Perineum Rebuilt ??? When can I sit ???

Hello lovely ladies,

I had a TAH kept ovaries, Rectocele repair, complete perineum rebuild it had totally collapsed, Cystocele repair, He also did Laparoscopic repairs to other parts of my pelvic floor through my abdomen, cleaned out Endometriosis & a Cystoscopy all done on the 2nd March I am 33yrs old.

Got the pathology results back and it showed I had Adenomyosis which had been suspected for some time.

My Urogynaecologist said this surgery was going to be very painful and slow going and boy was he right !!!!!

I am 3weeks and 1 day post op today and am only just starting to feel like the pain is easing, my bowels are working a little better still taking movicol twice a day and careful with what I eat, the gas pains have finally gone they were absolutely aweful. I went for my first walk the day before yesterday made it six houses down and had to turn around - but it's a start.

I can't sit in or on anything yet due to the perineum rebuild, so this makes things quite difficult, would love to go out and watch my son at Basketball or go with a girlfriend and have nice hot choclate and feel part of the world again but guess i'll just have to be patient.

Had a Post op appointment yesterday and my lovely Dr he said I'm healing really really well and couldn't have asked for a better result at this stage.

It was such a relief to hear this as 14 months ago with a different Gyno I had surgery to repair a Rectocele, Cystocele and prolapsed uterus - he wanted me to have a Hysterectomy but I just wasn't mentally ready so I opted for a modified Manchester Repair to resuspend my Uterus.

I had comlications with that surgery I heamorraged after the surgery and lost a huge clot which sent all of the nurses running the doctor thought it could of been a ruptured heamatoma, I had to have catheter in for four days as I couldn't pee. I then got a bladder infection which the doctor didn't beieve me till the results came back then I got a really bad infection in my vaginal wounds and had to have seven rounds of antibiotics to get rid of it.

So yesterday I cried tears of joy to hear from my new doctor that everything is healing in the best possible way and there is absolutely no infection anywhere at this stage - the relief I fell is immense!!!

My heart goes out to all of you lovely ladies who are experiencing any type of complication big or small as this type of surgery is hard enough to deal with without any of those issues on top of it.

I have been reading all of your posts and they've given me so much comfort I would like to say thank you so much to all of you.

I don't feel at all alone going through this with this website and if there is any questions anyone would like to ask me that I could be of some help I would love to.

Just wondering if anyone else has had the perineum repair and when were you able to sit again????

Wishing everyone a speedy recovery and to getting our lives back.

Kangaroo32. :-))))))))))

I didn't have any repairs done so can't help you out with your question about sitting--but I wanted to say : on your good healing. That's wonderful news!

Hi I don't know about the sitting question either. I just have to say wow, you take care of yourself and rest. You had alot done at one time. Can I ask if you had any mesh for your repairs and if your perineal area was from perineal desent. Please take care. thanks

Hi Fritzi64,

Thank you for replying to my post and for your well wishes very much appreciated.

Take care Kangaroo32 :-)))

Hello Little Red 56,

Thank you too for your well wishes, I hope I can answer your questions regarding the mesh and perineum.....Here goes.......

My Urogynaecologist said he would not put any type of synthetic mesh inside my body as he said to me "Mesh is like letting a nuclear bomb off in your body once you've done it you can't take it back".
He said because of my age too 33yrs - that there has been no long term studies done on younger women with mesh put in over the long term.

I can honestly say even before he told me this I was terrified that he would want to use mesh because my previous surgery with another Dr had failed only 14months ago. I did alot of research on mesh and did not want it put into my body but was scared I would have no other alternative.

The first time I prolapsed I think happened gradually since the birth of my first son who is now 9yrs old. I delivered him vaginally and had severe vaginal tearing that was not stitched after his birth and was not discovered till I think it was about 4 weeks later when I started heamorraging and went to my family doctor.

He did an examination to find out what was going on and he told me that I had severe vaginal tears that had not been stitched and also had an infection. It was too late to do stitches as the tears were already healing.

When I knew I had a problem was about July 08 I couldn't have a B.M without splinting I was having real trouble weeing, intercourse was painful, I had a terrible backache and dragging feeling and felt like I needed to carry a bucket around with me because it felt like my insides were going to fall out.

I had just had a Lap for Endo which was confirmed and removed I had the Mirena IUD put in to try and help with the horrendous periods I was having. I had that removed I think it was six months later that thing was another story in itself.

My Endo Specialist referred me to my bowel specialist who had done an excisional heamorrhoidectomy in 06, I got a really bad Anal Fistula after that surgery with him and had to have further surgery to fix that afterwards it was sooo painful.
He diagnosed me with the Rectocele and also a Chronic Anal Fissure, he offered me day surgery for the fissure sorry can't think of the name of the surgery or Rectogesic cream to use which I opted for It took 3months to heal.

He also referred me to a Urogynaecologist for the prolapse issues.
I had my appointment with her and she pretty much said to me that I was too young, I was not overweight there was nothing wrong with me and made me feel it was all in my head. I paid $180.00 for a five minute appointment to feel completely humiliated and insulted - Yeah we just make up that we can't have a bowel motion and have to splint for it to come out!!!!!!!

4 months later I found a Gyno that I thought was going to do a good job and had my first repairs done.

About 2 months after the surgery I said to my mum that when I went to have a B.M that it was trying to come out of my perineum & I had to start splinting there to have a B.M.

I then got a referral to see a highly recommened Colorectal Specialist. I saw him and for the first time in my life I found somebody who completely understands my bowel issues which I have had since a child. He recommended for me to get the Sacral Nerve Stimulator implanted to help with my obstructed defeacation, spastic colon, slight bowel incontinnence from the fistula repair, constipation issues & my dysfunctional pelvic floor.
My Dr said the Sacral Nerve Stimulator would help my pelvic floor function better so as to try and avoid further prolapses. He was aware of what was happening with my B.M's and my perineum splinting but it wasn't bad enough at that time to do anything about it.

I had the Sacral Nerve Stimulator put in last year and so far has given me a fair bit of improvement from the issues I have. I don't think the S.N.S has been approved yet in the USA for bowel conditions only for the Urinary conditions. It hasn't yet been approved here in Australia for the Urinary conditions.

This brings me to Feb this year, I was doing some housework no lifting and all of a sudden felt like I had a grapefruit in my vagina, I knew straight away what was going on.

I made an appointment with my new absolutely awesome Urogynaecologist who I had been seeing about my terrible period problems and Endo issues, I got an app for a weeks time.

He did an examination and told me my Uterus had prolapsed again, I had a large Rectocele again, large Cystocele and my perineum had collapsed as well, there was nothing left.

I'm pretty sure the perineal desent your asking about is what I had. Before this surgery to have a B.M the stool would get caught in the Rectocele - I would splint in vagina then my whole perineum would bulge and I would have to then splint for it to come out. Is this what you are experiencing????

I hope I haven't given too much information but didn't know how else to answer your question without telling you almost everything. I've had all sorts of tests done along the way too.

I hope this helps you in some way and I'm more than happy to answer any other questions you may have.

Take care Little Red 56,

Kangaroo32 :-))))))