#laproscopy

Last Wednesday I had my laparoscopic operation to remove my right ovary and the endometriosis that was around my uterus and wherever else it was found. I had to stay in overnight unfortunately due to how nausea I was. Didn’t help that when I was coming round from general anaesthetic that my heart rate dropped to 10bpm.

My wife thought I had got it wrong when I told her and then the nurse confirmed it. I think she internally shat herself.

It was successful and I’m having my stitches out tomorrow. Slowly recovering and my cat is very much enjoying me being at home.

I hope my periods won’t be so agonising once my body is back to normal because my days, they were absolutely hell.

I hope I never have to endure an operation ever again because of how rough I felt after but with high chances with Endometriosis it will comeback if I’m unlucky.

Punya Hospital caters to Cardio-Tharacic Surgery, ENT surgery, General and Laparoscopy Surgery, Joint Replacement surgery, Neuro Surgery, Obstetrics, Orthopaedics, Plastic surgery, Radio-diagnosis, Renal Transplant Surgery, Spine Surgery, Surgical Gastroenterology, Trauma care, Urology, and Vascular Surgery. The department also has a pain management program as well of patients who need it.

The department takes an active part in managing patients in the trauma / emergency ward and in the intensive medical and surgical care units. 24 Hours Pre and Post Anaesthesia Care service program has been established and implemented by the Anaesthesiology team. The operation theatres of the Hospital are well equipped with modern anaesthetic machines with adequate safety devices. All theatres have patient monitoring systems.

Before things get too far ahead of me, I thought I needed to take the time to sit down and write out this post.

First of all: for anyone who is currently considering hysterectomy out there, or has been told they need one for one reproductive problem or another, and is searching the internet desperately for the ‘what ifs’ and ‘outcomes’, let me just say this: breathe.

I know, not all cases are going to be like mine, but I want to go ahead and put my experience out there, and it’s ALL GOOD, so if you’re desperately looking for some GOOD NEWS, you found it.

Background: I have Hashimotos and PCOS, which causes a veritable STORM of problems in my body. Symptoms galore. The worst was when my period decided it was going to keep coming back every other week and it made me anemic. (low red cell count, low iron, all the fun stuff). I was MISERABLE. Combined with my various OTHER symptoms from both issues (high blood pressure, liver and kidney problems, mood problems, sleep problems, headaches, etc etc) my PCP (that’s primary care physician) finally looked at me months after trying to wrangle the anemia in line and it just kept getting worse, and said: “With everything that’s wrong with you, have you ever considered hysterectomy?” with a cringe. I nearly leapt across the room in tears to hug him. I’d been trying for almost three years to find someone to do that for me after already losing one ovary to a cyst that grew to 10 centimeters (yeah, you read that right).

So, long story short, PCP was able to give me a referral to a different OB/GYN who was willing to work with me despite my ‘young age/lack of children, yada yada yada’, and I will NEVER be more grateful, let me tell you. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I got the usual ‘cautionary tale’ from the OB/GYN, as per usual (Oh, you’re going to go into premature menopause, and you’re going to lose all sex drive, and blah blah blah) and I was just like: Sir, I would like to stop bleeding my life away, who gives a fuck. I don’t have ANY sex drive at present, because I’m too god-damned tired and out of breath to even walk from one end of the house to the other because of the anemia, and my body is so fucked up from the hormonal imbalances caused by my OTHER hormonal issues, I wouldn’t even know. Hot flashes? Have those. Mood swings? Have those too. Give me a break. Besides all that, I’m Ace, have no S/O, and take care of my disabled mother. I don’t want children, don’t have TIME for children, ain’t interested in pleasing anybody but myself, and if I’m not interested in a night with my ‘special toy box’ well then that’s all right with me.

After a brief fight with the insurance (which didn’t want to pay for my surgery OF COURSE), I got my hysterectomy.

IMMEDIATELY after surgery, I noticed a HUGE change. I’m talking the MOMENT I woke up.

