Wow, I’ve been beating myself up because one day several years ago I noticed a very faint scar over one eyebrow (very faint, clearly old) and cannot recall how I got it.
I’m only 43 and if I hadn’t sneaked a read of a neighbor’s copy of Our Bodies, Our Selves I wouldn’t know 2/3 of what I do about sex and reproduction, which isn’t all that much.
Maybe if someone had had an ablation but all she remembered was that she’d had “a little procedure” - I don’t know. I’m guessing.
From what I understand (and I’m too lazy to Google right now), ablations destroy the part of the uterus that forms the lining, and the uterus itself is not removed.
I’m 30, and I have all my bits, thanks. I know - I’ve seen them on the CT scan images, complete with nasty burst cyst the size of my hand. That was a lovely sight.
I will also point out that I was raised extremely cloistered, in the Bible Belt, and the first time I saw *any *human sexual anatomy was when I was in college. Up until that point, I had very shaky ideas of what things looked like on the outside (I had been informed that looking was evil), and absolutely no clue what was inside (I had a womb, but no idea how anything actually worked). I had my first “women’s health check” when I was 20, and I was PETRIFIED the entire time - I had to have a prozac before they could even get me to undress.
When they found out that my hymen was already broken, they wanted to know why I didn’t tell them that - I told them I had a bike accident when I was 6 or 7, and all I knew was that I went to the doctor because I had “hurt my unmentionables” - no one ever explained any further, and I was way too ashamed to have something happen to “those bits” to ever ask for more information. I still don’t know if I had stitches or anything.
So, yeah. I can very easily see where some of these ladies may simply not know.
I would cut them some slack. Women often lose their parts in connection with very traumatic times, emergency c sections, traumatic births, still births, cancer treatments. Sometimes human beings get through difficult times, by glossing over the most worrisome parts and focusing on something else instead. Some women didn’t want to know more details than ‘you won’t get pregnant again’. People are just human after all.
This thread is making me sad. 
Well, yeah, I mean as in crampy pain. For me that gives me a pretty clear location: low down, definitely way under the stomach and different pain from bowel crampy pain. When there’s no cramps I am not aware of having a uterus at all, I never really thought about that. I think it’s less active than your stomach, I pretty much always aware of feeling my stomach. I’m either hungry or digesting 
I’ve never felt my uterus being poked, I don’t think.
I guess it just varies per person. But there are certainly times when I am very aware of my uterus, because it f-ing hurts! Like now 
ETA: even among the enlightened Dopers, knowledge of anatomy is somewhat lacking. Over in another thread a poster claims that the term “baby bump” refers to a woman’s stomach. I suppose ways people refer to the general area confuses matters: I’ve heard “stomach” before referring to specific body parts that are not the stomach. Then there’s tummy and belly.
Why?
I still have my uterus, but it is missing its endometrium-I had ablation a few years back. I’m 54.
This sort of thing happens all the time. I can’t count the number of patients I have seen who have no idea what medications they take (except maybe “That little yellow pill”) or what surgeries they’ve had. I think there are a variety of reasons for this. In some cases the doctors may not clearly explain things. In other cases, the patient may not be paying attention, may not have the education to understand what’s going on, or if it was a long time ago they may have truly forgotten. I can believe that someone may not consider a hysterectomy 30 years ago relevant to their life now and may truly have forgotten.
If it’s really important to the situation to try to figure out if the woman has a uterus, you could try asking her if she remembers how old she was when she stopped having periods and if she remembers if she had any surgeries around the time she stopped having her period. That MIGHT help clarify things if the hysterectomy was done prior to menopause.
And, of course, if the woman is not very obese, it might be possible to palpate the uterus on a bimanual exam.
I can see my mother being uncomfortable with the question and answering “I don’t know” simply because she’s embarrassed talking about lady parts and just wants to get the questioning over with.
See, and here I am all set to go pedantic on your ass because the word “still” clearly restricts the question to those who have had a uterus at some point in their life, which already lets out all those who weren’t born with one and needs no further qualifying. 
I like this. A lot. Yes, still have all my parts. 47, post menopausal.
Still have mine at 55, longing for menopause to start!
Had my uterus and one ovary removed in '05 due to pre cancer which they found to be invasive type…NO regrets…no menopause yet…my mom never went thru menopause hell so hopefully I won’t either!!
The only circumstance I can think of for this would be involuntary sterilization, a circumstance where the children/teens involved often weren’t told they were about to have major surgery, and often weren’t told what that surgery was even after it was done, but that mostly died out in the 1970’s. Still, most of those folks have figured it out by now, enough so that encountering two women uncertain about uterus possession in one year would be remarkable.
Then again, it’s the people with the problems that you tend to see as a nurse, not the ones lacking problems, such as uncertainty as possessions of internal organs.
My uterus and associated accessory organs were removed when I was 35 thanks to a particularly nasty case of endometriosis. My appendix and about 8" of intestine went at the same time. I was really upset, since we were hoping to have another baby, but as the period-free days continued, I reconciled to my loss and actually decided it was good to have it all gone. I’m 58 now, and I’m even kinda glad we didn’t have another kid, having put one thru college sans debt.
I said Squirrel. I’ve got most of it, but not all.
Shoulda had “sometimes” as an option (thinking of tales I’ve heard of extreme prolapses - ewww).
Oh - and mine is still in there though I’d pretty much forgotten about it… until a few weeks ago when it decided to have a youthful fling and behave like a 22-year-old. Kind of a WTF? moment, then I had to scramble through my toiletries to find some long-forgotten emergency supplies. It had been 2 years since I’d needed those!!!
I’m 66 and still have the original lady parts – although I’m sure they’re pretty withered by now. But your comments about your 70-something and 80-something patients made me think about my own mother. She is now 88 and in assisted living. She’s had 2 small strokes in the past couple of years – small enough that they weren’t diagnosed immediately and didn’t appear to cause any lasting physical damage but large enough to cause some memory loss and confusion. Her last stroke was a year ago. Immediately afterward, she was extremely confused, but she’s been gradually improving. At this point, I don’t think anyone would say she’s suffering from dementia but there are parts of her memory that are just gone. She had spinal surgery two years ago and was hospitalized for a couple of weeks but doesn’t remember it. On the other hand, when I take her out for a ride and we go through some of the old neighborhoods, she remembers who used to live in which house. The older memories are pretty much intact but the newer ones don’t seem to “stick.” I don’t have any medical training, but I’m starting to see that as we age, some memories just don’t seem to hang in there. I’d be a lot more surprised if you were getting the same “I don’t know” responses from a wider age range, but for seniors, I’m just not all that surprised.
I don’t believe you mentioned the setting in which you’re encountering these women. Are they still living independently or are they in some form of retirement community? I’m guessing that the ones who are in a retirement community are much more likely to have some cognitive deficits which could explain the responses you’re getting.