Radical Self Care: Removing My Fibroids & Cyst

Peace & Blessings,

I'm Tabassum and I'm fundraising for my upcoming uterine fibroid and ovarian cyst removal surgery this month. As I write this, I'm in severe pain. Part of me wishes I hadn't been so shy and embarrassed to ask for help sooner, so I could have had this surgery done months ago. I wouldn't be in so much pain now with so much much of my mobility limited. But asking for help has never been easy for me.

I have been suffering with uterine fibroids since at least my early twenties, but it is hard to say. I am a Black and Indigenous woman and research has shown that we are 2 to three times more likely to develop uterine fibroids and ovarian cysts and suffer severely from them and the least likely to receive proper care, attention, and early screening.

What have I done: Up until this point, I have done all that I possibly can to manage my symptoms and the growth of the fibroids and cysts through a plant-based diet, lowering my stress, yoga, meditation, strength training and cardio, acupuncture, herbs, castor oil packs, etc. But given the world we live in, with daily chronic stress, long work hours, and racism compounded by my genetic load (all the women on my maternal side has suffered with this) and intergenerational trauma, that task of keeping my fibroids and cysts under control has now been close to impossible.

In addition to having them grow to the size of a grapefruit, with each of the 5 fibroids emitting an inflammatory reaction and with such acute pain from the ovarian cyst that feels like it will rupture at any moment, my body is swollen. In my pictures, it seems like I'm 6 months pregnant or more. I can no longer bend forward, putting on my shoes or taking off my clothes is a challenge, the fibroids push on my organs and into my back making exercise very challenging for me, and the most devastating of all is that my condition has caused infertility. One of my greatest dreams is to be a mother and because of the fibroids and cysts, I have miscarried and have experienced great difficulty in getting pregnant.

The surgery: After several ER visits and negative experiences with doctors, mostly apathetic or clueless, I decided to search for a solution on my own. I finally found a compassionate doctor in Seville, Spain that is the leading doctor in the field of uterine fibroids and has even developed minimally invasive technology, high intensity focused ultrasound ablation, to dissolve smaller uterine fibroids. Since I used to live in Spain for almost 2 decades and it is a place that feels like home to me, I returned last November to have a myomectomy and ablation for the smaller fibroids. She not only said that the larger fibroids can be removed laparoscopically, but she also said that the method that she is recommending will protect my reproductive organs so that I can conceive once I heal. She also put me on a healing protocol, made adjustments to my diet and lifestyle, and actually cared about my overall well being. On the other hand, here in the States, the gynecologist I did have was recommending an abdominal surgery to remove my fibroids which is unnecessarily risky and she criticized me for all the natural methods I was using to care for my body stating that they don't work, saying that I cannot heal myself, and I'm running out of time if I want to get pregnant. In addition to the stress and negative experience I had with her, I also found out that my insurance would not cover the surgery and that the out-of-pocket cost was far beyond anything I could ever afford. With the option I had in Spain, the cost was significantly lower and I felt safer.

When we were in Spain last November, my husband and I both got COVID and I was unable to proceed with the surgery. That set us back emotionally and financially as well as other emergencies that came up between last Nov. and now.

My husband and I have pulled together as much money as we can from our paychecks, savings, and even a small medical loan to pay for my upcoming surgery scheduled for late April, but we are still short.

The $7000 in funds that we are requesting will go towards:

I'm at a place now with these fibroids and ovarian cyst where daily life is painful and a challenge every day. I have 10 days to raise $7000 and I need the help of my global community to make it happen.

Please consider...

If you are able to donate and help out with my fundraiser, I would love to send you a special thank you card from Seville, Spain and I will be posting a couple of update videos on my instagram: @ultravivre so you can see how the surgery went and what you helped to make happen.

Raising awareness: I'm also making this fundraiser public because I want to raise awareness around Uterine Fibroids, Ovarian Cysts, PCOS, and Endometriosis in women of color and how it disproportionately impacts our women. I'm also doing this with the hope, that if there is a woman of color facing this and is putting off her care, like I did, because of work, because she is caring for others, because she can't find a doctor that will take her symptoms seriously, because of fear, my message for her: Please make your health a priority! We cannot care and be there for others or share our gifts with the world if we are sick and in pain. We deserve care, support, and love, just like anyone else. Our care, our love, our rest, our health is our resistance!

Thank you for taking the time to read this! Thank you for sharing! Thank you for your prayers and contributions! :)