Re: To andrea
From: D (anonymous@obgyn.net)
Mon Jul 30 11:22:17 2007
Well, I still can't stand for more than a few minutes or I start to get
very sore, but when I'm laying down I feel pretty good. I'm sleeping a
lot, which is good because I'm starting to get bored! Even sitting up
straight in a chair is an effort I can only do for a few minutes at a
time. (Right now I'm propped up on the couch with the laptop resting on
my thighs, which is fairly easy to manage.)
He did a cystoscopy, and it did hurt when the nurse pulled the catheter
out the morning after surgery - she didn't know he had done the scope.
Now it seems like I'm urinating a lot - I had to get up about 6 times to
pee last night, but it's hard to tell if that's just because I'm
drinking extra fluids or what (to ward off constipation). It doesn't
hurt to urinate, but if I try to bear down and really empty my bladder,
that hurts some.
I was really nervous about getting constipated and it hurting to use the
bathroom, but I've been taking stool softeners and so far it hasn't been
bad at all. Considering that before surgery sometimes bm's would make
me vomit, it's definitely better than that! There's still a little
nausea, but again, it's not nearly as bad as it was before, and I know I
need to be patient and let myself heal. I was really worried that it
would make me sick and throw up and I'd pull out my stitches or
something, but thankfully that hasn't been the case!
My procedure was also out-patient, it was a "23-hour stay" - they kept
me overnight, but less than 24 hours so it was still considered
out-patient. After my first lap they just woke me up and rolled me out
of there as soon as I could stand - it was MUCH nicer to wake up and not
be rushed, not to mention that I was hooked up to a morphine pump
overnight. I know this was approved by my insurance beforehand, I think
it's mostly up to the doctor but I'm not sure - it might also have been
the policy of the surgical hospital I was at.
I'm guessing I'll be back to doing most normal activities in about a
week, but that's probably a little overly optimistic. Maybe two weeks
is more realistic! I live on the 3rd floor, and getting up here wasn't
too bad, but I'm not ready to try it again yet!
Thanks for writing! I hope you can get the surgery scheduled soon!
At Sun, 29 Jul 2007, andrea wrote:
>
>Wow! That was fast! I did not think you would be up to writing on here
>for a while. Glad you're doing better already. :) I guess that's how a
>GOOD surgery DONE CORRECTLY should feel!!
>
>A couple of things I would like to ask if you don't mind.....I am scared
>of it hurting when I use the bathroom after surgery, especially with the
>bowel-prep stuff and all that, ugh. You have not had any probs with
>that? Sorry, I don't mean to be so personal, but that is one of my
>biggest fears.
>
>And, my doc keeps telling me that this is an out-patient procedure! They
>charge $15,000 just to use the damn hospital room ($25,000 total), but I
>don't even get to stay over night. I live on a 4th floor apartment, I
>would NEVER make it up here! Do you have to approve a night's stay with
>your insurance first, or does it just depend on how bad you feel after
>surgery?
>
>I remember when I was a kid, I stayed in the hospital for 3 days just
>for getting my tonsils out...and NOW I am going to get ALL my insides
>messed with and they're sending me home? As of now, I still don't have
>anyone who can commit to taking care of me for a few days, so that
>really worries me and I'm trying to get a lower insurance deductible
>too. I want this done ASAP, cuz if it gets too close to the holidays, I
>know I won't do it.
>
>Talk to you soon,
>
>--
>Andrea
>
>At Sun, 29 Jul 2007, D wrote:
>>
>>Hi Andrea - Thank you!! I'm still sore, but I'm doing pretty good :)
>>
>>The surgery was thursday afternoon - it took about two hours, and Dr.
>>Cook talked with my boyfriend afterwards and said that he removed "lots"
>>of endo and some adhesions, too. The adhesions were mostly on the left
>>side right where I had been complaining of the pulling pain! He also did
>>a cystoscopy and found a few spots that might be IC, but it didn't look
>>too bad. I have some frequency with urination, but only rarely have
>>pain so that's about what I expected he'd find in my bladder.
