Cervical cancer campaigner Lynsey Bennett has opened up about the hysterectomy she had when she was just 28-years-old.
“Mentally you don’t realise how you’re going to deal and realise that you’re not the same person that you were before you went in,” she said.
Lynsey, who was joined by Laura Ward from LWF Women’s Health, opened up to her Instagram followers on a live video about the impact a radical hysterectomy had on her.
The pair started by discussing the benefits of pelvic health and techniques to help with it before Lyndsey began sharing her experiences after getting the procedure.
“My vagina had been shortened so much as well from a radical hysterectomy,” she said.
“People don’t actually realise that there are different types of hysterectomies and mine was a radical one where they had even taken part of the urethra out where I’d had tubes put in.
“It was very small and your body is constantly healing and the issue was that it would only be getting smaller and smaller.
“What really terrified me was when I had the radiation because that leaves you even smaller. I’ve spoken to women who didn’t know about [kegel] exercises and they now only have about a two-centimetre depth inside there.”
The procedure had a big impact on Lyndsey, who said that she had such a “healthy sex life” before it.
“It was absolutely devastating,” she said.
“I had to build confidence back up in myself and you get very, very shy and then, obviously, there was pain.”
Lynsey also told Laura and those watching that “you don’t realise how you’re going to deal and realise that you’re not the same person that you were before you went in”.
“You have to learn that you have to create a new you and not get hung up on being the old you,” she said.
When it came to relationships or having sex, Lynsey said that it was a “horrendous way to have to be” always conscious of what was going on with your body.
“Generally sex is one of the big joys for a lot of people and that’s why it’s so hard.
“That’s a special intimacy with someone and it’s so devastating when it’s taken away from you and you’ve no support to properly learn how to build yourself back up to be able to get back to somewhat of a healthy sex life.
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“I can't make eyes [with someone] until I have an idea of what's below.
“It's horrible when you feel like you're disappointing the other person and you're not actually just focusing on yourself.”
When asked what other symptoms or issues she had around her hysterectomy, Lyndsey said that her bladder stopped working.
“I was having to self-catheterise. I was told that, unfortunately, it didn’t seem like it would ever come back.
“I actually went to a healer and the next day it was back working. I still have no sensation to this day of having to go to the toilet, but I can get it out,” she said.
This lack of sensation can sometimes result in her going up to 12-hours without using the toilet, which causes an “outrageous pain”.
Read more: Lynsey Bennett 'over the moon' as she shares positive update on 'intense' cancer treatment
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