this, a really significant life-changing surgery like this. And so that it kind of merges what Elisa was saying, which is, you know, over-identification with a disease process, which I certainly have seen in practice. And then that middle ground of, well, I know that I'm not, which is what I hear you saying, Jen. I know that I'm not over-identifying with it. Um, and I do recognize that this has played a really important role in my life. And so, and at this point, we see the part entering that has had to sacrifice so much for the management of the endometriosis in your life and how that role is going to shift. And it's going to liberate that part to be able to do other things, but that transition from being in a place of this is so consuming to wow, okay, that's gone now. Is an opportunity for reflection, I think, that can be really, really helpful in this process.

SPEAKER_00 14:08

The other thing too is, you know, one of the things you mentioned as like a concern is having to figure out, you know, the hormone replacement therapy piece after. I think it's important, I mean, for you and for everyone to also remember like you don't have to have that all figured out right this second. Like you will have an opportunity to do that. And also it's okay to try things just like you have with this and say, okay, maybe that's not the best fit. I'm gonna try a different option, right? Like we're not, we're never signing like a contract in blood that like we're gonna try this and stick with it. Right. And so we have that ability to kind of change course too, if you're finding that maybe your body is asking for something different or needing something different.

SPEAKER_02 14:49

And the truth of the matter is I might be fine without hormone replacement therapy because I've been on medication to force menopause for a while now. And so I might, my body might not really feel like it needs it because I'm just making it so that I have the same state without medication anymore. So it'll be interesting to see. And I and I I'm not in like any sort of fixed mindset space. There's just, I need the next step, the next plan for after what what I'm gonna be doing. Because there will be medication changes coming from this, and I just it's on my mind. I'm also, if I'm perfectly honest, I'm definitely feeling very hopeful because while I am not in substantial amounts of pain or anything like that, because I'm taking two different medications to suppress and like the whole everything that makes endometriosis worse, I still have symptoms. And and they're not, they're not call an ambulance and get me in the hospital for four days level of symptoms. And so there is still part of me that is being hard on myself for being in that space where is this level of the surgery really important for a bit of discomfort and the ways that it does interfere with my life and I have to cancel Pilates, or I just I feel the inflammation in a way I've never really understood. Lisa, you've said to me many times how inflamed you feel. I understand it now in the last month. I did not understand it before then. And so I I this is why I think that it's really gonna be a good thing. And overall, I'm looking forward to it. But there is still sometimes that I'm hard on myself. Like, is this really absolutely necessary? Because you said earlier, like sometimes surgeries are necessary. Well, this technically isn't necessary. It is an elective surgery that we decided to do because all trends looked like we were heading in that direction. So why let things continue to pile up and get worse in the meantime? And let's just do it now and avoid the long-term complications and still needing surgery. So there's I'm there's still part of me that's just like, is this really necessary? Do I need to be doing this? And what if there are complications? Because as I shared before, you know, they left two spots that are known for endometriosis. My surgeon does not think that anything else will have grown because of the medications I'm on. My symptoms don't agree, though maybe there's something else brewing that explains the symptoms when they do kick up. So we'll see what she finds when she's in there. But it interferes with my life enough that I think that things are going to get better because, like, the and but this, but again, yeah, that's where I was going. The surgery itself, it's not a no-risk surgery. It's a not terribly high risk, but they left two spots in the last surgery because they were high-risk spots, that the likelihood of them being problematic, big picture in you know, studies, was not enough to be worth the risk of the surgery. But they are actually problematic for me. So we're gonna remove them now. So there are the possibilities of like some pretty big complications. And of course, there's always in any surgery, even the most simple surgery, there's the risk that I will die. That I that I will say goodbye to my daughter that morning and it will be the last time I see her. So there's sometimes it comes up on my mind like, is this worth that potential risk, even though I know it's very minimal, like the logical part of me, every once in a while, the emotional part of my brain overtakes the wise mind and says, but what if that happens? You just don't know. You just don't know. So those are all my mind and the possible complications. And then there's like the the what is my uterus, whatever her name happens to be. Is she vital for who I am as a woman? Like what does that mean? And clearly not, clearly not. And that for some reason feels like a bigger thing to let go of than, you know, my gallbladder or my tonsils or my appendix, you know, all these body parts that have already been removed from my body. For some reason, removing my uterus and my ovaries feels like a bigger deal. And yeah, I don't have any plans for them in the future, but they were responsible for bringing a whole human into the world. And pretty big part of who, like who I am today comes from that.

