Bladder Sling -- not sure what to do...

I had a vaginal hysterectomy & bladder sling 10/2. Recovery from hysterectomy was great, no pain minimal bleeding & I feel great! The problem is that it's been 6 weeks & I still have to self cath. I changed urologists because I totally lost confidence in his abilities & had some horrible post op experiences. Anyway, now the new urologist wants to remove the sling. After extensive testing, she thinks I will be fine without it & says I probably didn't need it to begin with & if I have problems in the future we can discuss other options before considering surgery again. My gyn thinks it's a bad idea to remove the sling, but I'm not really sure he's looking out for my best interest any more. The only reason I got the sling to begin with was because he said after my hysterectomy my bladder wouldn't have any support & I'd have a serious incontinence problem even though I didn't have a problem before. The urologist he recommened agreed without doing more than a pelvic exam on me.

So it's so long, but what I really want to know is has anyone had similar problems & how did your doctor handle it. I trust my new urologist, but I'm afraid of another surgery. What would you do?

catmat--

I'm sorry you are still having such problems so long after your surgery. 6 weeks is a long time to have to self-cath. I think you've been a real trooper to have had to put up with it for so long. There have been many women here on Hyster Sisters who have had to self-cath and also many women who have had their slings removed. If you do a search of the forums (purple bar at the top of the page), you will be able to find their posts.

I had to self-cath for only a very short time after my original hyst--I got to stop by the 2nd day. I did have several mesh removal surgeries however and have extensive experience with that. My mesh was for an anterior repair and was likely in a larger area than most TVT or TOT-type slings would require. Most of those were outpatient surgeries and were not that difficult to recover from. Please ask your Dr. about what the recovery time might be if you are worried about it. It may not be as bad as you are dreading.

Sending many +++ thoughts your way........

This sounds really hard. I had bladder sling surgery 4 or 5 years ago. I suppose my sling is still there. I need to ask my doc about that when I go in for 6 week check. Right now, my bladder still seems funny. I don't know how to explain it.

I have a mesh piece for a repaired umbibical cord hernia. Sometimes, I think I can feel the piece.