Ep. 17: Katherine's story & The Surgical Menopause Club

Katherine Glyde is a 36-year-old from just outside London who had a total abdominal hysterectomy 11 weeks ago after a cervical cancer diagnosis. What started as a routine smear test led to discovering fibroids that had degenerated into cancer, requiring emergency surgery that also meant removing her ovaries. Now on HRT with minimal medical support, Katherine is navigating surgical menopause in her thirties while most of her friends are navigating completely different life stages. Out of that loneliness, she created the Surgical Menopause Club—a community space for younger women facing this transition. In this episode, Katherine and Amy talk about the gap between women like them at different ages, why nobody warns you about surgical menopause, and what it takes to build community when the medical system won't. **Key Components** - How a routine smear test led to a cancer diagnosis the day before her 36th birthday, and what it feels like when everything accelerates overnight. - The isolation of sitting in a women's outpatients waiting room surrounded by pregnant women while waiting to find out you'll never have biological children. - From emergency surgery to HRT with a single sentence of explanation — what happens when doctors give you a patch and send you home. - Building community on TikTok because the healthcare system won't: The Surgical Menopause Club and why 55,000 hysterectomies a year should be impossible to ignore. *"There is nobody talking about this at my age. I'm not married. I don't have kids and I had no choice but to make this big choice. Why are we not talking about this?"* Connect with Katherine on Instagram Follow Katherine on TikTok Follow Katherine on LinkedIn Check out The Surgical Menopause Club 👉 Click here to join the movement at downthereaware.org 🩲 Subscribe, like, and share to show us you care! 🤘 Podcast produced by Binge-Worthy Studio For informational and entertainment purposes only — not medical advice. We're here to get loud, not to play doctor.