SPEAKER_00 19:02

I think we placed a lot of importance on it too, in a way that we don't like with other organs, right? Like our gallbladder works all day, every day, every single time we eat, even when we're not eating, like it's active and doing things all day. We think about our ovaries and uterus, you know, more in terms of like hormonal cycles, because we have like a physical response to that, right? We have physical evidence that something's happening there when we get our periods each month. We don't necessarily, I mean, I guess you could think maybe pooping is responsible, like your gallbladder is a part of that responsibility, takes part of that responsibility. But I think there's something that's more intertwined with starting your period and like your first period and that like almost being celebrated, right? And then we tend to think of it like, well, some women are overjoyed when they stop getting their period, and some women are missing it and feel like that's a part of their life that's now gone. And it it signifies this kind of transfer into a different life stage. So I think there are a lot of conflicting feelings about it, but I think it's also really normal to feel that way. I think a lot of women feel that way with hysterectomies, whether they're I mean, you use the word elective, so I guess elective or not, but I also think it's not really it is an elective surgery, yes. But when the other side of it could be ending up in the ER again, like there's nothing to say that you that will not happen again. And there's high likelihood it it will. So I think in a way it is, and maybe necessary is the wrong word, but it's important for you, it's important for a lot of women to have the choice to say, I don't want to keep going through this.

SPEAKER_02 20:50

I feel like I get so caught up on the words that we use and what they end up meaning to people. And elective is one of those that I'm gonna get caught up on right now. Sort of like I got caught up on we shouldn't be calling it hormone replacement therapy, nor should we be calling it bioidentical because those both are bullshit and they're not actually accurate with what we're doing with hormones. Elective surgery is not the same as something like cosmetic surgery, which is not medically indicated in many cases. Well, in any case, really, like you know, if it's if it's a cosmetic surgery, it is not medically indicated. And elective surgery doesn't mean it's not medically indicated, it just not means it's not an emergency. So there's emergency surgery and there is elective surgery. So elective surgery just means we can schedule it in for a couple of weeks. We don't have to do it today. Damn it. And so I think that perhaps even just shifting that, if we if I could again be boss of the world and the boss of all the language stuff, that if we changed it to a different word that didn't make it sound so much like this is your choice to have it, even though it is my choice to have it, it is still medically indicated just not an emergency. Like I am not going to bleed out and die because. My uterus won't stop hemorrhaging if we don't remove it right now. But there is substantial impacts on my life if I don't remove it because it is a constant flowing source of inflammation that is slowly degrading my body as a whole right now.

SPEAKER_00 22:21

Jen, if I could do a surgery to stop the inflammation in my body, if that was an option, I'd be in there with you. So I think that it's actually an important choice for like you declaring the quality of life that you want to have too, and having the ability to do something despite the risks. Like we know any day could be our last day, regardless of if we have surgery or not, right? And so you kind of claiming that too, that like I'm important enough to do this, and I'm want to live in a less painful way every day, I think is super important. I obviously understand all the emotions and sometimes conflicting emotions around it. But I think it's really awesome that like you can make this choice to do this now. And hopefully, I mean, just as your friend, right? Seeing what you've gone through with your hospitalizations and things like that and other surgeries to give you the freedom from not having to worry about that anymore. Cause I think there is I think that the worry and like kind of the anticipation of something happening again is a lot of stress.

