29 July 07
Wonder When I'll Start
These words: I wrote them at age 12 in a red five-year diary you could lock with a key, given to me by my grandmother, who was a great diary-keeper. In the event I had less than a year to wait for menarche, for the encounter with gauze-covered cotton pads that were what was available in Spain in the early 1970s.
My mother and sister have both had hysterectomies, depriving me of family data. My approach of menopause has therefore been just as fraught with uncertainty, and this week I had what I was almost certain were my first hot flashes (I developed a sore throat following two plane journeys home from Maine and wondered whether I might not be having a fever at 1:35 every afternoon in the air conditioning until it hit me).
Wow. It’s sort of interesting. If this is all it is, it’s nothing that can’t be cured by carrying a fan around (and I own many, many of these). If it grows to be more problematic, we’ll see…
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Interesting, eh? Although I’m hoping it’ll be a good while yet before I experience this, I expect to be in much the same boat as you – my grandmother had a hysterectomy too, and my mother is one of those people who seems to have a cast-iron constitution (and, in any case, was brought up not to talk about physical discomfort of any kind). No sister, either.
Afternoon fevers doesn’t sound too bad…
Ahh. Well, welcome to cronehood. Annoyances galore, but hot flashes… Well, that’s different for everyone, but I think living in Davis has prepared you for those.
Then again, real fevers typically peak in the afternoon so you might consider watching for any other signd of infectious stuff.
BTW, me too — Mom had an hysterectome; she was born when her mother was 40 so Grammy probably menopausified when Mom was a kid, and that sort of information wasn’t exactly talked about in that time, place, milieu anyway. Mom said that the big reason I was such a “difficult” birth was that she had no idea what to expect, and was in a state of total panic.
And I’m the oldest sister.
Oh yeah. Those wobbly estrogen levels bring on nominal aphasia and typos, too.
Thanks, gals. Ron, I’m psyched to enter cronehood, but hope the process isn’t too lengthy — but again, nothing I can control. Just go with it, I think, is the best idea.
Now, Pica, I remember when we were waiting for the “When will we start?” time….and I now can share a secret I’ve kept from you for well over 30 years….when all you girls were questioning and waiting I already had reached menarche and felt I couldn’t possibly tell any of you as I was so mortified to be the first in my class. It was Chrsitmas time 1970 in Jaen and I remember the cotton wads….UGH!!
Oy, Jenny, I hear you. When you consider that the klutzy stuff we had to wrassle with back then was an advance over what our mothers had…
When I finally reached menarche, my mother sent her best friend a telegram announcing, “It’s a girl!” Why? I was 16! As for menopause, I, too, had a hysterectomy at age 42 so never “suffered” the gradual onset of hot flashes, grumpiness, etc. I was absolutely liberated from the emotional swings of pre/post menstrual hormonal craziness. As for you, Pica, you will deal with this with your usual aplomb and humor!
Goodness, thank you all. I feel like throwing a menopause party. Don’t put it past me…
Still fanning and sweating after a year and a half – but it isn’t that bad. A sense of humor definitely helps, and you’ve got that for sure! Cronehood though – come on, I think you can put that off for a few decades.