vaginal cuff not healed

Hi All,

I went back to the doctor for 4 week checkup and he said I had a scab on the vaginal cuff. He used silver nitrate. Told me not to have sex and if I was still bleeding to come back after a week. Well I waited 2 weeks, bc I didn't want to have the treatment again. I finally went at 6 weeks. The doctor said I have an opening in the vaginal cuff and did another treatment of silver nitrate. He also gave me a perscription for Amino-cerv. Not a drug store in the 20 mile radius had any so now I have to wait until Monday for it to come in. I need to go back to the doctor in a week to see if this helps. No sex again. I don't understand why my incisions on the out side have healed so nicely and the inside is giving me so much trouble. Anyone else been through this?

Hi pantyhose,

I also had trouble with the cuff. I've just had my third treatment of nitrate at 6 months post op. I think it's worked this time. The discharge is almost gone as is the ache and pain I was having. My doctor said that it's just a difficult area to heal because of the condition...dark and moist.

I wonder also if it hasn't something to do with the manner in which we were sewn up. My doctor left a small hole in the center of the cuff for abdominal drainage. She finds this technique helpful, but I wonder if healing doesn't take longer because of it. It will say on your surgical report if you were left open. There is also more than one technique in stitching the cuff and some doctors are debating which is best.

I'm also 56, so maybe my age has something to do with healing. In addition, I had a large, wide, gaping cuff according to the surgical report. My cervix was in bad shape so maybe this is the reason for that.

Well, no matter what the reason, I sure hope you heal fast. You're still very young in the healing process. Take care,
Maralyn

I also am having trouble with the healing of the vaginal cuff. I'm 48 and had an open port LAVH. I was really uninformed on this particular post op complication and was pretty concerned until I started reading some of the posts on your great board here. I am 5 1/2 wks post op and started having yellowish-brown discharge after the first week. I called the doc and he gave me Ceclor. Didn't help so I went in and he did a silver nitrate treatment as well as iodine and gave me Flagyl. That helped a lot but the week after I finished the Flagyl the discharge and REALLY intense burning came back. So I went BACK in and he did the treatment again and gave me more Flagyl. I'm wondering how long this has to go on too. But he explained that it is a dark, moist area so anaerobic bacteria love it and it's harder to kill than regular bacteria. He thinks this time will do the trick, but after listening the the previous reply saying she's 6 months out and still getting treatments, I'm not so sure. We'll see. As long as I'm progressing and he keeps the debilitating burning sensation away, I'll be happy. I also had a really messed-up cervix...covered with cysts so they couldn't even get to the opening without draining off a cup of liquid (I know--ewww and TMI, but that's what the doc said) so maybe that's contributing to the problem? Good luck with your treatments and let us know how you're doing. I see my doc on June 13 for post-op...unless I end up there sooner with this problem. I'll be thinking of you )

Hi shilohridgegal, may I ask where you had the burning sensation?
Here's to a speedy full recovery,
Maralyn

Maralyn...the burning sensation was low in the abdomen and really felt like a bad urinary tract/bladder infection, but more wide-spread. But I know I don't have a UTI. Dr. says I'm just so irritated at the cuff, that I feel it as a burning. I don't know if everyone feels this or not. First day it's tolerable, but by the second day I can't really think of anything else. When he does the silver nitrate application, I have relief within an hour. Did you have any type of burning sensation, or just pain?

Hi,
I had the burning inside to the left, deep. It's right below the incision line but above the pubic bone. Weird! It burns like the size of a quarter. I always thought it was adhesions and or a ligament attachment problem. Anyway...I'm happy to say that since I've had my 3rd treatment the burning is only there about 10% of the time now. Before, it seemed constant when I moved and always prevented me from bending, etc. It would also wake me up at night!

Doctor said if she could see granulation on the vagina side that the internal side of the cuff was really not healed and causing all the pain....guess she was right. And...like you, I always felt relief right after the treatment.... then it would come back and sure enough within 2 more weeks she'd have to do another treatment.

Best of luck with this. I feel it's all apart of the way we are trying to heal, and at least there is a treatment and we'll be good as new soon.
s
Maralyn

Oops...I forgot to add that the burning was on the left and my doctor said the left side of the cuff was alot worse with granulation.

Best of luck,

Yeah, my burning is worse on the left too and the achy burning feeling often makes it hard or impossible for me to bend over. My dr didn't say anything about granulation, but I will mention it to him when I go back. It IS good to know that healing is happening, although more slowly than I expected compared to most of the women I know personally around my area who had hysterectomies. This whole experience has been harder and longer than I expected, especially after having 3 c-sections and a tubal ligation. I thought I had a pretty good handle on what it took to recuperate from abdominal surgery--and with all those, I had a baby to take care each time too. Granted, those were 16+ yrs. ago and I'm much older now. But still, there seems to be a lot of taking 2 steps forward and 3 backward even though I'm not overdoing it. Well, except for one day last week when I was feeing pretty good and decided to gently pull weeds in the garden for 30 min. or so. Didn't hurt at the time and I was careful, but I paid for it during the next few days. I learned my lesson--one good day doesn't mean all the following days will be good. So after that, I haven't done anything I'm not supposed to do and I'm taking extra care to eat well and take my vitamins. And still, I feel like I'm struggling through the healing process. Guess I just need to be very patient and be happy that I'm not having more problems. My heart goes out to you gals posting here that are suffering so horribly with your surgeries and some are facing still more surgeries. I'm glad we're all here for each other. It has helped me soooo much. And thanks for your input, Maralyn. Sounds like we're going through basically the same thing. I'm glad you're so far along on your healing and hope this was the last treatment you'll need and that you're well on the road to feeling better.

This is news to me! Help Sisters, after reading the posts on the vaginal cuff problems I am really getting nervous! What the heck is that for???? Scheduled for a TVH on June 29th. What is the vaginal cuff for? I was really under the impression that this type of hysterectomy was going to be a "piece of cake!" no incisions or stitching, only 1 week of help around the house! DR says it will be similar to childbirth which was no problem for me. Am I being niave? All I heard was 100% effective surgery for bleeding, clotting and pain and I was on board! In hindsight, what particular questions would you have asked DR before surgery?

The vaginal cuff is sewn so you won't be open after your cervix is gone. They say to think of it like the opening of a sock that has been sewn closed. I also had TVH and had minor problem with cuff inflamation and took augmentin for a week and have had 3 silver nitrate treatments, which is cauterizing. I had some discomfort but it wasn't overly painful. I am 8 weeks now and was cleared to return to normal activities at 6 1/2 weeks. Glad to report sex is just fine. It was a bit oncomfortable the first time but not painful and it got better after that. Everyone heals differently and you may not have any problems at all. I really can't complain overall because it could have been much worse. My only regret about my surgery is that I waited a year after finding out what was wrong before I had my surgery, wisj I did it last year! Good luck to you.