Back from the castle minus the horse drawn carraige...

Hello sisters,
I am finally home after a week long stay in the hospital. Here is my story in a nutshell...On Dec. 12 I promptly arrived at the surgical center at 6:15 am with bag in hand and gifts for all. My IV was placed and my happy shot came next.: I met with the anesthesiologist and my GYN, and off I went to the OR after several little kisses from DH. The surgery would take about 1 1/2 hours according to the GYN. Well, I woke up in recovery at 12:40 pm with a strange man dressed in street clothes swinging around my foley bag and placing my bladder in a not so nice spasm. I asked "who are you, and would you kindly PUT THAT BAG BACK WHERE IT BELONGS!!" He introduced himself as the urologist and stated that my GYN had put a hole in my bladder that he had to come and fix. A not so nice way to put this especially since my GYN is a very good friend of mine. Come to find out what had really happened is the back of the bladder was comletely adhered to the uterus, and my doc had to separate the 2. He performed the hyster and was able to leave the left ovary (thankfully). He was then to do the bladder suspension and close. But he said the bladder just didn't look right and the walls appeared very thin. So he decided to check it by filling it. The bladder promptly burst and blew a hole in the back wall taking along part of my ureter on the left. OOOOOPPPSS!!! The urological surgeon had to come in and fix it. He had to double reenforce it and put a stent into my lt. ureter up to my kidney. Then he placed a big fat catheter through my abd to the bladder to drain the urine. This hideous thing needs to stay for 3 wks. as my bladder is not able to work for that length of time to heal. In 3 wks I have a cystogram to check for any leaks and if all goes well, they can remove it. In 6 wks I have to have the stent removed. I won't bore you with the hospital course- just lots of pain, bladder spasms, fevers up to 103, etc., etc. Now I am taking meds to paralyze the bladder so it doesn't spasm or try to work.Hmmm this was a little more than I bargained for, and now we are obviously unable to move on Dec 29th as planned, so we changed it to Feb.1 I am 1/3 of the way there still with quite a bit of discomfort- not from the incision, but with the kidneys and bladder, and literally cannot do anything. Please princesses-to-be, don't let this post scare you. What happened is an extremely rare occurance and most likely will never happen to any of you.If I had not run into this trouble, it really would have all been ok. As long as your name isn't Laura L.. you will do fine. I always have to venture on the other side- I'm in the medical profession, that's what we do. Thanks to the advice of my hystersisters, I did get an over the bed table, hence I am able to write to you from bed. I would be happy to help any one of you who needs advice. But for now, I bid you goodbye...
I hope everyone has a blessed holiday and a happy, healthy New Year.

Hugs, gentle ones of course... Laura
[Edited by bidj on 12-20-2000]

Glad you're back safe and sound, and sorry to hear you had such a hard time. Rest and heal well.

I wish I could say I was suprised to hear about how the urologist behaved, but my experience with surgeons in general has been positive medically but pretty difficult in terms of bedside manner.

Becca

You're a real trooper!!! I'm so sorry to hear about the "blooper" that occured, but it looks like you could have possibly had some future problems had this not come up now, but who knows.

I too got to come home with a belly catheter. Not due to complications, but as a result of more extensive bladder repairs. After 9 days we plugged up the catheter (though I was getting quite used to NOT having to get out of bed to bother to go sit on a cold toilet seat. Brrrrrrrrrr!)... During the weening process I had to keep track of how much residual urine was left in the cath after each pee break. There wasn't much residual, while the spasms were telling me that they didn't like any of it one bit. Finally got the cath out at day 11. So, now I'm left with what looks like a clean gunshot wound in my belly. Eeeeuuuwwwww! Don't freak out ladies in waiting.... it's really no big deal. Now? I'm drinking lots of water and cranberry juice and going "tee tee" (as they call it around here) as often as possible while my bladder strengthens itself.

I'm so very glad that you're home and recovering, and will be sure to pray for an uneventful recovery from this point forward. Just imagine how boring things would be if we didn't have these little bumps in the road. Am proud of your strength and courage! Do keep us posted on your progress, Sister!
[Edited by PaTony on 12-20-2000]

Oh, I'm so sorry about everything you went through, and are still going through! You're in my thoughts. Hang in there and keep us posted!

I am rather speechless. Hey you sound remarkably wonderful for what you have been through. Good thing your gyn is your friend! But I had been wondering how you were faring and was glad you are feeling well enough to check back in here. Hope that the next few weeks of rest and recovery are uneventful and that you have lots of help. Merry Christmas from Pennsylvania! Tina

Thank you sisters for your prayers, support, and advice. Mostly, thank you for sticking by me. I am doing pretty good now- not too mobile as the stent in my left kidney and ureter hurt when I am up. That comes out in 4 wks, thankfully. The catheter goes in 9 days so long as the cystogram shows no leaks. Cannot wait to loose that too!! But I am hanging tough, and all in all, I would say that despite these few setbacks, I would do this surgery all over again if I had to. No more pain, bleeding, spotting, hip pain, etc., etc. It was worth every minute. And in a few weeks, this will all be behind me. Best of luck to everyone- I'll be checking up on you!! Thank you all for everything!!:

Hugs,
Laura

[Edited by bidj on 12-24-2000]