My recent adventure with uterine fibroids and polyps also encountered a D & C.  This procedure is commonly completed by your specialist whenever one of the above is performed.  

But, if you are unfamiliar with these processes, it can be quite ground shaking when you look at your operational procedure sheet.  There just seem to be too many details to swallow when they are labeled all at once.

Dilation and curettage (D&C) is a procedure to remove tissue from inside your uterus. Doctors perform dilation and curettage to diagnose and treat certain uterine conditions — such as heavy bleeding — or to clear the uterine lining after a miscarriage or abortion.

In a dilation and curettage — sometimes spelled "dilatation" and curettage — your doctor uses small instruments or a medication to open (dilate) your cervix — the lower, narrow part of your uterus. Your doctor then uses a surgical instrument called a curette to remove uterine tissue. Curettes used in a D&C can be sharp or use suction.

Why it's done

Dilation and curettage can diagnose or treat a uterine condition.

To diagnose a condition

Your doctor might recommend a type of D&C called endometrial sampling to diagnose a condition if:

• You have abnormal uterine bleeding
• You experience bleeding after menopause
• Your doctor discovers abnormal endometrial cells during a routine test for cervical cancer

To perform the test, your doctor collects a tissue sample from the lining of your uterus (endometrium) and sends the sample to a lab for testing. The test can check for:

• Endometrial hyperplasia — a precancerous condition in which the uterine lining becomes too thick
• Uterine polyps
• Uterine cancer

To treat a condition

When performing a therapeutic D&C, your doctor removes the contents from inside your uterus, not just a small tissue sample. Your doctor may do this to:

• Clear out tissues that remain in the uterus after a miscarriage or abortion to prevent infection or heavy bleeding
• Remove a molar pregnancy, in which a tumor forms instead of a normal pregnancy
• Treat excessive bleeding after delivery by clearing out any placenta that remains in the uterus
• Remove cervical or uterine polyps, which are usually noncancerous (benign)

Your doctor may perform the D&C along with another procedure called a hysteroscopy. During a hysteroscopy, your doctor inserts a slim instrument with a light and camera on the end into your vagina, through your cervix and up into your uterus.

Your doctor then views the lining of your uterus on a screen, noting any areas that look abnormal, making sure there aren't any polyps and taking tissue samples as needed. During a hysteroscopy, your doctor can also remove uterine polyps and fibroid tumors.

Risks

Dilation and curettage is usually very safe, and complications are rare. However, there are risks. These include:

• Perforation of the uterus. Perforation of the uterus occurs when a surgical instrument pokes a hole in the uterus. This happens more often in women who were recently pregnant and in women who have gone through menopause.
  Most perforations heal on their own. However, if a blood vessel or other organ is damaged, a second procedure may be necessary to repair it.
• Damage to the cervix. If the cervix is torn during the D&C, your doctor can apply pressure or medicine to stop the bleeding, or can close the wound with stitches (sutures).
• Scar tissue on the uterine wall. Rarely, a D&C results in development of scar tissue in the uterus, a condition known as Asherman's syndrome. Asherman's syndrome happens most often when the D&C is done after a miscarriage or delivery.
  This can lead to abnormal, absent or painful menstrual cycles, future miscarriages and infertility.
• Infection. Infection after a D&C is possible, but rare.

Contact your doctor if you experience any of the following after a D&C:

• Bleeding that's heavy enough that you need to change pads every hour
• Fever
• Cramps lasting more than 48 hours
• Pain that gets worse instead of better
• Foul-smelling discharge from the vagina

How you prepare

Dilation and curettage may be performed in a hospital, clinic or your doctor's office, and it's usually done as an outpatient procedure.

Before the procedure:

• Follow your doctor's instructions on limiting food and drink.
• Arrange for someone to help you get home because you may be drowsy after the anesthesia wears off.
• Clear your schedule to allow enough time for the procedure and recovery afterward. You'll likely spend a few hours in recovery after the procedure.

I
n some cases, your doctor may start the process of dilating your cervix a few hours or even a day before the procedure. This helps your cervix open gradually and is usually done when your cervix needs to be dilated more than in a standard D&C, such as during pregnancy terminations or with certain types of hysteroscopy.

To promote dilation, your doctor uses a medication called misoprostol (Cytotec) — given orally or vaginally — to soften the cervix or inserts a slender rod made of laminaria into your cervix. The laminaria gradually expands by absorbing the fluid in your cervix, causing your cervix to open.