SPEAKER_02 23:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:37

Karen, you're you're very quiet. I just conceptualize things, you know, psychologically. And that's just it keeps coming up for me around the parts, around. I mean, Aliza, you made a really good point about how this may not be the end of the hospitalizations potentially. I mean, we really hope it is, but there is an unknown there. And and so I was actually just kind of expanding my my understanding of that part, not just the part managing the endo, and maybe that is its own part, but really the part that came alive when you started your period. So similar to what Elisa was saying, you know, like that part that is involved with that identity of fertility and the stage of life in which the ovaries were active. And um, I guess I just I really appreciate closures and ceremonies to help with the process of goodbyes or the process of transitions. And those types of the way that I conceptualize that just helps me to structure that for people, which I've done many times. You know, I've worked with many women who have had to say goodbye to their uteruses, uterize. That reminds me of the Simpsons episode. It's a uterus, Marge, not uterine. What are you and and it was not something that they wanted to do, but it was what needed to be done. And every story was different, similar to what you were saying. Every story was different, and everybody found their peace and the way that was right for them. But when you ask what is on my mind, that's what's happening in my brain, is that's just how I conceptualize these things.

SPEAKER_02 25:28

And I think somebody who's listening needs to hear this, right? Because this isn't just about being cathartic for me to say all the things that I've not necessarily said out loud about how I'm having a bit of a feeling about the fact that I'm losing this part of my body that feels more profound to be losing than other parts that I have lost. And I just want to speak to this really maybe it's because I like obviously our gallbladder has a role, an important role in how we feel every single day. But there was a part of me that feels like somehow it was my fault or it was a sign of something bad, you know, because you lose your gallbladder when you're fertile, fat in 40. And so did I do this somehow? If I wasn't fat, if I was just fertile in 40, would I have not lost my gallbladder? And so there was, there's some self-deprecation there. And I don't have any of that with my uterus. I don't feel like I did anything wrong. I I could not have changed this outcome with what has happened to me and with my uterus and how my uterus was just trying to escape itself and go into all over my whole body. That I don't know if that plays a role. Or, like I said, the the fact that I do clearly associate my uterus with the existence of my daughter. And there was a lot of attention paid to what was happening with my ovaries and my uterus for a very long time through fertility challenges and miscarriages and pregnancy and now all of this stuff. So, like to say that it's not that it does, it's not that big of a deal is that that's I mean, the this whole podcast, we're so focused on perimenopause, and that's all about our uterus and our ovaries and the ways that things change and the way that like the strong influence it has on our lives. Like there aren't gallbladder podcasts, guys. Like there just aren't, you know, there's there's no appendix podcast. So it's just it's just a very different thing. But I I think that it's useful for other people besides me to hear this conceptualization that you have of the psychological aspect because clearly having a hysterectomy has a psychological component that goes well beyond other types of surgeries in many cases, specifically elective surgeries. And of course, I just jump immediately to the whole like hysteria and all of the ways that the we've been targeted, that the uterus itself has been targeted and made the the fault for things happening to women that were not necessarily related to the uterus, but at the same time acknowledging that your uterus and your ovaries have a very strong psychological connection to you. It's just this whole full circle chaos in my brain that I'm sure anybody else confronting a hysterectomy can relate to to a degree. All right. Well, I'm gonna sit with the things that you guys talked about. I'm gonna see if she has a name. I've got had a couple of names that pop to me, but then they've got problems. Like Ursula was the strongest one, but I was like, oh, but she's the evil octopus in the worst Disney movie of all the Disney movies because it's the worst princess who is the worst example for a child, all the things of that. But I feel like she's if there's a name for her, it's it's gotta be a strong German-sounding name for some reason because she's done a lot of really tough things and like our Uders, they need to like, yes, they are strong, sturdy women who you don't want to mess with. And it doesn't have to be German.

unknown 29:00

Right?

SPEAKER_02 29:01

Smarge. Yeah, strong, sturdy, powerful woman. It does not have to be doesn't have to be German, but for some reason, probably because there's just so much German in my heritage, it feels like it has to be German because I'm anyway. I can't wait to hear what the there is. But there will be. We'll see if one comes up. If it doesn't bring it up there, it'll be Frank the Tank who brings it up, you know. Right.

