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My Happy Laproscopy and Endo StoryFrom: Kathy (anonymous@obgyn.net)Thu Nov 28 08:53:21 2002
Yesterday I had a laprascopy to determine if I had endo. I am 41 years old and have been infertile forever. After much effort and 7 years of fertility treatments, we had a lovely daughter who is now 12 years old. Over the past year, my pelvic pain grew worse and I was aware of it on a daily basis. At times it felt like I had baseballs instead of overies. I had been complaining about it to my doctors for 12 years and finally a year ago one finally said something about endo.He put me on birth control pills which gave me unbearable headaches and nausea so I had to stop them after 2 weeks. (It was ironic taking birth control pills when I was infertile). After searching the Internet and reading stories from others, I realized my symptoms were identical to those listed: cramping pain in the pelvis, bowel and bladder problems, pain shooting down my legs and infertility. I went to a new doctor about 3 months ago and instead of describing my pain I told her "I think I have endometriosis, and I need you to do something about it". She sent me for blood work and to have an ultrasound-both showed no abnormalities. The next step in the process was a laproscopy. For some reason, I was very scared of this surgery. I have had gall bladder surgery, a C-section, D&C and tonsilectomy and was never scared at all. But this terrified me. I couldn't find much info on people's experience with laproscopy, but what I did find were the horror stories. Well I am happy to say that this was a wonderful experience. I checked into Placentia Linda hospital and they took me to admitting right away..They got me settled in my room where I rested watching TV for a couple of hours. Then a nurse came and walked me to the surgical unit. They had my lie down on a gurney and put warm blankets over me. Several people-a nurse, my doctor, two anesthesiologists came and asked questions like "do you wear contacts? Are you alergic to any medications? etc". The anesthesiologist put the IV needle in my hand which burned just a little bit. Then he gave me some medicine to start relaxing a bit, and I was very grateful for that. In about 10 minutes, they wheeled me into the surgery room which is quite intimidating with the lights and machines. People starting putting monitors and stuff all over me, but the anesthesiologist must have put his medicine in quickly because that was the last I remember. It seemed like seconds later I was waking up in the recovery room and someone was talking to me. I was aware of some very minor pain in my abdomen like minor menstrual cramping and also like when you have a little scrape that hurts. But it was not nearly as bad as I was expecting. The nurse in the recovery room asked if I needed pain med and I said no because it really wasn't that bad. I must have been moaning a bit because she came back and said "I'm going to give you some pain meds because you are moaning". My doctor came in and I really can't remember everything she said and unfortunately my husband isn't that good at remembering details. If you have this surgery I would recommend asking the person there with you to take notes when they talk to the doctor. I do remember her saying that they found endo on my left side and a very big lesion on my right ovary which they burned off and removed. She said the one on my ovary burst when trying to remove it so they had to do some sort of flushing. It was two hours after surgery and they wheeled me back to my room. The nurse came in and asked if I needed meds and I said no because it really wasn't hurting very badly at all. The daily cramping and problems really hurt worse. She brought me a sandwhich, soda and cookie which I ate right away. I had expected not to be hungry and had hoped to drop a few pounds, but I hadn't eaten since the night before and was starved. After I ate, they had me use the bathroom and said I could go whenever I wanted. I left about an hour after returning to the room. On the ride home, I did feel a little bit nauseous from the movement of the car because we had a 45 minute drive or so. They gave me vicadin and motrin for the pain which they filled in their pharmacy. I really appreciated that. They also had a rose in the room which I also thought was very nice. This hospital was really great! The people were so caring and friendly. They were awesome.. Today I have a little incision near the bikini line and one in the belly button and they hurt a little when I move. But the amazing thing is that the symptoms I had lived with for years are completely gone. There is no pressure on my bladder, the baseballs in my ovaries are gone. It feels so good! The point of writing this long story is to ease your mind if you are planning on having this type of surgery. I wish I had done it 10 years ago. The pain is so minimal, almost nothing, compared to the pain of living with the endo. Good luck!
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Last Updated: Thu Oct 2 03:38:59 2008