DVH/RSO Very happy (kids mentioned)

Ok. This may be a little rambling, please forgive me.

My problems started 14 years ago I went for my well woman exam. My doctor found I had one enlarged ovary and my pap came back abnormal. (Every pap I have had since has been abnormal)I was only 22 years old and in an absolutely terrible marriage. This was the last thing I needed. I was especially scared because my best friend had been diagnosed with cervical cancer three years earlier at the age of 19.

I went for a pelvic ultrasound. They didn't find anything wrong and I was told it probably had some trauma during the birth of my second child a few months earlier.

Fast forward to last summer (A new dh and two more kids later). I was on top of the world. We were getting ready for our family vacation on the lake. I just started to feel off. Very crampy and tired. I realized I was late and took a pregnancy test. I had a tubal ligation seven years earlier after the very difficult birth of my 4th child. The test was negative, so I took another and another. I had 8 negative tests before I was convinced I wasn't pregnant.

I went to my family dr and she did a pap and a full physical she also ran every blood test known to man. She was in the middle and looked at me and said, "Boy, you're uterus is really enlarged". I asked what that meant and she said that is could mean a lot of things, but bottom line given my history and family's history I was probably going to have a hysterectomy. She also sent me off for another pelvic ultrasound.

Again everything came back normal and she was baffled as to why I was missed that period. When my period returned the next month it was hell. They had never been pleasant. But it was like it was trying to make up for lost time. LOL

I was referred to an OB/Gyn. I kept putting it off, but when I finally went he agreed that hysterectomy was probably my best bet. But, there were other options. He left the decision up to me. Still, noone knew what was wrong with me so I told him I needed to talk with my husband and think about it. This was just before Christmas.

I decided to go ahead and do the hysterectomy. But, I wanted the da Vinci. Dh and I went back and talked with the dr again. A few days later I got the call that I was scheduled for March 5th. That is when I began to freak out and found this wonderful site.

I will tell you all right now that absolute worst moments in my life was the night before surgery. I am very open with my kids and they had known all along what was happening and seemed fine until the night before when my two little girls got really scared and didn't want to go to bed. I went upstairs, tucked them in and talked to them. We cried together and talked about the things we would do together after I was better. (I was convinced I was going to die in surgery. I am a smoker and considered by the doctors to be obese.) I never said the words but I was saying good-bye.

The morning of surgery I barely said a word which you can probably tell is not like me. I had to be at the hospital at 5:30 am for surgery at 7:30. As I waited to be called back I called my dad to tell him we made it safely to the hospital. I was trying to be tough, but I had been softly crying the whole time. When we got off the phone my dad said he loved me. (He is a very loving dad but doesn't say it often.) I lost it and started crying like a baby. Of course, just then, my nurse came out and got me.

I was taken to the pre op area and was asked a million questions and asked my name and date of birth by it seemed like everyone who walked by. I was given a gown and those wonderful undies and a pad. (Auntie Flo had shown up the day before to say good-bye)

I got changed (and gave a urine sample) and got up into the bed. I looked at dh and asked if it was too late to run away. He said yes, it was. The (wonderful) nurse came over and talked to me about what was going to happen. She gave me a little shot of novicaine and then put the IV in my wrist.

My anesthesiologist came over and talked to me. That helped put me at ease because instead the jerk I had talked to at pre op, I got the really sweet Indian guy (I love accents and found his very soothing) who did my daughter's surgery last year. He even remembered her. That made me feel good. After I talked to him I decided that maybe I was going to be ok and decided not to try to run away.

The nurse came back with several syringes. She held one up and said that it would make me drowsy. She put it in my IV and I said, "I don't feel drowsy". That was the last thing I remember until I woke up in recovery asking dh when they were going to take me into surgery. He told me they were done. LOL

I was very cold. They put a ton of warm blankets on me. Dh later told me that when they brought me out I looked like a giant baby because they had blankets draped up over my head. I started to slowly come out of sedation and they moved me to my room. Dh had to leave to be with my kids. Almost as soon as I got to my room I asked to have the foley removed. They told me the dr wanted it to stay in until the morning.

I was getting very hungry and when they brought my broth, I almost cried. (liquid diet for two days before surgery) I asked the nurse when I could have real food. She looked at my chart and told me now. So she went all the way to the basement and got me real food. I was so hungry I didn't even care that it was awful. Swedish meatballs over rice and lima beans never tasted so good.

I napped on and off the rest of the afternoon. By around 8pm I was desperate to get up so the nurse helped me up and I walked for the first time. The whole time I had very little pain. I was around a 2 or 3. No where near as bad as even my best periods.

I kept whining about the foley until the nurse smiled and said that morning could be around 1 am. I was thrilled. Once I got rid of it they put a thingy in the toilet to collect the urine so they could measure my output. Of course, I missed. She just laughed and said that it's ok, they were clearly designed be a man.

I started to have a nic fit. I was walking the halls with my nurse and told her I was going to go downstairs and have a cigarette. She said she couldn't let me do that, but she would get a hold of my dr and see if I could have a patch. She also asked if there was anything she could do to make me happy. I said I wanted a Mountain Dew. She went looking. Only one machine in the whole hospital had them, so to the basement she went to buy me a Dew with her own money. (Did I have the best nurses or what?)

The next morning (I napped but had been up since 4 am) I called dh at 7 and told him I felt good enough to have the kids come. They came (with doughnuts) and I sent him off for GasX at KMart. The gas that morning was the worst pain I had it put me at about a 5.

I had passed all the requirements for going home so I was just waiting for Dr to release me. It was a Saturday and my regular Dr wasn't on call. So this guy in jeans and a sweatshirt wandered into my room. It turns out he was the Dr on call. He introduced himself and examined my incisions then he released me.

The ride home was not pleasant, but not too bad, either. Dh went up to the rent to own place and rented me a recliner to recover in for a month. That is where I am right now, two and a half weeks later. I feel good. I don't have that constant pain in my right ovary that I have had for all these years. I still have a very swelly bellly and very mild discomfort (no pain pills for about a week now), but I know I did the right thing. I wish you well in your journey. Thank you for taking the time to read this book. I hope it helps.