Malignantly Benign: A Fibroid Story

Good news Tianna!

A familiar voice said to me over the phone…

It’s benign…

I sat quietly and emotionless as my surgeon relayed the results of my last round of tests.

Don’t get me wrong. I was VERY happy to not have cancer.

But that damn tumor was FAR from benign.

Maybe you saw (I hope you did), that I got the opportunity to run in Zurich Diamond League’s Inspiration Games this month.

And although the story was largely about the great Allyson Felix and her return to form, when I stepped onto Mt. SAC’s awe-inspiring facility I couldn’t help but think about my own path to that event.

I’ve only been training consistently for five months. Four of them under shelter-in place orders which means I’m not on the Berkeley track, or in Cal’s gym with access to all the things I need.

But it wasn’t just that…in December I had an emergency surgery for a fibroid tumor I didn’t know I had until a few hours before.

I had been in and out of hospitals since August.

For four months every two weeks or so back in the hospital for iron. 

It took three months to die.

Three months of bleeding through a super plus tampon every hour.

Three months of sleepless nights and restless legs.

Three months of passing out after workouts, and taking frightening almost involuntary comatose-like naps that were way too hard to rouse me from.

Three months of sexual encounters that may or not have ended up like scenes out of slasher films.

Listen, it’s not TMI. 

It’s not.

Because 70% of ALL women will develop this condition. And 80% of ALL black women will have it.

Not all of them will have symptoms as severe as mine, or even symptoms at all.

But SEVENTY PERCENT of uteruses have these tumors.

Which means its actually MORE rare for a woman with a uterus to NOT have one. 

And yet, I have seen my share of gynecologists in my time on this planet and NOT a single one mentioned this reality to me.

Not one said to me that as a black female of reproductive age that this is something I should look out for and pay attention to.

They encourage checking your breasts for lumps, which could signal breast cancer which effects 13% of us.

We check for thyroid dysfunction when just over 12% percent of people in this country suffer from that. 

We present with menstruation issues and get recommended birth control pills and ibuprofen 800s for our pain.

But 80% of us have uterine fibroids, and the doctors aren’t talking to us about this and we aren’t talking to each other…

But we have to.

I have finally learned the importance of self-advocacy when it comes to healthcare. And that’s not to say that there is some concerted effort by the medical profession to just let the women suffer—

I’m saying, maybe you didn’t go to medical school but you need to get educated about YOUR body.

Because even with my self-awareness there was a lot I didn’t know.

It took me slamming my fist on a table in a doctor’s office shouting, “I AM DYING” in frustration for someone to finally listen.

It took me TALKING about it, and women reaching out to me, telling me their stories to open my eyes further. If I hadn’t talked about it:

I would have NEVER known about fibroid tumors.

I would have NEVER demanded to see a gynecologist.

I would have NEVER known to ask for a transvaginal ultrasound.

Would have NEVER known about the tumor occupying my uterus.

Would have NEVER known to inquire about alternative solutions to the over prescribed hysterectomy. 

It took me talking about it to find out just how many of the women I compete with are suffering in silence.

It took me talking about it to learn about how many of my friends, fans, and followers, have experiences with this and how it’s affected everything from their fertility to their sex lives and stories about how they were cheated on by their significant others because sex was too painful or too messy to be enjoyable.

80% of us deal with this.

And if we talk to each other, we can advocate for each other.

We can lobby for legislation that will allow for the ultrasounds, and surgical procedures we need to be essential, not elective.

We can help the medical profession, the healthcare industry, and the lawmakers understand that it doesn’t have to be cancerous to end a life. 

I had lost so much blood from my hemorrhaging tumor my body couldn’t recover itself.

I got a transfusion in February, after two months of my body struggling and failing to create the blood I needed to heal myself, and to restore my iron levels.

Five months later, I spiked up, stepped on the track, and competed. 

I didn’t know if I would or could return. 

Or what it would look like if or when I did.

But I’m incredibly grateful for all the women, like my mom Jo Ann, like Sateria Venable of the Fibroid Foundation who heard me, who shared with me, who propped me up and educated me, like all of the women and the people who love them sending direct messages to talk about this.

All of you, got me to that starting line Thursday…and together we’ll get to the finish.

It’s Fibroid Awareness month. Let’s start talking about it. 💜

Please visit www.fibroidfoundation.org for more information on fibroids and how you can help us in this fight.