Surgery Update!

I can't believe it's been a month since my surgery! I was taking a break from email and things got pretty busy at work. This is going to be pretty long, but I know it always helps me to read other people's experiences, so I wanted to share my story. Let me give a quick recap:

Surgery was on July 13th, and overall it went well. It took longer than I thought, about 2 hours. In the surgery my doc found:

Endo on my cervix, ureters, uterus and ovaries. Nothing on my bowels! He said it was moderate, not severe. I have really cool pictures of everything that I wish I had digitally to share. He excised all of the endo.

My ovaries were the most damaged. He did this crazy thing with my ovaries, called an oophoropexy, because apparently both my ovaries were twisted and deformed from endo. They were actually sticking to my cervix! The pictures make it look really gross. No I wonder I was in so much pain! So through the oophoropexy he sutured them up and suspended them to allow the area behind them to heal. When he sutured them up, there were 2 tiny incisions on my lower abdomen with little tubes in the shape of a circle that helped hold them up, or anchor them. Very weird feeling.

Including the incisions for the oophoropexy, I have 6 incisions total from the surgery.

Recovery, as always, was a struggle. I have low blood pressure to begin with, and right after surgery it always drops really low and I have a hard time staying awake. My blood pressure immediately post-op was 70/54! I was in recovery for about 3 hours.

Then, of course, you have to pee before you leave, even though you haven't had anything to drink for 24+ hours. After finally peeing, I was sent home around 4:00 with some Percocet and Ibuproferen. So much for being home by 1:00!

I had a really hard time recovering until Thursday. I could not stand up because of the oophoropexy, and it was extremely uncomfortable. Not painful, but I literally could not stand up straight. I ended up taking the whole week off work. I was also leaking a LOT of fluid from the 2 incisions where my ovaries were suspended. I was going through bandages about every 2 hours. It was pretty gross.

That Thursday I went to the doc to have my ovaries "cut loose". WEIRDEST FEELING EVER! He snipped the little plastic tube and I could literally feel my ovary fall back into place; like a little marble or ball being dropped into gel or jello. So weird.

After that, I felt so much better. I was able to walk around and sit up more.

The pain from the gas was also pretty bad this time. I actually had pain up until 2 weeks after surgery.

After 1 week off I went back to work, but I took a few half days. I was still feeling really tired and not totally myself. I was also still very bloated. That didn't totally go away for about 2 1/2 weeks.

About a week and a half after surgery I got my period. It was very painful, and at first I felt anxious, and immediately thought "it didn't work!". But I figured I was still healing inside so that's to be expected.

I am now almost 4 weeks post-op. I feel pretty good, although I never really had pain separate from my period, so the true test will be next week when I get my period.

So that's my story. My post-op appointment was today, but I'll make a seperate post for that.

I have really high hopes that this surgery works. I'll certainly keep updating on (hopefully) being pain free!

Oh, and PS: The enema wasn't that bad! Not good, by any means, but I lived through it.

Surgery is Tomorrow!

We have to be at the hospital tomorrow at 5:15! The Husband is not going to be liking that. Surgery is at 7:15. Barring any complications, I really hope to be home by around 1:00.

I was allowed to eat a light breakfast this morning, which surprised me. I had a couple scrambled eggs. Only clear liquids for the rest of the day. I am going to clean the whole house today and try to keep myself distracted. Maybe I'll make some Jello!

I am still pretty nervous about tomorrow. Of course, I had to go and Google "Laparoscopy complications". Why on earth would I do that?! Apparently the two most common are burning of the bowel and lung embolisms from the CO2 gas. Not really what I wanted to hear, but these complications almost always happen with inexperienced surgeons. My surgeon is the Chief of Minimally Invasive Gynecologic Surgery at the university women's hospital, so I do feel confident in his ability. I've certainly had surgery before with less qualified people!

Oh yes, don't worry, I'm still freaking about the enema. I was mortified walking around CVS trying to find the "Enema Aisle".

I'll try to post an update sometime tomorrow or Tuesday, depending on how I'm feeling. I hope I'll have some positive news to report.