TAH/RSO - with mini tummy tuck

Lets see, it all started back in high school. I had such bad periods that I would have to go home. I had my daughter at 20 and was fine for about three years. The periods started coming back strong and long. I went to my regular doc and he did a d/c and a lap. They took most of my right ovary and a lot of adhesions. No endo, thank god, but my uterus looked "boggy". No one tells you how horrible your next period will be after a d/c but I made it through. Made it about a year when again the pain was back and worse. Went to my regular doc who again was going to do a d/c and a lap. Went to hospital for pre-op all checked in and waiting on the table when they get results and they think I'm pregnant. WHAT? yep, I've got low readings of HCG or whatever chemical it is that your body makes when your pregnant so they can't do the surgery. I say, wow, wait a minute, can't be pregnant. They say, well, you are, I say, no I'm not. Doctor says well, it could be the cyst is so large that it's causing your body to believe its pregnant. So, I go through an ultrasound and an internal ultrasound. No baby, but there still getting the readings of that chemical. My doc says sorry, he can't do the surgery if there is a chance that I am pregnant. I'M NOT!!!!!! Now, I'm getting worse and in horrible pain. My friend works at a gyno office and she says come in and see her doc. He's wonderful. Yes he was. He does the surgery the next morning and there was no baby. Out comes more adhesions and more cysts and now the uterus is enlarged and boggy. At follow up I say, if this doesn't work I want it all out of there. He says ok. I make it to my 30th birthday when it all comes back again. Time to go back and see what can be done. We try birth control pills for awhile and that doesn't help so on August 11th, 2000 5 days before my 31st birthday I go in for an abdominal hyst. I decide that I might as well get rid of that baby fat that never went away with my daughter and get a mini-tummy tuck at the same time. My ob-gyn did it for free by calling it abdominal hernia repair.

August 11th comes and I go in at 5:30am. Getting all set to go when my doc comes in and says, I'm sorry no one told you but there is a spot on your left long and we won't be able to do the surgery. Talk about hysterics. Thank god my mother was there. They had to give me valium I was so hysterical. Eventually they decided to do it anyway and that I would just have a cat-scan or something afterwards to see what was on my lung. I wake up after surgery and boy was I in pain. Besides the hyst and the mini tummy tuck they also found a hernia in my bowels through the abdominal wall. It took 5 hours of my mom and dad pushing the darn button every 10 min's and two booster shots before I stopped crying. I think the mini-tummy tuck combined with the hyst was a little too much. At one point they asked on a scale of 1 to 10 what is your pain level. 37! My dad left at about 3 and my mom left at about 7 when my friends came. That night they made me get out of bed and try walking. I had a belly wrap on, a drain tube out of my stomach and a lot of other tubes and wires hanging all around me so that was fun. I made it about half a hallway and sat down. Made it back to bed and that was it. My friends left and I was out. The next morning I walked a bit more and every several hours I would try to do that some more. Went for the cat-scan of my lung and it turned out to be something left over from a cold. Nothing to worry about. The pain was bearable now but I was still pushing that button every 10 min's while I was awake. I went through three fill ups of demeral my entire hospital stay. Went home on day three and continued with my walking. I stayed with my grandma so that really helped. Someone waiting on you really helps because you still do a lot of sleeping.

Went home to my own house on my birthday evening on Aug 16th. and things were progressing normally. I probably over did it some in weeks three and four and probably shouldn't have swept the floor or done the laundry. I got some pretty good size bumps on my scare from doing that but I slowed back down and they went away. I went back to work at five weeks. I answer 911 so I sit all day. No strenous activity so I was cleared to go back. I could have taken more time off but I was getting bored and running out of sick time.

Now it's almost four months and I feel great. My energy level is more then it has ever been and no periods are wonderful. I kept my left ovary so I don't have to take any hormones for now. I have to keep up with abdominal exercizes or I'll lose the mini-tummy tuck but I can live with that. Oh, they did confirm what I thought all along. I had adenmyosis inside my uterus. Thats what all the horrible periods were about. So, if your in a lot of pain and having horrible periods I say go for it. It is worth it in the long run.