My Hysterectomy Was a Gift. Dr. Kemi Doll Shows Why Women Need to Share Our ‘Womb Stories’

The useful part

Both comprehensive and compassionate, the book focuses on individuals of African descent, showing how everyone will benefit. We can all join Kemi Doll's Womb Sisterhood through the "deliberate telling and sharing" of "womb stories" with "our true friends." Fortunately, women have already started talking. Personal testimonies changed health outcomes in the 1970s and '80s—and they're doing the same now.

How it works

• And, as a woman in my early 50s, I'm not completely in the dark about hormone replacement therapy (HRT).
• I am childfree by choice, so pregnancy never fueled my concerns, but I became preoccupied with gynecology in 2017.
• Fibroids were wreaking havoc in my life, and I pursued a hysterectomy to end my suffering.
• As Doll puts it, this "definitive treatment" is "welcomed by some and mourned by others." Though I very much welcomed a hysterectomy, I couldn't secure one until May 2021, despite my best efforts.
• From now on, I will participate in the "deliberate telling and sharing" of "womb stories." Doing so is difficult but necessary.

Details worth keeping

Determined to prevent uterine cancer deaths, Dr. One need not have a womb to prioritize womb health.