ok.. need advise...

as some of you know i have suffered from sever perids for most of my life. clotting, heavy beeding, serious pains and back pains,painful sexect. ect.. ect.. also been fightng with not only the doctors but the insurance company for years, doctors ar dragging there feet becausei have a blood diease and they want to wait it out like thigs will change! well.. i recently moved and hubby just got some new insurance and they will pay for me to see a gyn as well as my blood doctor even though its pre existing as long as its a medical neccessity(like i'd go otherwise!) so now i gotta look andgind a doctor who will not only listen to me but also help me.. but i need to know from you great ladies what i shold go for an abdominal or a vaginal? how do they determine the best for me? what type anestetia(sp) should i request? i just wanna be informed so the doc don't think i'm goofy...lol...
thanks for listening to me and as always thanks for being there.....

Don't know that I can offer much in the way of advice, since I'm still figuring out things myself, but I can tell you that my upcoming surgery (on Monday) will be *either* vaginal or abdominal, and that my doc said she won't know which until she gets started. I have an enlarged uterus, fibroid(s) on the exterior wall, and have never given birth. So, she doesn't know if a vaginal would work for me. Too much stuff, not enough room to drag it through or something like that. On the other hand, if it's all mushy she could maybe still do it. In simple terms, it seemed like she said she can sort of yank on things and see how it looks, then make her decision from there. So, it won't really matter what *I* want - which is actually good, because I wouldn't know how or what to choose. There is less trauma with a VH, so less healing time; but they have a better opportunity to look around with an AH. I'm just going to trust the doctor, and luckily have one I can trust.

As for the anesthesia (sp?) I'm not sure on that either. My pre-ops are tomorrow, and I'm hoping to talk to the A-man directly to see what he recommends, based on my previous experiences. Again, control-freak me is just going to put my trust in those taking care of me.

And, don't worry, the doctors don't expect us to be educated about all the details before we come see them. Just find someone you can feel comfortable with, and who answers all your questions.

Emma

it is good to work it out with the medical folks, figure it out together. My MD and I went over all the incision options together. He didn't want to do VH because he wanted to get my ovarian cysts out w/o breaking them. He gave me the choice of horizontal or vertical incision, with the caution that if things were too crowded he might have to make a horizontal into an inverted T. I said let's start with the horizontal since it is supposed to heal faster but after that write your initials if you have to

Anesthesia, I had a VERY strong bias in favor of being awake, so I went in requesting either spinal or epidural with minimal sedation and none of the "twilight drugs" that make you forget. A-man strongly recommended spinal as I was concerned about having as little anesthesia as possible since weird drug reactions are kind of my hobby, and it went fine.

In both cases, we collaborated. They had the expertise of their fields, I knew my body and my life. I have been happy with the outcomes.

I agree with everything sheltie said about anesthsia. It is a vrey good idea to talk to "A" man and get info on how they do things and what to expect and what you do and do not prefer. I personally have no probs(like nausea) or fears with being put under general. And some ladies just want to be as deeply out as possible. Others don't like the effects of general.(I believe ALL of us want NO pain! ) The twighlight meds can give varing degrees of being put under so you do not have to be awake and aware, but do not have side effects of general. And the epidural and/or spinal will take care of blocking the pain.

However, you will need to talk to doc first, and see what he/she is comfortable with too, and what your particular surg will call for. For me, the bottom line was I wanted the doc to be able to see and have room to do what she needed to do. Apparently she needed to do ab inscion, and she did a beautiful very low cut bikini that at 2 weeks has healed GREAT!! (I did not have to have staples or stitches taken out, they just disolved)

From everything I am reading here, I believe that there are pros and cons to either vag, lap, or ab. But do not assume that lap or vag will automatically mean easier or less pain than ab, b/c the insides are still all traumatized and FULL of internal stitches, and need just about the same time for recovery. I feel like I have done just as well or even better than some of the lap or vag surg patients. So do not be scared or upset if you choose one way, and it ends up being another.

Best of Luck!!

just wanted to thank you girls for being so nice and informative it means a great deal to me that you took the time to not only read what i wrote but to also respond. i figure i will have a abdominal hysterectomy because i had to have a c section and have never had a vaginal birth plus my uterus is very large whatever.. i just want it all out!!!!! right?????
take good care and again thanks for your help!