How I Got My Groove Back (Mona Lisa Touch)

I got the last period of my life on March 4, 2016. One chemotherapy infusion of Adriamycin and Cytoxan was all it took to end something that I had experienced every 28 days, with the exception of two pregnancies, for 37 years.

Hello, menopause. I was 50 years old and it was bound to happen at some point in the next few years. But I wasn’t quite ready and would have appreciated a little warning.

Six months after my first chemo, I was starting to feel like a sexual being again. But I quickly found out that my vagina was not the same as it used to be. After a few months of using Vagifem low estrogen vaginal suppositories, sex was not as painful. But that wasn’t good enough for me. I wanted sex to be more comfortable.

My gynecologist recommended a consult with a urogynecologist who offered a procedure in her office called the Mona Lisa Touch.

The Mona Lisa Touch is like laser therapy for your vagina. A wand that emits laser energy is inserted in to your vagina and moved around for a few minutes. The laser causes some trauma to the tissue which then stimulates a healing response of producing more collagen. The procedure is mildly painful but the promise of almost painless sex had me wanting to do it immediately.

Even though my insurance would not cover the $2,100.00 cost. Yes, I typed that correctly. $2,100.00. That covers three treatments that are done at six week intervals.

For a few hours after each treatment, my vagina burned. Like my hemorrhoids had months prior. But the burning would go away and a few days later I would lube up my vibrator to test drive my vagina and see how I was healing. When using the vibrator didn’t make me wince in pain, I would get my husband to come test it out.

I had the three treatments over a four month period last summer and I would say that, eight months later, my vagina is at 90% of where it was before I started chemotherapy. I am still using the Vagifem because it works differently than the Mona Lisa. I also started applying fractionated coconut oil to my vulva a couple nights a week before I go to bed.

I think that the three things together help keep my vagina youngish. And if too much time goes by, and my husband and I haven’t had sex, I tell him we need to get our money’s worth. It’s not the sexiest come-on line but it works!

On a roof in Trinidad, Cuba, March 2017