Has anyone had LAVH with Large fibroids?

My fibroids are 10, 9, 7 cm and more smaller. My ute is 16week size. I've had no children. Has this been possible for anyone with out taking Lupron? 1 doc told me it would just take too long. Let me know what you think.

I can't help you. I chose the Lupron Depot route. Why don't you want the shots? In my case, they were painless and the side effects were minor.

luvtowsurf ~ My last sonogram earlier this year showed fibroid sizes of 5cm, 6cm, 7cm, 8cm and 9cm for the most dominant ones. Uterus is about 20-24 week size. My surgeon says he will have no problem getting all this mess out without trying to shrink them first with Lupron. I just want these "aliens" out of me and can't wait until I no longer look 6 months pregnant! I guess it just depends on the surgeon as to whether or not they want to try and shrink them prior to surgery. Have you gone for 2nd or 3rd opinions? Maybe that would make you feel better, to get other opinions from other doctors. Good luck!

I don't think it's possible for me. I think I must go the abdominal route. Irish Patty? My doc suggesting a vertical incision, what is yours suggesting? I hope everything goes great for you. Good Bye Aliens....Good luck.
As far as Lupron goes, I researched it a bit and don't think it's a good way to go for me. I didn't like the stories that I read and not willing to take the chance, even though it's worked successfully for a lot of women.

My doctor explained the need for an abdominal hyst for my 16 week gestation sized uterus. The uterus is bigger than a full term baby and it would be traumatic to the vaginal area to try and take it out that way. As she put it, it just won't fit through! She did offer me the option of Lupron to try and shrink the fibroids, but since I have polyps as well, I just opted to get it over with, and not wait to see if Lupron would work. My surgery is scheduled for next week, so after its over, I will decide if it was worth going ahead, or if I should have waited to try Lupron!

luvtowsurf - In answer to your question, my doctor is going to do a horizontal incision. When I expressed to him my concen over this type of incision because it goes "against the grain" [so to speak] of abdominal muscles I had heard that it's a little harder to recover from. He assured me that he will do it down low where there is not as great a concentration of these muscles. I too cannot have a vaginal hyst due to the giganzo size of the fibroids. So I think you will be fine with a vertical incision because it's going "with the grain" of the abdominal muscles [no medical advice here, just my own opinion of course]. I came to the same conclusion about Lupron that you did after researching it. Everybody's experience is different, but thats what I decided. Hope this helped. Take care!

luvtowsurf - I thought maybe I should send another reply to your post to clarifiy what's involved in a TAH [Total Abdominal Hysterectomy] because my previous post may have been a little misleading about abdominal muscles. Hope this helps and I apologize if my previous post was misleading in any way. The following is from the Mister Hister Sister web site.
Abdominal Hysterectomy

Often called a “total” and abbreviated to TAH– this is the removal of the uterus and the cervix because together they form the entire uterus. A SAH, is a supracervical abdominal hysterectomy which means that only the main part of the uterus is removed, and the cervix is left in place.

The doctor makes a cut in the abdominal wall to expose the ligaments and blood vessels around the uterus. The muscles in the abdomen are usually not cut, but spread apart with retractors. The ligaments and blood vessels are separated from the uterus and the blood vessels tied off so they will heal and not bleed. Then, the uterus with the cervix, is removed by cutting it off at the top of the vagina. The top of the vagina is repaired by being sewn so that a hole is not left. This is called the vaginal cuff.

This confirms, what I kind of already knew. That it would not be possible for me. I have met with 2 docs now and am feeling pretty good about what the 2nd doc is telling me. she is very confident that the bikini cut will be a good way to go for me. I'm so glad that I took a long list of questions with me to the doc. I would have ended up with a vertical incision, that I would have been very unhappy about. Now I have a pretty good idea of what is going to happen, and I feel somewhat settled about the whole thing. Thanks for all the replys.