Central Massachusetts–based Emy C. told us she had uterine fibroids—noncancerous growths that appear during childbearing years.26 They range in size from tiny undetectable specks to masses that can swell the uterus and leave a woman doubled over in pain. (They’re very poorly understood, and it’s not clear why some women get them and others don’t, in part—wait for it—because they’re not studied very much.)
