Back in March, after dealing with endometriosis for over a year, Lena Dunham revealed she’d undergone a total hysterectomy—removal of the uterus and cervix—to alleviate the symptoms of her condition. And now, Dunham is continuing to be open about her serious health issues sharing that this week she had her left ovary removed as well.
The Girls creator posted about the surgery on Instagram in an intense post that featured a photo of her lying in a hospital bed. “Yesterday I had a two-hour surgery to remove my left ovary, which was encased in scar tissue & fibrosis, attached to my bowel and pressing on nerves that made it kinda hard to walk/pee/vamp,” she wrote in the caption. “Over the last month it got worse and worse until I was simply a burrito posing as a human.”
As Dunham heals, she also said she’s been reflecting on what she’s learned from dealing with her medical issues, namely that “health, like most things, isn’t linear.”
“My health not being a given has paid spiritual dividends I could never have predicted and it’s opened me up in wild ways and it’s given me a mission,” the 32-year-old wrote, “to advocate for those of us who live at the cross section of physical and physic pain, to remind women that our stories don’t have to look one way, our pain is our gain and oh shit scars and mesh ‘panties’ are the f—g jam. Join me, won’t you?”
But as the saying goes, if there is no struggle, there is no progress. And after living quite a challenging year—which included a total hysterectomy and her breakup with Jack Antonoff—, it’s safe to say 2018 has been all about growing and improving for Lena!
