The author celebrating her 40th birthday in Ojo Caliente, New Mexico.

“It really hurts to have sex,” I told my doctor. “Like, a lot.”

I was sitting in a hospital gown on the exam table at my family practitioner’s office in Santa Fe, New Mexico. It was the same table where I’d sat through both of my pregnancies and where, three years earlier, I’d been diagnosed with breast cancer.

“I’m so sorry,” my doctor said. “I know how it feels to go through menopause. Especially since you went through it overnight.”

She was the one who diagnosed me with cancer. I’d found a small lump on my right breast and called her office immediately. Our appointment fell on Halloween 2017, and she was dressed up as Snow White, wearing full face paint and a black wig.

“You are one of the lucky ones,” she said, as I sat on the table and cried. “You don’t need chemotherapy, and you’re going to be okay.” My doctor was right — I was lucky. I’d caught it early, and with breast cancer, early detection is everything.

If you believe in deeply personal journalism — the kind that connects us in our hardest, most honest moments — please consider becoming a HuffPost member today.

My treatment consisted of a mastectomy, reconstruction surgery and 10 years of targeted hormone therapy — to kill the oestrogen in my body and lower my risk of recurrent cancer. The goal of these hormone treatments — for pre-menopausal women — is to slingshot you through menopause. It worked. Within a matter of weeks, I went from being a healthy 37-year-old menstruating woman, to a hot-flashing, bone-aching, post-menopausal cancer survivor. I suffered vaginal irritation, something I’d later learn was vaginal atrophy. The only thing not atrophying were my post-operative breasts — they looked perkier than ever. But while my boobs felt 16 again, my vagina felt 61. It was a total mindfuck.

“It hurts,” I complained. “Just... all the time. And especially during sex.”

“Menopause makes it very uncomfortable — nearly impossible — to have successful intercourse,” she said matter-of-factly. “Have you heard of vaginal rejuvenation? A colleague of mine, in Albuquerque, is offering laser treatment in her practice. I think you’d be a great candidate for it.”

The author taking a selfie during her first mammogram appointment. "I didn't know at that time what was ahead of me," she writes.

An hour later I was home, googling laser vaginal rejuvenation. Eventually, I found a reputable women’s healthcare site with information on the treatment. Above the medical description, there was a photo of a smiling woman in her 60s, wearing a pink button up shirt. She had done the treatments and seemed to be enjoying “successful intercourse.”

The type of vaginal rejuvenation treatment I was considering, “gently rejuvenates” the vagina, by delivering a type of therapy known as fractional CO2 (carbon dioxide) laser energy to the soft tissues of the vaginal wall and providing a hormone-free treatment........

© HuffPost