What you can expectDuring the procedureDilation and curettage (D&C)Open pop-up dialog boxFor dilation and curettage, you'll receive anesthesia. The choice of anesthesia depends on the reason for the D&C and your medical history.

General anesthesia makes you unconscious and unable to feel pain. Other forms of anesthesia provide light sedation or use injections to numb only a small area (local anesthesia) or a larger region (regional anesthesia) of your body.

During the procedure:

• You lie on your back on an exam table while your heels rest in supports called stirrups.
• Your doctor inserts an instrument called a speculum into your vagina, as during a Pap test, in order to see your cervix.
• Your doctor inserts a series of thicker and thicker rods into your cervix to slowly dilate your cervix until it's adequately opened.
• Your doctor removes the dilation rods and inserts a spoon-shaped instrument with a sharp edge or a suction device and removes uterine tissue.

Because you're either unconscious or sedated during a D&C, you shouldn't feel any discomfort.

After the procedure

You may spend a few hours in a recovery room after the D&C so that your doctor can monitor you for heavy bleeding or other complications. This also gives you time to recover from the effects of anesthesia.

If you had general anesthesia, you may become nauseated or vomit, or you might have a sore throat if a tube was placed in your windpipe to help you breathe. With general anesthesia or light sedation, you may also feel drowsy for several hours.
​
Normal side effects of a D&C may last a few days and include:

• Mild cramping
• Spotting or light bleeding

For discomfort from cramping, your doctor may suggest taking ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin IB, others) or another medication.

You should be able to resume your normal activities within a day or two.

Wait to put anything in your vagina until your cervix returns to normal to prevent bacteria from entering your uterus, possibly causing an infection. Ask your doctor when you can use tampons and resume sexual activity.

Your uterus must build a new lining after a D&C, so your next period may not come on time. If you had a D&C because of a miscarriage, and you want to become pregnant, talk with your doctor about when it's safe to start trying again.

Results

Your doctor will discuss the results of the procedure after the D&C or at a follow-up appointment.

​Armies of tireless doctors and scientists are our best defense against a pandemic. Get to know them in this docuseries.

​A young rancher crosses paths with a Lakota girl from a nearby reservation.

​After a car crash leaves her husband on life support, a woman must find strength in her faith as she faces the prospect of his death.

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​Javier Muñoz, once a successful executive, makes the fateful decision to leave his home, which him and his family can no longer afford.

​Dr. Steven Murphy is a renowned cardiovascular surgeon who presides over a spotless household with his wife and two children. Lurking at the margins of his idyllic suburban existence is Martin, a fatherless teen who insinuates himself into the doctor's life in gradually unsettling ways. Soon, the full scope of Martin's intent becomes menacingly clear when he confronts Steven with a long-forgotten transgression that will shatter his domestic bliss forever.

​A fatal accident at a remote survivalist training camp sends participants into a panic - and sets the stage for a chilling showdown.

​A black-market mercenary who has nothing to lose is hired to rescue the kidnapped son of an imprisoned international crime lord. But in the murky underworld of weapons dealers and drug traffickers, an already deadly mission approaches the impossible.

​When Sara (Minka Kelly), a young design student from Iowa, arrives for college in Los Angeles, she is eager to fit in and get to know the big city. Her wealthy roommate, Rebecca (Leighton Meester), is more than eager to take Sara under her wing and show her the ropes. The two become close, but when Sara begins to branch out and make more friends on campus, Rebecca becomes resentful. Alarmed, Sara moves in with her new boyfriend, causing Rebecca's behavior to take a violent turn.

​A close cousin to the uterine fibroid is the polyp.  Both will cause many of the same symptoms, but the latter is usually non cancerous.  

​Uterine polyps are growths attached to the inner wall of the uterus that extend into the uterine cavity. Overgrowth of cells in the lining of the uterus (endometrium) leads to the formation of uterine polyps, also known as endometrial polyps. These polyps are usually noncancerous (benign), although some can be cancerous or can eventually turn into cancer (precancerous polyps).

Uterine polyps range in size from a few millimeters — no larger than a sesame seed — to several centimeters — golf-ball-size or larger. They attach to the uterine wall by a large base or a thin stalk.

You can have one or many uterine polyps. They usually stay contained within your uterus, but occasionally, they slip down through the opening of the uterus (cervix) into your vagina. Uterine polyps most commonly occur in women who are going through or have completed menopause, although younger women can get them, too.

Symptoms

Signs and symptoms of uterine polyps include:

• Irregular menstrual bleeding — for example, having frequent, unpredictable periods of variable length and heaviness
• Bleeding between menstrual periods
• Excessively heavy menstrual periods
• Vaginal bleeding after menopause
• Infertility

Some women have only light bleeding or spotting; others are symptom-free.

