Another very nervous newbie

Long story short...undiagnosed endometriosis for the last 14 years. My new GYN did a concious sedation pain mapping on 11/26 and lo and behold...there it was. Anyway, two MRI's and several sonograms later no one can say for sure if I also have lots of little fibroids and/or adenomyosis. But , I am tired out and sick of bleeding and have decided for the Laparoscopic supracervical hyster and excision of endometriosis. I am scheduled for January 7th. I am also planning on removing my remaining left ovary. I have chronic ovarian cysts and they hurt! I am scared to death of HRT since I don't want to get this far and chance having the pain come back. Oh heck, I am torn about the whole thing to tell you the truth. But 14 years of pain is long enough. Anyone else have the lap supra cervical????? How about HRT after surgery for endometriosis? I felt wonderful while on Lupron with the exceptions of nightsweats and a few hot flashes. Will surgical menopause be about the same????
Sorry for all the babbling...I am starting to get down to the wire here and panicked a bit. I am so glad I found you and any and all reassurance you can offer will be appreciated!

Hi Freebird! Welcome to hystersisters. I didn't have the same procedure you are having...had a total vaginal hyst in Aug. 01...kept ovaries. But, I did want to tell you alot of ladies have had that procedure and will be along to help. For hormone help go to the HORMONE JUNGLE :

http://www.hystersisters.com/vb2/for...111?styleid=14

The ladies over there are very helpful with HRT. Well, lots of s and I'm sure you'll get lots of good answers!

Merry

Sherry

Hello and welcome to hystersisters Freebird. This is truly an amazing group of women. We'll be with you every step of the way.

Hi! I had the LSH almost 6 weeks ago. I remember searching for others on this site that had it and it didn't seem like there were very many. I'm not sure if it's a new procedure or what. I had a complication after mine so I'm not sure if I'm the one to talk to about it or not. I chose the LSH to avoid the abdominal incision and I felt that I wanted to keep the cervix since there wasn't anything wrong with it. I kept the ovaries so can't help you with the HRT. Just so you know, I still found that it has taken about the same 6 weeks to be feeling good that the others need. I had no internal stitches, everything was cauterized. I still have a bit of swelly belly but not too bad. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions. Pammy

Freebird,
Like you, I had endo that was undiagnosed for many years. Also had fibroids and they found adenomyosis during pathology tests after my hyst. I had a TAH/BSO a little over 3 weeks ago, so I can't speak to the LASH procedure exactly. I had a diagnostic lap 16 years ago and had a lap myomectomy in June this year and I can tell you that the lap incisions are small and much easier to recover from then the TAH incision (about 8 inches in my case). From things I have read here, it still takes about 6 weeks to heal inside after a LASH.

As for HRT, I'm not taking any estrogen yet. My doc wants me to stay off estrogen as an extra precaution in case any remnants of endo were not removed (he thinks they got it all, but better to be safe than sorry). This seems to be quite controversial among the docs because many women with endo are put on estrogen immediately after surgery.

My menopausal smyptoms are night sweats that seem to last most of the night. Not real fun, but I am able to sleep and as long as I'm not working yet I can deal with this. I told my doc at my two week checkup that I was a little concerned about how I'll handle this after I go back to work. He said he may put me on "add-back" estrogen at the six week mark. This is the lowest dose of estrogen they prescribe and is used sometimes with women who are on Lupron to lessen the menopausal symptoms. He also plans to prescribe an estrogen cream for my vagina at the six week mark to help with dryness and atrophy. He says neither of these prescriptions will contain enough estrogen to stimulate endo remnants. The plan is for me to go on a "normal" amount of estrogen at the six month mark.

Good luck with your surgery and your decisions about HRT. Do the research, ask questions, do what feels right to you. Having trust in your doctor is a major factor in these decisions too.

Happy Holidays! The waiting is the worst part, as everyone says. The first couple days after surgery are no picnic, but chances are you've had a lot of pain over the years anyway. You'll do just fine!

Beth

Hi Freebird!

Just wanted to pop in and say "Hello!" I am having a LAVH on Jan. 7th. We have the same surgery date. I am a nervous wreck! How are you holding up? I will be thinking about you.

Merry Christmas!