Vagina Fun Facts

I thought I knew almost all there was to know about my own sexual organs. Well, it looks like I don't. I just learned that the uterus and ovaries DO NOT look like they do in the graphs we've all seen at the GYN's office. That graph is what it looks like when it's been removed and spread out on a table. The actual organ sits in such a way that the fallopian tubes and ovaries are tucked up behind the uterus. It's the reason why they make you pee before you get a transvaginal ultrasound, because they need to squish the ovary up into the uterus to get those super sexy pictures of the burst cysts that make you collapse in the middle of the grocery store. Oh wait... is that just me? Ok, well, you get the picture. Hopefully, now, there is a mental picture too, because I could not find a decent depiction of what it actually looks like in the human body. The only mildly accurate anatomy pictures included fetuses... and that sort of distorts the whole thing.

I've also just started learning about perimenopause. Which is relevant for half the cast, because that starts around the age of 35. There's a window of a few years between our workforce replacement stage and our crone stage of life. Night sweats and brain fog, itchy ears and increased migraines, all of which medical professionals will chalk up to us being "anxious" when in reality our bodies are preparing to shut down the shop. It's not as well-documented as menopause is, but that's medical bias for you. These are, after all, the same folks who say a "normal cycle" is 28 days long, but that's true for only 30% of women. The rest of us have irregular cycles that they want to regulate through disruptive hormone therapy. Which, ironically, the older you get, the more likely you'll end up on hormone therapy to combat those perimenopausal symptoms.

For funsies, I found this hilarious quiz about vagina facts: https://www.healthywomen.org/your-health/true-or-false-vaginas