When to see a doctor

Seek medical care if you have:

• Vaginal bleeding after menopause
• Bleeding between menstrual periods
• Irregular menstrual bleeding

Causes

Hormonal factors appear to play a role. Uterine polyps are estrogen-sensitive, meaning they grow in response to circulating estrogen.

Risk factors

Risk factors for developing uterine polyps include:

• Being perimenopausal or postmenopausal
• Having high blood pressure (hypertension)
• Being obese
• Taking tamoxifen, a drug therapy for breast cancer

​Diagnosis

If your doctor suspects you have uterine polyps, he or she might perform one of the following:

• Transvaginal ultrasound. A slender, wand-like device placed in your vagina emits sound waves and creates an image of your uterus, including its interior. Your doctor may see a polyp that's clearly present or may identify a uterine polyp as an area of thickened endometrial tissue.
  A related procedure, known as hysterosonography (his-tur-o-suh-NOG-ruh-fee) — also called sonohysterography (son-oh-his-tur-OG-ruh-fee) — involves having salt water (saline) injected into your uterus through a small tube threaded through your vagina and cervix. The saline expands your uterine cavity, which gives the doctor a clearer view of the inside of your uterus during the ultrasound.
• Hysteroscopy. Your doctor inserts a thin, flexible, lighted telescope (hysteroscope) through your vagina and cervix into your uterus. Hysteroscopy allows your doctor to examine the inside of your uterus.
• Endometrial biopsy. Your doctor might use a suction catheter inside the uterus to collect a specimen for lab testing. Uterine polyps may be confirmed by an endometrial biopsy, but the biopsy could also miss the polyp.

Most uterine polyps are noncancerous (benign). However, some precancerous changes of the uterus (endometrial hyperplasia) or uterine cancers (endometrial carcinomas) appear as uterine polyps. Your doctor will likely recommend removal of the polyp and will send a tissue sample for lab analysis to be certain you don't have uterine cancer.

Treatment

For uterine polyps, your doctor might recommend:

• Watchful waiting. Small polyps without symptoms might resolve on their own. Treatment of small polyps is unnecessary unless you're at risk of uterine cancer.
• Medication. Certain hormonal medications, including progestins and gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonists, may lessen symptoms of the polyp. But taking such medications is usually a short-term solution at best — symptoms typically recur once you stop taking the medicine.
• Surgical removal. During hysteroscopy, instruments inserted through the hysteroscope — the device your doctor uses to see inside your uterus — make it possible to remove polyps. The removed polyp will likely be sent to a lab for microscopic examination.

If a uterine polyp contains cancerous cells, your doctor will talk with you about the next steps in evaluation and treatment.
​
Rarely, uterine polyps can recur. If they do, you might need more treatment.

These Air Fryer Pecan Chicken Tenders are very easy to make without flour. Start with some boneless skinless chicken tenders. Season the chicken with some paprika, salt, and pepper. Next, you are going to mix together some honey and mustard and coat the chicken all over in that mixture. Finally, you are going to roll the coated chicken in a mixture of pecans. Let the chicken chill in the fridge for about an hour before cooking in the air fryer. After the chicken has chilled, pop them in the air fryer for a quick eight-minute cook time! SO easy!

1 pd. chicken tenders
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. black pepper
1/2 tsp. smoked paprika
1/4 c coarse mustard
2 tab. honey
½1 cup finely chopped pecans

Season chicken with paprika, salt, and pepper.

Add mustard and honey and stir well.

Place half of the chicken tenders in the basket of air fryer. Spray chicken lightly with cooking spray.
Set air fryer to 350ºF and cook chicken for 12 minutes. Repeat with remaining chicken.

​In a series of interconnected stories, various Los Angeles residents (Jessica Alba, Jessica Biel, Bradley Cooper) wend their way through the highs and lows of love during a single day. As the holiday unfolds, they experience first dates, longtime commitments, youthful crushes and connections to old flames.

​Featuring never-before-seen footage with unprecedented access to prisons across the United States, this crime documentary series gives insight into the stories of prisoners who are awaiting their fate on death row. Each episode profiles a different prisoner convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death. Recounting the events that led up to their crime, the killers reveal their motivations and how they now view their actions. Viewers' attitudes are challenged by different viewpoints and the prisoners' stories about how split-second decisions changed the course of their lives.

​When she helps her father broker an arms deal, a reporter becomes involved in the story she's trying to break.