SPEAKER_00 29:24

So well, here's the thing. I think what you said, Karen, like whether she has a name or not, it's also giving thanks and kind of closing that door. And also, like, that's why I mean that's why I think the name came about to begin with, is like it is, it's it's giving thanks and being able to send her off with love, right? Like, thank you for the things that you did for me, and I am ready to move into a different place right now. And our relationship has become toxic, and so we do need to part ways. I will not be keeping in touch with you. Don't call me. I'm gonna block you.

SPEAKER_02 30:00

All right. Well, when we get to back together uh to chat with all three of us, I will no longer have a uterus and I will let you know how I've processed all of the things. And hopefully it's just a really easy recovery and as easy as it's as is possible and an uncomplicated surgery, and that I'm feeling less pain in my whole body, less inflammation in my whole body, and ready to move forward with the next chapter and putting my period of surgeries behind me as I move through the 47 unhappiness that apparently is coming my way, and then start climbing up that that U-shaped curve back to the place where you feel freaking awesome again because you don't have to worry about all the hormones and the surgeries and the kids and the sandwiches that are on fire and the what was it, flaming sandwiches?

SPEAKER_00 30:56

Flaring. Yes. Flaring, but I do like flaming and I almost want to change it to that. I will help you initiate the upswing. I will come lay in bed with you with ice cream and Phoebe, and we will watch Bravo. That sounds amazing, and I'm gonna hold you to that. Okay, done.

SPEAKER_01 31:15

Promise. We'll face it.

SPEAKER_02 31:16

Maybe we'll well, my friend Durga had this one movie that she told me to watch to the last time I was in recovery, and it was pretty funny. So we might have to watch that one too. And then I can have Durga there in spirit, and then that's one that that maybe Karen would actually want to watch. I don't know that Karen, you're not much of a Bravo person, but maybe you watch an AB Amy Polar and Tina Faye movie. Yeah. Who doesn't want to watch that? Right. Yes. We can have course. We can have everybody virtually together watching a movie and eating our designated ice cream because it would be sneak record a podcast from Jen's bed. Well, you're also apparently going to be sneak recording footage of me coming out of surgery because, oh, by the way, let's not forget that. Because you know, you're my you're my person that's gonna be my driver because you know, sometimes we just need our friends, not even our spouses to take us for surgeries, especially if we're saying goodbye to a uterus. We need to have someone with a uterus to do the appropriate farewell. And I I say some weird stuff sometimes when I'm coming out of anesthesia. And so Lisa's saying she's gonna sneak in there just to get some footage of all the weird things that I say coming out of anesthesia.

SPEAKER_00 32:24

Yep. Well, apparently we're gonna have lots of sneaky episodes. I mean, recording a podcast from bed does sound like borderline amazing, but you know, that would not work for me.

SPEAKER_02 32:35

That would be a problem for me. But we're all different people and you can do amazing things from bed that I cannot do from bed. Yeah, I might be in bed next time, Karen. So get ready.

SPEAKER_01 32:43

Ready. I love you. All right, ladies.

SPEAKER_02 32:45

Well, I love you both so much for all of the things and especially for letting me have this space to share with you and with all of our listeners and anybody who's feeling this too. Let's chat. Let's just chat about this stuff because it's it's a weird thing that I was not expecting to go through some of this stuff. So I appreciate the space to talk about it. I appreciate all of the different perspectives and the opportunity that disagreeing with you, Elisa, gave me to reflect on all of the good things that this hard thing brought to my life. So I love you both so much and I appreciate you both so much. And I love you, my uterus, and I appreciate you and all of the things that you have brought to my life. And it is time for us to end our conversation today, and it is time to end my relationship with my uterus and my ovaries. So on that note, take care, guys. Love you.

SPEAKER_01 33:39

Love you. Bye. If our messy is your kind of messy, we'd love for you to rate, review, and follow or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

SPEAKER_00 33:49

We'd also love to know what's on your mind. If you were to join us, what would we be talking about? Email us at messy midlifepodcast at gmail.com or message us on Instagram or TikTok.