This body had been in PAIN. NON-STOP. And I didn’t even know it. I didn’t even know it until my uterus and remaining ovary were gone, and the pain of surgery was so MINIMAL compared to the pain I had experienced BEFORE surgery, that I could have DANCED out of that damned hospital if they didn’t have me hooked up to more devices than I even want to name. The nurses couldn’t believe that I didn’t want pain meds, but I seriously DID NOT FEEL A THING. In fact, it wasn’t until about 3-4 days AFTER surgery, that the surgery pain finally faded, and I realized I HAD IN FACT been in pain after surgery, but it was SO FREAKING MINIMAL, that I hadn’t noticed.

Let me tell you something I would NEVER go back to that pain, I don’t care what anyone offered me, I would rather die.

My mood lifted (of coursee it did, I wasn’t in crippling pain all the time anymore), I’ve had less headaches, sleep is still sketchy, but my blood pressure improved (again, less pain will do that) even my Hashimotos briefly improved. (I say briefly because Hashimotos is a tricky bitch and nothing ever lasts with it..) My red cell count has finally stabilized, though almost six months later we’re still waiting on the iron to catch up.

Physically, my freakin’ BODY changed. I mean SWELLING went down all OVER my body. Puffiness from my face, limbs, tummy, all of it. It wasn’t THAT drastic, but there’s a difference enough that people ask if I’ve lost weight and tell me I look SO much better.

Not to make too much of a point on it, but yes, even the swelling of my vulva and labia went down, which shocked the hell out of me. My clit reappeared, go figure. And that ‘sex drive’ I was supposed to lose? Um, Hell No. I think she took a U-turn and came back to see what was new.

And for those that are wondering: yes, I do achieve orgasm still. Yes, I do achieve orgasm faster and easier. My ‘G-spot’ is extra-sensitive now, and there is now no pain associated with penetration. The main difference that I’ve found in the six months post-hysterectomy, is that if you like those deep, cervical orgasms, you will unfortunately lose those if you have your cervix removed. I did, because cancer runs in my family. And it seems not a moment too soon, because fibroids, calcified cysts, all that fun stuff were part of the lab findings. Could it have been a non-issue? Certainly. Could it have turned nasty with everything that’s wrong with me? Absolutely. I’d already been warned I was at high risk for Endometriosis.

Also, so far: I’m not on hormone replacement therapy. My doctors are playing it by ear. We don’t want to send my body into another panic spiral while it’s still finding a new balance, so in another month or two, we do more tests, see where I’m at and discuss.

Now for the: ‘but all these articles say’ portion of our blog. I know. I read those. But as someone else pointed out: Almost all those articles were written by men. All the nay-sayers ARE MEN. Why do you think that is? What the FUCK do they even know about women’s health anyway? Are they female? Do they HAVE the REPRODUCTIVE MATERIAL NECESSARY to make judgements on whether or not hysterectomy is beneficial to women in my position or not? NO.

NOT ALL PEOPLE WITH UTERUSES ARE WOMEN

NOT ALL WOMEN HAVE UTERUSES

March is Endo Awareness month! I’d like to do several posts detailing some information about endo in general, myself and my experiences with endo and shed some light. Starting with this one about ‘My Diagnosis’...

I was officially diagnosed about a year and a half ago. I was initially diagnosed with polycystic ovaries without proper consultation and when the treatments for this didn’t work I ended up collapsing and being hospitalised. Due to this, they agreed to do a diagnostic laproscopy- which is the ONLY way to properly diagnose endometriosis. After this, they confirmed I had it and the surgeon told me it was ‘extreme’. 

I feel quite fortunate to have been diagnosed fairly quickly as on average it takes seven years for a woman to be properly diagnosed with endo. This is far too long. After my initial laproscopy, I had excision surgery where the surgeon informed me it was stage 4 and was absolutely everywhere. My bowel was fused to my uterus, I had a 5cm ‘chocolate cyst’ or endometrioma, my pouch of douglas, ovaries and uterus were covered but they did manage to excise a lot of it. 

Seven years is too long for anyone to be suffering, it should not be the uphill battle that it is for a woman to be diagnosed and treated. It’s debilitating, life changing and exhausting in every possible way.