Ellsworth, Maine

My family has just returned from Maine, where we spend a part of almost every summer. We have a very small lake house on Beech Hill Pond in Otis, Maine. Otis is a tiny town with no stoplight. There is only a tiny town office with an adjacent library. The main attraction is the Otis General store where we buy the paper each day and rent movies in the evenings.
Ellsworth, population 6,456, is the nearest big town to Otis. It was settled in 1763. About 2 1/2 hours east of Agusta and 1/2 hour south east of Bangor, Ellsworth is nestled against the Union River, and sits on the crossroads of Routes 1, 3 and 1A. Most people recognize Ellsworth because one must pass through on the way to Mount Desert Island, home of Acadia National Park and the famous tourist town of Bar Harbor.To me, Ellsworth is the quintessential New England town. It has stately old buildings, adorable frame houses and a few really appealing shops along Main Street such as JB Atlantic, (furniture and antiques,) The Grasshopper Shop (which sells all kinds of wonderful items,) and Rooster Brothers, which is a chef's shop and gourmet cafe. There is also a theater, The Grand, which not only shows films and hosts theater productions, but offers life music concerts as well. My favorite Ellsworth haunts are The Creamery Antique Mall, The Lobster Pot restaurant and the LL Bean outlet on High Street.

Here are a couple of images that, to me, represent the essence of Ellsworth.

We rent our house by the week in the summer. For more information, see www.vrbo.com, #100337.

My Myomectomy:A Woman’s Personal Quest to Save Her Uterus

I am a "soccer mom" living in Brooklyn, NY. A lot of my time is consumed by my work as a teacher and my duties as a mother. This past summer, my health necessitated that I spend a considerable amount of time searching for information about hysterectomies and when, if ever, they are necessary to preserve a woman's health. I began an adventure, or a quest really, to save myself from hysterectomy.

I decided to publish my story in the only way I knew possible, precisely because I had such a hard time finding information about hysterectomy. Many OBGYNs are very quick to recommend hysterectomy to remedy a host of women's troubles. In many cases, hysterectomy is unnecessary. Since I had been told by two OBGYNs that I needed a hysterectomy for my problems with fibroids, my question became, "When is hysterectomy necessary?"

After my diagnoses, I read many articles on line and several books on the subject. I learned that there are other doctors who are of the opinion that hysterectomy is only necessary in cases of cancer, which is currently about 10% of hysterectomies performed in this country.

Below is the story of how I saved my uterus and my ovaries while having my fibroids removed by a very special doctor in NYC. My article is long, so feel free to skip any boring parts.

If you have a story to tell about hysterectomy, or about avoiding hysterectomy, please share your thoughts.