​When a beguiling young woman moves in next door, a quiet neighborhood is awakened, bringing people face to face with their secrets and themselves.

​Determined to find her missing daughter, a desperate woman launches a personal investigation that leads police to the unsolved cases of murdered sex workers.

​When a controversial guru builds a utopian city in the Oregon desert, it causes a massive conflict with local ranchers. This docuseries chronicles the conflict, which leads to the first bioterror attack in the United States and a massive case of illegal wiretapping. It is a pivotal, but largely forgotten, time in American cultural history that tested the country's tolerance for the separation of church and state. Brothers Mark and Jay Duplass serve as executive producers on the series.

​A dangerous airborne virus threatens civilization in this tense thriller. After an African monkey carrying a lethal virus is smuggled into the U.S., an outbreak occurs in a California town. To control the spread of the disease, a team of doctors is brought in that includes a contagious disease expert (Dustin Hoffman) and his ex-wife (Rene Russo). Once the Army intervenes to handle the situation, though, the doctors must fight against the clock to save the town and its residents.

​After being double-crossed, a hit man becomes a hit woman (Michelle Rodriguez) with help from a rogue surgeon (Sigourney Weaver). Accompanied by a nurse named Johnnie, she sets out for revenge.

​Profiling the men and women on the front lines of the battle against influenza; the steps they're taking to stop the next global outbreak.

​An ex-convict (Mel Gibson) and his estranged daughter (Erin Moriarty) go on the run from her drug-dealing boyfriend (Diego Luna) and his vicious cartel.

​While recuperating at a rehab facility, country-music superstar Kelly Canter (Gwyneth Paltrow) takes a romantic interest in Beau Hutton (Garrett Hedlund), a talented musician who works there. Kelly includes Beau in her plans as she prepares for a comeback tour orchestrated by her manager husband, James (Tim McGraw), who also has a protege he is grooming for stardom. As the quartet goes on the road, personal demons and romantic entanglements threaten to derail them all.

​arried working mom Karen McCann (Sally Field) is stuck in traffic, talking on the phone to her teenage daughter at home, when she hears an intruder break into the house and murder her child. Although the killer (Kiefer Sutherland) is arrested, a legal technicality leads to his release. Despite the best efforts of her patient husband (Ed Harris), a sympathetic police detective (Joe Mantegna) and a victims'-rights counselor (Charlayne Woodard), Karen becomes obsessed with taking revenge.

​When soldier John Tyree (Channing Tatum) meets an idealistic college student, Savannah Curtis (Amanda Seyfried), it's the beginning of a strong romance. Over the next seven tumultuous years and separated by John's increasingly dangerous deployment, the lovers stay in touch through their letters, meeting in person only rarely. However, their correspondence triggers consequences that neither could foresee.

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Apparently, uterine fibroids are quite common as we begin to get older and can cause a myriad of problems such as:

Pain areas: in the abdomen, lower back, difficulty or pelvis pain, difficulty urinating
Menstrual: abnormal menstruation, heavy menstruation, irregular menstruation, painful menstruation, or spotting
Also common: abdominal distension or cramping

​they are noncancerous growths of the uterus that often first appear during childbearing years. Also called leiomyomas (lie-o-my-O-muhs) or myomas, uterine fibroids aren't associated with an increased risk of uterine cancer and almost never develop into cancer.

Fibroids range in size from seedlings, undetectable by the human eye, to bulky masses that can distort and enlarge the uterus. You can have a single fibroid or multiple ones. In extreme cases, multiple fibroids can expand the uterus so much that it reaches the rib cage and can add weight.

Many women have uterine fibroids sometime during their lives. But you might not know you have uterine fibroids because they often cause no symptoms. Your doctor may discover fibroids incidentally during a pelvic exam or prenatal ultrasound.

Rarely, a fibroid can cause acute pain when it outgrows its blood supply, and begins to die.

Fibroids are generally classified by their location. Intramural fibroids grow within the muscular uterine wall. Submucosal fibroids bulge into the uterine cavity. Subserosal fibroids project to the outside of the uterus.
When to see a doctorSee your doctor if you have:

• Pelvic pain that doesn't go away
• Overly heavy, prolonged or painful periods
• Spotting or bleeding between periods
• Difficulty emptying your bladder
• Unexplained low red blood cell count (anemia)

Seek prompt medical care if you have severe vaginal bleeding or sharp pelvic pain that comes on suddenly.

