finally have yet another date...

Met with the third and hopefully final doc yesterday and am scheduled for a LSH on the 13th of March. long way from a SAH that was planned but found a doctor with the latest greatest equipment. So now I will not be cut open, will not have 6-8 weeks of recovery, will not have a large wound on my belly , will not need a morphine pump. For crying out loud, this procedure is done on an outpatient basis. I will be home in my own bed that evening. perserverence has paid off for me again.

I'm glad you found a new doctor. I'm a little concerned however that your surgery is being done on an outpatient basis. No matter what the procedure, this is still major surgery. You're having an organ removed. Personally, I would be leary of having this surgery and going home that night. I'd be checking out the success rate of this doctor with this procedure and the procedure itself. Just my opinion, of course.

I hope everything works out okay for you.

Best wishes and s,

Lisa

I've heard that no matter which way you go it's still going to be around 6 weeks recovery. This is really major surgery. I was in the hospital for 3 nights although I could have gone home after 2 but my doc wanted extra time--I think for my DH to have the rest.

If you do go home the same day, then you will really need to go straight to bed and stay there!

Blessings,
TC

becky,

Glad to hear you can have LSH. When I saw no posting on your "can't believe this" thread, I was afraid you'd heard that you would have to have SAH after all, and have to find another doctor.

I'll be thinking of you on March 13th. Are you scheduled for Porter?

evelyn

I'm glad you finally found a dr. I'm 9 days post-op from an LSH left my cervix & ovaries. I stayed overnight, the outpatient wasn't offered to me. I haven't had trouble getting up and down and I'm starting to walk outside a little bit. Its still major surgery so take it easy, I need naps in the afternoon which I hate. I hope this dr. works out for you.

Yes I will be a Porter. I went there for the open house Tuesday evening and it seems to be a very nice hospital.

To the question about recovery, the doctor is saying 10 days, his patients are saying a little longer, but not nearly what it would have been for the SAH. I asked him again when I saw him Wednesday, "How many sutures" and he came up with about 7 total! The trick is his laparascopic tools can cauterize as they cut, that is the difference and it is a big one. This is leading edge technology and will probably become mainstream very soon. The insurance companies love it due to the reduced risks and no hospital stay.

I feel buoyant and smart. I kept in my mind what I wanted out of this and I finally found a match in this doctor. This is the first experience I have had with a "small town" medical system. I am a big city girl and I just feel more comfortable with a big city attitude. I have been treated as an afterthought in my little town, someone who comes after everything else to the doctor. No returned phone calls, I have to present questions before any information is volunteered, I have had to tell them what kind of surgeries to look at and I came after anyone having a baby. This new doc and his entire staff are like my own personal cheerleaders and I feel like I have some value to them other than money. And I will not be bumped for a birth as he doesn't deliver. Even though I have now been pushed deep into my working season for the recovery I am anticipating that the impact will not be as bad compared to a SAH.

I wonder why with so many baby boomers aging that more docs don't do just gyno. OB must be a big money maker. I am not a woman who is attached to my reproductive system. I chose not to have children a long time ago and have not changed my mind. I wonder though about those women who are mothers, who want to be mothers and maybe can't. It is absolutely obscene that those women be treated as I have. I can't imagine what it must be like for those poor women to sit in the waiting area of their OB/GYN with knocked up teenagers coming and going. Or, as I was told Monday when Doc 2 canceled my surgery for Wednesday, "Sorry I failed to book an assistant and by the way even though I can reschedule you will be bumped again if I have to deliver a baby. It is cruel and unnecessary punishment. Don't take it. You come second to nothing, not even a new baby.

I think gyn only practices are becoming more common- some docs are dropping OB because that's what has been driving their medical malpractice insurance premiums up.