My da Vinci story

Well, it happened kind of quickly, but now that I'm on the other side of surgery, I can say that this is a good thing. I have had very heavy periods for the last few years. My GP had ordered a bunch of blood work and found that I was not peri or pre menopause and suggested I look into an endometrial ablation (sp?). Well, this seemed so "final" that I put it off and just dealt with 12 day long periods and an additional week of spotting for another couple of years. Finally, I had enough. I went to a new OBGYN to talk about Novasure. I was a good candidate - as long as I didn't have any unforseen issues when they did the ultrasound.

The ultrasound showed an internal fibroid as well as an external fibroid and my right ovary was 3 X the size of my left. He said we could "try" to take out the fibroids and do Novasure, but it probably would end up with a hysterectomy down the road. I got a second opinion - which confirmed that there was no magical third option and that hysterectomy was the best choice. Sooo....we got it scheduled. One week and one day after I found out it was necessary.

When the doc got in to begin with the daVinci, he found endometriosis - which took about an hour and a half to get cleared up before he could get started on the hysterectomy. My husband says that the length of the surgery - on a Friday afternoon when no one was around to answer questions - has contributed to his grey hair!

Now, I'm 3 days post op and feeling pretty good! I'm cutting back on pain meds and things are improving almost by the hour. I still feel like I need a nap (drugs do that to me) and I'm taking at least one per day (might need another one today) but it was certainly worth it. Minimal spotting the first couple of days - nothing today. I've been constipated and taking stool softeners - and finally got some action in that area today! Taking it easy and looking forward to being back to normal.

I really appreciate this website because it really helps just knowing that there are others out there going through exactly what I'm going through. The emotional support, the suggestions, the sisterhood. I just really appreciate it all. It was a really quick thing to wrap my head around, but your site has helped tremendously.

Thanks to my Hyster sisters!
-Pookie