A little while ago, I returned home from my week and a half post-op check.
While I've had fibroids for at least a dozen years now, they've never been bothersome, and I went through a very uneventful menopause somewhere between 2005 and 2007. It was so uneventful that a nearly missed it altogether. I'd finally given the remainder of my sanitary supplies to a friend in need.
So imagine my surprise -- no make that shock -- when on Mother's Day of this year, I began bleeding. Not spotting, mind you, moderate to severe bleeding. I bled for nearly three weeks without let-up. Knowing that post-menopausal bleeding is not necessarily cancer, it is always abnormal, so I went to my GP who sent me for an ultrasound and blood work. The ultrasound showed a thickened endometrial stripe, which means endometrial biopsy -- not something I was looking forward to, and told them I was not planning to be conscious for it.
I was referred to a wonderful gyn who arranged for a hysteroscopy and diagnostic D&C -- definitely day surgery.
The results came back negative 2 weeks later -- I had the known fibroids and a polyp, which didn't seem to concern my MD much, but gave us the justification needed to schedule the surgery.
My gyn is a DaVinci surgeon and gave me the brochure. The surgery itself was scheduled for 9/9/09.
I was driven to the hospital and arrived shortly before my 6:00 a.m. check-in time. My "driver" was unable to stay, but another friend, who is a member of a threshold choir, did come with us and was with me the entire time. For those of you who don't know, a threshold choir sings to people who are passing on or who are undergoing difficult treatments or illnesses. It is a wonderfully calming experience.
So once I was IV'd and prepped, my friend was allowed in and she sang a number of calming songs to me, held my hand, and sometimes we sang together. It was incredible. She also offered to call my other friends with a post-op report. I gave her a typed list with the people I wanted her to contact. She ended up staying with me all the way through to 9:00 p.m. that night.
I did have Versed on the way into the OR, don't actually remember seeing the DaVinci machine, but recall that someone dropped a mask over my mouth and nose.
I don't remember a whole lot else except coming out of the anesthesia I had a very bad chill reaction -- I remember shaking uncontrollably.
A while later, I was brought to my room. I was pretty out of it, and really just wanted to sleep. I don't recall being aware of much pain. I had requested anti-nausea meds while I was still unconscious. Most anesthesiologists have no problem with that. I also requested no morphine -- I don't know how I react to it and don't care to find out.
As it turns out, I'm sensitive to Demerol and apparently had a bad reaction to it. I believe they switched me to Dilaudid, which I tolerate well from past experience.
I ended up being put in a private room (don't know how that happened, but wasn't going to complain).
As warned by my MD, I had no appetite at all and ignored my dinner (liquid, I'm sure, I was too out of it to bother checking). My dear friend gave me ice chips, which were wonderful. I remember my throat was quite scratchy and the ice helped to ease that.
Sometime that night, they came in with some toradol, which I refused, because I wasn't in enough pain to warrant heavy meds and had no desire for yet another bad reaction.
The first morning, they brought me my breakfast -- supposedly "carb controlled". I'm diabetic and I know that not all carbs are created equal. In addition to the nearly inedible (and I suspect powdered) eggs, they sent me 1/2 a banana, a blueberry muffin and a box of cornflakes. I prefer my carbs green and leafy or at least orange or yellow! I ate the 1/2 banana because I wanted to take a high dose ibuprofen and of course, my blood sugars went through the roof!
They removed my catheter shortly after breakfast and an hour and a half later, I asked to go to the bathroom.
Okay, what I wasn't prepared for was the amount of pain I experienced when I first sat up and then stood up. Whoa! Understand that I'm not a small woman and my belly is fairly large... I discovered that not only was gravity NOT my friend, but my intestines were really angry at having been messed with! And of course, I had refused the toradol (would have made life so much easier, but who knew???). I made it to the bathroom, and just sat there for about 20 minutes, determined to pee, which I eventually did without incident. I limped back to bed and took one of many naps.
Because of my reaction to the Demerol and my pain level at that point, my MD ordered me to stay in the hospital a second night. She also explained how the toradol would take care of my pain without making me too loopy and I would be able to walk without much discomfort. Darned if she wasn't right! I was up and did two circuits of the hallway later that afternoon -- the pain at that point was minimal.
Surprisingly, only one of my tiny incisions hurt -- the upper left one -- and that seems to be common with DaVinci procedures. I asked my MD about it today and she told me that's the incision that the assistant uses to manipulate one of the trochars. There are no instruments in and out,. but the trochar is manipulated back and forth and side to side, thereby stretching that poor little incision. No wonder it's sore!
The other pain (and this was by far the worst that I experienced) was my intestines, especially the area about 4" below the sternum where they probably ended up when the tipped me backwards at about 30 degrees.
I had much less pain the second hospital day. Getting up and down was still uncomfortable, especially that sub-sternal area, but the incisions themselves were totally non-painful.
I think I had managed to fart, poop and pee by the end of the 1st day (I know I farted fairly early on), and the 2nd day was more of same, but I was more alert. I was on toradol the entire 2nd day, so I was able to get out of bed and get to the bathroom when needed. I ate a bit more, but the food was beyond bad, so I did the best I could with it.
All my friends urged me not to go right home once I was released. I figured I could have, but to keep everyone happy, I agreed to go to my mother's for one night, then go home. (I really could have gone straight home!)
Another friend picked me up from the hospital and delivered me to my mom's condo. I vegged out on the couch for a while. It was still uncomfortable, especially changing positions, but do able. I ate a bit, took an ibuprofen and had a pretty good night's sleep.
On Saturday (Day 3 post), my friend came and picked me up from Mom's, we ran by my apartment (I packed my dog's leash, but forgot her collar), then over to the vet's to rescue my darling Sara-dog. Then home, where Sara and I climbed into bed to sort through the mail and the phone messages, after which, I took a nap.
Each following day saw less and less discomfort and I was able to drive by Day 4 or 5 (I was actually allowed to drive the day after, but wouldn't have wanted to). I drove to the store with no problem, but once I got into the store, I felt a bit lightheaded. I leaned on a cart and went verrrrry slowly.
Two days later, I went to the store again with no problem at all... no lightheadedness and enough energy to go to two stores and put gas in the car.
The day after that, I took mom on a protracted trip to Costco. The next day I stayed home and napped! LOL.
Today, 12 days post-op, I saw my doctor. Found out there was NO CANCER!!! Found out why my surgery took longer than expected and owe her forever for not giving up and going with a traditional procedure!!!
My thoughts? I would do it again without question. I was not prepared for some of the pain I experienced, but all-in-all I'm doing really well and each day gets better and better. I'm sleeping well, lost all the weight I gained from the edema plus an additional 10 lbs (probably from getting back to my more healthy diet). Compared to a traditional incision, the laparoscopic procedure is THE way to go!
-- Checking In - Feel Great - Lose Weight The HysterSisters January 'Checking In' eMagazine has been published and should be in your email inbox if you are a regi [More]...
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