Hi all,

Just thought I’d share my story real quick. I had a bilateral salpingectomy in March of 2020 (squeezed in just weeks before the big panini). All went well. I healed up and it seemed like everything was fine. Hell, my scars looked great! Well… Over the course of several months, and eventually years, it became clear something happened. I started getting really bad pain in my bellybutton area each month on my period. Then I started actually bleeding from my belly button each month. Then the pain became nearly constant, also coming on during ovulation too. I’m also allergic to bandage adhesives, so you can imagine the nightmare each month when I’d have to somehow manage the bleeding, but that’s besides the point.

I’m now recovering from a surgery to remove the endometrial umbilical hernia, which I ignored for far too long. When they did my laparoscopic sterilization, the endo cells migrated where they shouldn’t have, and reproduced. I’m childfree af but also an endometrial mess with a 3-4in incision/scar who will no longer have a bellybutton at all after this surgery (too much damage done by the endometriosis—it was not worth reconstruction according to the surgeon). Thankfully I wasn’t big on bellybutton piercings, but still, it’s unsettling to go in to a surgery not knowing they’ll take a whole-ass part of your anatomy off that you’re not expecting. It feels like some autonomy was taken from me there, but at the same time, I’d certainly rather have that than the amount of pain I was in.

I say all that just as a cautionary tale and food for thought. I still think that my snip was the best decision I could have made for myself so this isn’t a “I shouldn’t have done it and here’s why you shouldn’t either” post. I love being sterile. But I also wish I knew about this VERY MINIMAL but possible risk before I had my original surgery, because when it comes down to it, sterilization is a procedure of bodily autonomy—and everyone deserves to know the possible outcomes even if they’re unlikely.

Open to questions. AMA.