>>
>>I was really out of it after the surgery and didn't talk to Dr. Cook,
>>but I barely remember talking to the nurse anyway - she told me they
>>found endo and I was so happy I cried! I was terrified I'd come out and
>>again they'd tell me they didn't find anything, so it was a huge relief
>>to finally an answer - even better, I could feel the difference almost
>>immediately. It's like there's something that's not there anymore, I
>>think it's really gone! I already don't feel so sick and my temperature
>>is normal, where I had been running low grade fevers almost daily for
>>about eight months earlier. He did a uterine suspension to tip my
>>retroverted uterus forward, and I think at least part of relief may be
>>from that - I don't know how to explain it except that things seem to be
>>sitting right somehow? He called me at the hospital Friday morning, but
>>even then I was still groggy and couldn't think of questions, I just
>>knew I already felt better.
>>
>>I have copies of the photos but I forgot to ask him about the video; I
>>hope we'll view it at the post-op (this Friday) and I really want to see
>>it! I can see where he removed a lot of endo/tissue from the pouch of
>>Douglas/cul-de-sac area, ligaments, pelvic sidewalls especially on the
>>left - the lesions were varied - there were very subtle clear flat
>>lesions that could only be seen with the light shining on them just so,
>>some places looked angry red layered with white fibrous tissue, there
>>were flat red ones, clear blisters, little red blisters and spots, and
>>at least one big nasty looking adhesion involving my sigmoid colon. He
>>didn't find any endo actually on my colon, I did remember to ask him
>>that, it was near it and next to it - I had a lot of bowel symptoms and
>>before I started taking the pill even had blood with bowel movements
>>around my period, so I guess it really can cause a lot of irritation
>>that way.
>>
>>Comparing the new photos to my first lap (June 2006) it's obvious the
>>first doctor did not know what she was looking at, and didn't get close
>>enough. It definitely got worse over the year, but you can see the
>>bumpy reflections and red/white areas in the 2006 pictures that have now
>>been excised! I thought that first doctor was "good enough" because she
>>did excision - I was terribly wrong about that. If any doctor starts
>>talking to you about "microscopic" endo be very skeptical! In my
>>experience that only means that they don't know what all the different
>>types of endo lesions can look like.
>>
>>I won't really know how well the surgery worked for a few weeks, but so
>>far things seem very good. I'm only taking a little more pain meds than
>>before the surgery, and I don't have that horrible sick feeling -
>>whoever has been standing on my guts for the past several years has
>>finally gone! The hospital was very nice, it only took the nurse one try
>>to get my IV in, the room was private and my boyfriend stayed on the
>>sofabed - I don't know how much better it could have gone! Thanks for
>>the good wishes, if you have any questions please let me know!
>>
>>All the best,
>>
>>--
>>D.
>>
>>At Sat, 28 Jul 2007, andrea wrote:
>>>
>>>D, know you probably don't feel well enough to check this site out right
>>>now, but when you do,
>>>I just wanted to say I HOPE YOU HAVE A SPEEDY RECOVERY AND FEEL LOTS
>>>BETTER REAL SOON!!!
>>>
>>>Hugs!!
>>>
>>>--
>>>Andrea :)
>>>
>>--
>>Find an endo specialist in the ERC's EndoDocs group:
>>http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EndoDocs/
>>
>>Try an excellent endo support group:
>>http://groups.yahoo.com/group/erc/
>>
>>Info on pain management:
>>http://www.painfoundation.org/
>>
--
Find an endo specialist in the ERC's EndoDocs group:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EndoDocs/
Try an excellent endo support group:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/erc/
Info on pain management:
http://www.painfoundation.org/
![[ endo@obgyn.net ]](../../images/endo_at_obgyn.gif)