​Diagnosis

Pelvic exam
Uterine fibroids are frequently found incidentally during a routine pelvic exam. Your doctor may feel irregularities in the shape of your uterus, suggesting the presence of fibroids.
If you have symptoms of uterine fibroids, your doctor may order these tests:

• Ultrasound. If confirmation is needed, your doctor may order an ultrasound. It uses sound waves to get a picture of your uterus to confirm the diagnosis and to map and measure fibroids.
  A doctor or technician moves the ultrasound device (transducer) over your abdomen (transabdominal) or places it inside your vagina (transvaginal) to get images of your uterus.
• Lab tests. If you have abnormal menstrual bleeding, your doctor may order other tests to investigate potential causes. These might include a complete blood count (CBC) to determine if you have anemia because of chronic blood loss and other blood tests to rule out bleeding disorders or thyroid problems.

If traditional ultrasound doesn't provide enough information, your doctor may order other imaging studies, such as:

• Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). This imaging test can show in more detail the size and location of fibroids, identify different types of tumors and help determine appropriate treatment options. An MRI is most often used in women with a larger uterus or in women approaching menopause (perimenopause).
• Hysterosonography. Hysterosonography (his-tur-o-suh-NOG-ruh-fee), also called a saline infusion sonogram, uses sterile saline to expand the uterine cavity, making it easier to get images of submucosal fibroids and the lining of the uterus in women attempting pregnancy or who have heavy menstrual bleeding.
• Hysterosalpingography. Hysterosalpingography (his-tur-o-sal-ping-GOG-ruh-fee) uses a dye to highlight the uterine cavity and fallopian tubes on X-ray images. Your doctor may recommend it if infertility is a concern. This test can help your doctor determine if your fallopian tubes are open or are blocked and can show some submucosal fibroids.
• Hysteroscopy. For this, your doctor inserts a small, lighted telescope called a hysteroscope through your cervix into your uterus. Your doctor then injects saline into your uterus, expanding the uterine cavity and allowing your doctor to examine the walls of your uterus and the openings of your fallopian tubes.

After a brief examination on the table it was decided I would need more invasive testing which included a hysteroscopy, D & C, and removal of the fibroid. 

This is a wonderful light meal or side snack when you just don't have the time to cook.  Make these up, and keep them wrapped in the freezer to pop into the microwave when needed.  So delicious!

6 large portobello mushrooms, stems removed, or more as needed
1/2 pound bulk Italian sausage
1/4 cup onion, diced
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 tab. fine almond flour
1 teaspoon minced garlic

Hollow out each mushroom cap, reserving scrapings.
Heat a skillet over medium-high heat. Cook and stir sausage, onion, and reserved mushroom scrapings in hot skillet until sausage is browned and cooked through, 4 to 6 minutes. Drain and discard grease; return sausage mixture to skillet.
Stir 3 ounces Parmesan cheese, bread crumbs, garlic, and parsley into sausage mixture. Cook and stir until heated through, 3 to 5 minutes.
Stuff each mushroom cap with sausage mixture.
Place in Air Fryer on 375 degrees. Bake for 8 minutes. Sprinkle remaining 1 ounce Parmesan cheese over mushrooms and bake until mushrooms are cooked through and cheese is melted and bubbling, about 3 minutes.

The only thing better than juicy meatballs are juicy meatballs stuffed with gooey, melty cheese! you can enjoy this simple to season and easy to back appetizer as is, or pump up the flavor by serving with some marinara sauce!

1 lb ground beef
1/4 cup almond flour
1 tsp. dried parsley
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. onion powder
1 large egg lightly beaten
1/2 cup Italian seasoned breadcrumbs
3 oz. mozzarella cheese, cubed
1/2 cup pasta sauce
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

Combine onion, garlic, and parsley in a large bowl.

Add ground beef, eggs, and flour.  Use hands to mix until combined. Shape into 2" balls and use your thumb to create an indent in the center of each meatball.  Place a cube in the middle, and form the ball around it.  

Place meatballs in Air fryer basket in single layer making sure the meatballs don’t touch. Place basket in Air Fryer and cook on 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 10-12 minutes or until a internal temperature reaches a temperature of 165 degrees.

Here's a great recipe if you have a hankling for a quick nutritious snack.  These can be made in less than 12 minutes.  

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese 
1/4¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese 
1 large egg
1/2½ teaspoon garlic powder

Line the air fryer basket with a piece of parchment paper.
Combine mozzarella cheese, Parmesan cheese, egg, and garlic powder in a bowl; mix until well combined. Press into a round circle on the parchment in the air fryer basket.
Heat the air fryer to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Fry bread for 10 minutes. Remove. Serve garlic cheese bread warm, but not hot.