“Those baby-ghosts love to whisper; they love to hypnotize me every time I smell a newborn’s head or even look at Facebook posts of toddlers splashing in bathtubs and playing in pumpkin patches. But the truth is, those whispers are small echoes of a life that wasn’t supposed to be—a life I unknowingly abandoned when I stepped foot in that classroom and used my time to care for other people’s children. Those whispers taunt from some innate, ancestral, maybe even mystical place of wonder that, surely, I’ll never understand. What I do understand is the transformative value—how to use those voices to repair others and bring meaning to my life. For every student rocking in that blue chair, I have purpose.” PurposeTeachingStudentsMotherhoodSelf DiscoveryMeaningEchoesBabiesInfertilityHysterectomy Book:Burning Sage Source: Burning Sage
“she even contemplated having her womb taken out to eliminate periods altogether, which would surely be her greatest possible career move, a tactical hysterectomy for ambitious women with menstruation problems” MenstruationGender PoliticsHysterectomy Author:Bernadine Evaristo
“Morality has in the past made progress when we broadened the category of things we weren't permitted to harm (animals, 'infidels'); saw through some delusions and rationalisations about what harms are good for people themselves (prison punishment, hysterectomies for unhappy 1950s wives); and readjusted our for-the-good of others criteria so as to demand only reasonable sacrifices (ceasing to use children as handy chimney sweeps).” PeopleChildrenMadeUsePastAnimalSawsWifeProgressSacrificeMoralityDemandPrisonHarmPunishmentUnhappyReasonableDelusionCategoriesCriteriaHandyInfidelChimneysHysterectomyChimney Sweeps Author:Catherine Wilson
“Back in my mid-20s I was told I'd never be able to have children as I wasn't having periods. Doctors tried to start up my monthly cycles, but when nothing worked, they actually offered me a hysterectomy. Without it, they said I might get ovarian cancer in the future. I chose not to have the operation, and am so glad I didn't.” ChildrenSaidMightAblePeriodsDoctorsCancerGladOperationsCyclesThey SaidOvarian CancerHysterectomy Author:Jill Scott
“A week in the hospital she had told us. A hysterectomy, she had said. It had seemed unremarkable to me in a woman of forty-six long finished with childbearing, although every day that I grow older I realize there is never anything unremarkable about losing any part of what makes you female - a breast, a womb, a child, a man.” MenChildrenLongSaidGrowsRealizingWeekSixLosingFemaleFinishedBreastsFortyHospitalsWombChildbearingHysterectomy Book:Object Lessons: One True Thing ; Black and Blue Source: Object Lessons: One True Thing ; Black and Blue
“Greed plays a role in causing unnecessary surgery, although I don't think the economic motive alone is enough to explain it. There's no doubt that if you eliminated all unnecessary surgery, most surgeons would go out of business. They'd have to look for honest work, because the surgeon gets paid when he performs surgery on you, not when you're treated some other way. In pre-paid group practices where surgeons are paid a steady salary not tied to how many operations they perform, hysterectomies and tonsillectomies occur only about one-third as often as in fee-for-service situations.” IfsThinkingWayLooksEnoughPlaySituationRolesPracticeDoubtGroupsEconomicHonestThirdsPaidGreedTreatedOperationsMotiveNo DoubtSteadyTiedUnnecessarySurgerySalarySurgeonsFeesHonest WorkHysterectomy Author:Robert S. Mendelsohn