Possible Bowel Damage

Trying to make this a short story I was diag. with endometriosis at 18 I'm now 39. I have had 14 laps, 2 bikini cuts, 1 midline. My last 2 surgeries were 4 yrs ago 2 months apart. The 1st was an emergency surgery to remove an infectous mass in my abdomen perf. by my gyno. thought it was female related, the 2nd we thought it had returned but instead my doc and the general surgeon found a mess. Tons of cycst and fibroids. Took them 90 minutes to find what looked like a tube and ovary. Once they got to it they removed it. They closed me up because of the possibility of damage to other organs. I was told then I would definately need a hysterectomy but I would need a specialist. They said I looked worse than a cancer patient without the cancer. I wasn't satisfied with this and found another dr. she agreed with the others after seeing my file and CT Scans. She put me on Myrana (IUD) to decrease my monthly flow, it has helped tremendously. It's been a little over a yr. that I have had it. Last Oct/Nov started having problems, finally went to the dr. the end of Feb. We talked about possibly trying another method to help since the IUD wasn't working the way it should. But she did the exam and found that my uterus was the size of a woman who is 16 wks pregnant. Well that explains all the pain in the lower back/hips, feeling miserable ALL the time. Okay my question, this 1 hr surgery I have been told will probably be like 4. She is extremely concerned of possible bowel damage because of all the fribroids/cycst, etc. General surgeon will be standing by. Has anyone had this problem with their bowels being damaged during surgery? BTW I have asked that the surgery be done in June, were going to Disneyworld the end of May

I think your dr sounds like she has your best interest at heart. Having a general surgeon on standby sounds like a good idea. That way, if he/she is needed ( I'll pray that he's not ), he/she will be ready.

Best wishes.

S

Well I wish you the best of luck.. I am happy to hear you are taking a much needed vacation. And what a wonerful way to realieve stress.. Good luck sweetie....

Wow, are we sharing the same body or something?? This is amazing as your story is so similar to mine (with the exceptions of the 14 laps - wow!). My first surgery was in '01 to remove a 10cm cyst that they thought was a mucinous cystadenoma and/or fibroids and possibly even cancer, they said the ovary and tube would have to go, but when they got in they found Stage 4 endo that they said I'd probably had for at least 10 years and said it was one of the worst cases they'd ever seen (I had kind of always suspected it). My first thought when they told me all this was "Why the heck did you close me back up and leave it there?!", and I was told there was too much risk of damage to the bowel. I went through 5 more years of medical hell on and off Lupron, hormones and BCPs that she intended to keep me on until menopause, because she said, and I quote "I don't think I could peel your uterus off your bowel." I finally switched doctors and insurance plans for a second opinion. He doesn't see any issues with the surgery, but then he hasn't seen inside me and my old doctor had! There will also be a Gynecologic Oncology surgeon standing by as well as a Urologist (who I'm seeing next week for possible bladder repairs at the same time). I am also going to miss a trip to Disneyland in May with my daughter's choir (they are performing there).

I too would be very interested in hearing from anyone who had bowel adhesion issues and how it turned out. Thanks everyone!

I'm 5 days post-op from a TAH/BSO and had some bowel issues. When they did my lap a month ago, they found my left ovary completely attached to my sigmoid colon. They weren't able to take much of it off due to worries about bowel damage. I had my hysterectomy a few days ago and they did "nick" my bowel, and they had a urologic surgeon standing by to fix it. I think it's making me just slight more sore than I would have been. They also diagnosed me with diverticulosis. My ob/gyn said I need a colonoscopy within the next 6 months. But any chance of bowel damage, they'll have someone (a general or urologic surgeon) standing by. Also be prepared to have do a bowel prep - clear liquid diet with some magnesium citrate (or something like that) before the surgery. From experience, I'll tell you, it feels great to have gotten this over with. I've lost 6 lbs since the surgery. I didn't have the best diet before the surgery, but am going to eat much more healthy now - I'm taking care of my bowel Good luck!!

Listen to your doctor and have either a general surgeon, or a colo-rectal surgeon IN the OR. I, too had endo and underwent a TAH on 1/9/06. I had told my doctor before my surgery that I was concerned the endo was on my bowels, because of the horrific pain when having bm's and the research I had done. She ignored my suspicion, opened me up w/o any back-up and was unable to remove my cervix because it was "cemented" to my bowels. I am now still suffering from the horrible pain with bm's, battling my doctor to continue pain meds (she refuses to prescribe for fear of addiction) and am faced with having to undergo another surgery and live with a colostomy bag. I wish you the best of luck!!