Shocked to wake up w/ no cervix

I went in for a laproscopic assisted supracervical hysterectomy. I was never informed of any risk to my cervix and had planned on keeping it. I woke up to the doctor standing at the foot of my bed saying "you no longer have a cervix. I am sorry." For some reason I am having trouble with this shock. He says that one of the fiberoids was so low that it was in the cervical wall and so he had to take it. I had lots of ultrasounds of my 2 large fiberoids prior to surgery and he never mentioned that it was even a possible complication. He told me the surgery would last 1 1/4 hours and it lasted over 3. Since he took the cervix he spent an hour to save the little muscles that hold up the vagina so it will not prolapse. I feel a lack of trust in my doctor right now. I am not thrilled with the lack of preparation I had for this. How does life differ with/ without cervix? I am worrried about sex because that is why I wanted to have the supracervical procedure in the first place. Physically my recovery is fantastic. Emotionally I am still in shock.

Dueling,

The first question I would ask is when you signed consents with your doctor prior to surgery, did he mention and include on the consent the possibility of you losing your cervix? If yes, then I don't know what you could do at this point. If no, you might want to thoroughly discuss with him why you weren't told this was a possibility. Discussing your concerns with your doctor is key.

I lost my entire cervix during a radical hysterectomy, but it was because of cervical cancer. Since my surgery, sex [without a cervix] has been no different whatsoever. I can't see that you'd have anything to worry about.

Happy to hear you are healing so wonderfully!

Best,
~M

I can relate to your shock of having the unexpected happen. I had my hyster due to prolapse and had every intention of not having the ovaries touched. When I awoke I found out the doc had to remove one of them due to excess bleeding that he was unable to get under control.

I was well informed that things don't always go as planned and the doc said he would do all he can to stick to what we agreed upon, so I trust that it was something that had to be done. I too would speak express your disappointment to your doctor that you don't feel he properly prepared you for complications that could occur. Obviously nothing is going to change what happen, but maybe it will help him in the future to be sure he is informing and preparing his patients better of what complications can occur.

I had my cervix removed by choice and have never noticed it was gone. Sex afterwards has been wonderful and I often think better than before I had the hyster.

I hope you are able to get some emotional resolve to this. It took me awhile to get over the shock and worry, but once I let it go things have been great

Good luck and I hope your recovery goes well!

~Carebear

Hi!
I had a TVH and obviously had my cervix removed. I can feel no difference whether I have it or not, and it hasn't made a difference to my DH either!

I am so sorry you had an unexpected outcome.

Unfortunately, sometimes the doctors just don't know everything until they actually go into surgery.

When I had my ultrasounds, the doctors told me they knew my uterus was grossly enlarged, and they could identify two fibroids. But when they did surgery, they found I had over 30 fibroids.

They also found that my uterus and bladder were adhered together. It took an extra hour to separate the two organs so they could remove the uterus. The ultrasound didn't identify that problem.

I do hope you get the answers as to why this happened! Best wishes to you.

I know it is a shock, and you choose the type of surgery you want because of certain reasons. But this was probably better than having him sew you back up, and tell you he didn't get everything but saved your cervix. Then you probably would have ended up back in for more surgery.

I also had a vaginal ultasound and a regular ultrasound. It showed 3 fibroids. I had 10, plus I had some cysts on my ovaries that they didn't know about. That explained the "shot in the hip" feeling.

It is a shock though when things don't turn out like you planned.

I hope you feel better after talking to your doctor.

I know how you feel. Not only did I loose my cervix, but BOTH ovaries. I woke up in post op and immediately thought... something is wrong. I just knew it.

The nurse came over and asked if I was in pain and if I wanted meds. I just asked, "please tell me I have my ovaries". She told me no. I had lost everything.

Shocked, you bet. Glad it is over, of course. Did I know going into it that it was possible, yes. He said with out seeing in there, not knowing what all was causing the pain, anything was possible. He was very up front about all of it. I just chose to live in my own little world and not consider the possiblity. I guess that is because I had no idea how bad it really was. I was told I had stage 4 endo and he could not save anything. He tried, but it was not possible.

No cervix is not bothering me or my husband in the least. What gets me is the lack of hormones.

I just wanted to let you know you are not alone. I am sure he would have kept it in if he could. Don't loose trust. He did the best he could I would think.

Take care!

so sorry your surgery took a turn without your knowledge. i think the feeling of not having control or a say in what was done is what freaks us out. from everything i have learned from all the angels on this site is, that it doesn't seem to make a difference whether you keep your cervix or not. i found out at my post op that one of my fallopian tubes had a fibroid wrapped around it and it had broken when my dr. was trying to remove the fibroid. i was totally shell shocked and freaked out. until i left the office and thought it over. i realized that a fallopian tube was pretty expendable since i didn't have a uterus, and the fibroids had made my life hell for 16 years. i trust my dr. and knew she did all the right things. give yourself some time to make friends with the idea, i think in time you'll come to terms with it. can you imagine how frustrated you'd be if that fibroid had stayed and caused you the same bleeding, pain, etc. you had the hyster to be free of? try not to resolve it now, concentrate on healing and getting stronger. if you can put it on the shelf for awhile, i think you'll come to see it in a different light.i'll pray for your peace of mind on this one.

I know exactly how you feel! I went into surgery expecting to have a LSH and retain both my ovaries and my cervix, but due to complications (the docs had already made the three small incisions for the lap, but then spied a growth on my small intestine), a TAH was performed. The ovaries are still in place but the cervix is a goner. The intestinal growth was benign (thank God). When I was in the recovery room (and BTW in no shape to hear any medical details), my gyne explained that the cervix had been taken. I was not happy about it, but what was I to do? In order to remove the intestinal growth and resection the area, a bikini cut was necessary. I wouldn't have wanted them to do a LSH and then have to go in later to perform intestinal surgery. I'm glad that it is all over!

I was more annoyed with the fact that my Dr left a dodgy Ovary (I still have 2)

I was expecting my cervix to be removed so was ok with that anyway.

I have found that since it was removed I no longer have a lot of the pain I was getting during sex and I enjoy it a lot more, I also seem to have more room to accomidate my DH, which again makes things a lot better.

This has worked for me, as I had a lot of problems with my cervix. whereas with my ovary I am now starting to get problems with it again, so know I will end up needing it removed in the end.

No, not shocked, angre is more my mind set.