in pain 11 days post-op

I had my surgery tah/bso on 07/08/08, I think I'm doing very well. Besides being exhausted at times and not being able to stand for long periods I keep getting sudden urges of pain which is very crippling. My dr told me that he removed the endometriosis but didn't remove all the scar tissue on my colon because it would have caused more damage. Could I possibly still have endometriosis after all this? I am not on any HRT yet because I just quit smoking 11 days ago and he wants me to be smoke-free for 6 weeks first, but I just read that estrogen is what causes endo, sorry not what causes, since nobody can say exactly the cause but helps produce or enhance, so why would I want that anyways? I also read that I should avoid red meats because of the estrogen in that along with a list of other foods. The pain I am having does feel like the endo pain I have had, I of course feel the pain from the surgery but that is far better than a week ago.

I am sorry you are dealing with some terrible pain issues. Yes, you could still have endometriosis since there is no cure for endometriosis and your doctor might not have seen all of it or been able to rmove all it -- since the scar tissue around the bowel was not removed, possibly there is some endometriosis in that area as well. The pain could also be from those adhesions that were not removed. Since those adhesions are in the bowel area you may be feeling pain as your bowels attempt to get back to normal following your surgery. Additionally, the pain could be part of the healing process especially if you are starting to move around a bit more. Do let your doctor know about your pain and see what he suggests.

I would suggest keeping a journal detailing your symptoms. Also keep track of your medications, vitamins, and supplements along with what you are eating and drinking. Maybe you will see a pattern such as the pain always occurs after a meal.

And to address your question regarding estrogen -- while estrogen feeds endometriosis allowing it to grow and spread, estrogen is also benefital for our overall health, helping our cardiovascular system, bones, skin, eyes, libido, etc. Depending on your age, estrogen could be more important for you than for someone else. I retained my ovaries, even with stage IV endometriosis, because I was only 25 and my overall health needed the estrogen so for me the pros outweighed the cons. Talk to your doctor about your thoughts and concerns so the two of you can decide what is best for you with regard to HRT. Women with endometriosis can use progesterone along with the estrogen to try to help keep any endo at bay.

I wish you all the best and do feel free to post any of your endo questions over in our Endometriosis Support! We have both pre and post op women posting there about their issues with endo! s