Tiffany Cross, the host of The Cross Connection, a Saturday morning MSNBC show, has recently revealed that she underwent a full hysterectomy (surgical removal of the uterus) to deal with her “debilitating pain” that she had due to “fibroids,” according to PEOPLE.
The 42-year-old discussed her diagnosis on her show on Sunday, revealing she had to undergo treatment for uterine fibroids, a common and painful condition where benign growths form on the uterus.
Cross said, “For years I lived with intense debilitating and shooting pain. I endured extremely heavy periods and despite my best working out efforts I had a constantly protruding stomach.”
“After hours in an emergency room one day after convincing doctors that there was actually something wrong with me, I discovered that what I was dealing with was not so uncommon at all,” she added. “Just like more than 25 million other women, I had fibroid tumors.”
Cross had two options: either her surgeon could remove the fibroids as a temporary fix that would enable her to have children before undergoing another surgery, or she could get a full hysterectomy.
She said, “They could remove my uterus entirely and the fibroids and painful periods would be gone. But so too would my ability to carry children.”
“I was already over 40, I wasn’t married and I had never met this baby I was supposed to have,” she explained. “So, was I to live with pain, go bald and slice my body in half twice? I made the decision that was best for me and opted to have a full hysterectomy.”
The journalist went on to say that the process was more complicated as she was not yet employed full-time and had no health insurance. She then ended up enrolling in Obamacare and had the surgery done.
“I had a scar as a result of the hysterectomy, and I was so ashamed about it and self-conscious about it,” she revealed. “And how I knew this problem was so prevalent is because, you know, when other women I would talk to them they would say, oh, let me see your scar. Look at my scar.”
Cross now encourages women to check with their doctors if they are dealing with uterine pain.
She said, “Like I said, everybody’s different. I had five grapefruit-sized fibroids that had to be removed. Some people have smaller more or less, so everybody’s different. Please talk to your healthcare professional.”
