Jenny Powell underwent a life-changing hysterectomy four months ago after years of trying to manage increasingly debilitating symptoms. At 56, the former Wheel of Fortune host had visited a number of different doctors for help managing some of her symptoms - which included heavy bleeding, constipation and pelvic congestion.
After finally getting a proper diagnosis - and discovering that by that point, her uterus had grown to the size of that of a 16-week pregnant woman - she opted for a robotic hysterectomy to put an end to her suffering. One of the biggest lessons she's learnt, she tells OK!, is that women's health needs be much, much higher on the agenda.
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Kenny Brown)“I eventually had an MRI and they told me that my uterus was the size as if I was about 16 weeks pregnant," she says. "I had fibroids, adenomyosis and full-on pelvic congestion.
"It was so big it was pressing on my intestines, on my bladder, on my kidneys. It’s only looking back – now that it’s gone – that I think, ‘Wow.’ And that’s why I put it all out there. Those of us in our fifties are the first sort of all-singing, all-dancing generation because we’re working, we’re keeping fit, we’re looking after our parents, our children, and we haven’t got time, so we just think, ‘I can live with that.’ But what we think is acceptable just isn’t.”
Jenny opted to go private for her operation because the NHS waiting lists in her local area were around five years. After a few years of ever-worsening symptoms, she says she felt incredibly fortunate to be able to make that choice.
Her symptoms impacted almost every aspect of her life, including her time with her fiancé Martin Lowe, and her two daughters from her previous marriage, Constance, 24, and Pollyanna, 16. Family holidays were booked around her periods, whenever possible, and it had a knock-on effect on her work commitments too.
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Instagram)“I had terrible bleeding, really bad, to the point where I was changing four times a day and in a job like mine, that isn’t good." She adds, “I was a bit of a joke at yoga because I was always the one with the mat by the door so I could go to the loo about three times in an hour-long class. There was also a heavy congested feeling and I was always quite constipated. It’s been really bad over the past two years. And I just got used to it. It bemuses me why women’s health in this regard is so neglected.”
Jenny has since been sharing her experience and recovery with her growing number of social media followers, and has filmed Q&A sessions with her gynaecologist in an effort to help others. “Since that day I’ve been inundated with messages from women who are suffering," she says. "So my gynaecologist and I have found ourselves in this community that’s been created. It’s lovely, but it is a whole other job now!"
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English (US) ·