Post Procedure
Hi there.
I have had quite a few people asking me how I am doing post surgery and reminded me that I should put a little update here.
So my laparoscopy was April 1st and took longer than mom and I thought it would but that’s not really a bad thing. My doctor took his time to be very thorough. I have 6 little scars now from where the camera was inserted. Six may seem like a lot but to me necessary and worth it.
He found a few interesting things -
He thought that he might find a build up of scar tissue inside of me because of the visible scars from my transplant but he did not see that build up which is great.
He checked a few others things relating to my transplants like the connections to my bladder and that all looked really good.
Relating to my endometriosis symptoms he found/did quite a few things that were note worthy.
He found what looked to me like a large cyst on my left ovary that he removed.
He also found a build up of cells on my tubes that he said can cause cysts and removed that.
Then he found two spots in my peritoneal cavity that he called “windows.” These windows are created when something that should not be there is weighing down the lining of the cavity. So he reached down into both cavities to remove that matter.
He took three biopsies of my uterus to test for endometriosis.
And he found and removed another cyst that was down along my colon in a place he said he had never seen a cyst before.
All of those things not only confirmed my pain but were clear indicators before anything was tested that I have endometriosis. The results of the tests run on these cells not only confirmed that but showed a few other things. All my cysts were benign and he said I also tested positive for this other thing that I forget what he called it but mentioned it is like the cousin of endometriosis.
Besides the relief that that diagnosis brings I will also share my most recent period was much less painful than in previous years. To go from pain that makes simple tasks impossible to now feeling minor cramps is quite incredible. This kind of relief does not happen for everyone but my doctor was hopeful that this would be the case for me.
I am pretty thrilled for many reasons. My past and current health complicates things more than I would like. I had come to a place to figuring that I might just have to deal with the pain since I can’t take quite a few meds that are either for pain or to treat endometriosis. Birth control pills can be used for this and do play ok with my current list of meds that keep me alive but my body was experiencing a lot of negative side effects. And my doctor let me know that even this laparoscopy was more risky for me based on all the other surgeries I have had in my abdomen and the location of my kidneys.
So now comes the process of treating my endometriosis just like any other disease would be treated. That’s what the health field does - treat diseases as most do not have a cure. I was fully aware of this before surgery as I have been in treatment for chronic kidney disease all my life.
I was already planning on waiting to see what the next few months brings before making any changes to see if the surgery helped before talking to my doctor. Then when talking to my doctor he said he always tells his patients that.
With how well things are currently going I am glad that I don’t have to just deal with pain nor do I need to try to go back on a medication that was making me so sick. What happens next is to monitor how I feel not just the next few months but all my life. My doctor mentioned that for some people as many be the case with me I may need a surgery every few years to go in and clean things up again. So that’s the plan.
And to answer some of the questions I have been asked -
No they did not reschedule me because of COVID. We had been trying to schedule this procedure since before Christmas but trying to find a time that the gynecologist office and the transplant office (to have one of those surgeons on stand by just in case) could both make work took a while.
The hospital (OSF Peoria) was pretty much like the hospital normally is. It did suck to not have my mom there since no visitors could be around. I was kept overnight because of my health history and it sucked to not have her there when I was getting sick post surgery which is pretty normal for me. The day I left they had started checking people’s temperatures at the door. But it was still pretty busy. As one nurse noted when she was taking me down to the car the wait for the elevators was still long.
And besides the lack of pain with my period I have been feeling pretty good now. The first week or so was rough. Basically two days of fasting with one of those days also included throwing up and the other included having to clear out my intestines means that my digestive system needed some time to recover. Besides that one of my incisions as pretty painful for a while and still occasionally hurts. My doctor said that while the other spots were fine that one for some reason did not want to stop bleeding and they had to do a few different things to get it to clot. But now it really only hurts when I do something dumb like accidentally elbow myself in that spot.
I have had quite a few people asking me how I am doing post surgery and reminded me that I should put a little update here.
So my laparoscopy was April 1st and took longer than mom and I thought it would but that’s not really a bad thing. My doctor took his time to be very thorough. I have 6 little scars now from where the camera was inserted. Six may seem like a lot but to me necessary and worth it.
He found a few interesting things -
He thought that he might find a build up of scar tissue inside of me because of the visible scars from my transplant but he did not see that build up which is great.
He checked a few others things relating to my transplants like the connections to my bladder and that all looked really good.
Relating to my endometriosis symptoms he found/did quite a few things that were note worthy.
He found what looked to me like a large cyst on my left ovary that he removed.
He also found a build up of cells on my tubes that he said can cause cysts and removed that.
Then he found two spots in my peritoneal cavity that he called “windows.” These windows are created when something that should not be there is weighing down the lining of the cavity. So he reached down into both cavities to remove that matter.
He took three biopsies of my uterus to test for endometriosis.
And he found and removed another cyst that was down along my colon in a place he said he had never seen a cyst before.
All of those things not only confirmed my pain but were clear indicators before anything was tested that I have endometriosis. The results of the tests run on these cells not only confirmed that but showed a few other things. All my cysts were benign and he said I also tested positive for this other thing that I forget what he called it but mentioned it is like the cousin of endometriosis.
Besides the relief that that diagnosis brings I will also share my most recent period was much less painful than in previous years. To go from pain that makes simple tasks impossible to now feeling minor cramps is quite incredible. This kind of relief does not happen for everyone but my doctor was hopeful that this would be the case for me.
I am pretty thrilled for many reasons. My past and current health complicates things more than I would like. I had come to a place to figuring that I might just have to deal with the pain since I can’t take quite a few meds that are either for pain or to treat endometriosis. Birth control pills can be used for this and do play ok with my current list of meds that keep me alive but my body was experiencing a lot of negative side effects. And my doctor let me know that even this laparoscopy was more risky for me based on all the other surgeries I have had in my abdomen and the location of my kidneys.
So now comes the process of treating my endometriosis just like any other disease would be treated. That’s what the health field does - treat diseases as most do not have a cure. I was fully aware of this before surgery as I have been in treatment for chronic kidney disease all my life.
I was already planning on waiting to see what the next few months brings before making any changes to see if the surgery helped before talking to my doctor. Then when talking to my doctor he said he always tells his patients that.
With how well things are currently going I am glad that I don’t have to just deal with pain nor do I need to try to go back on a medication that was making me so sick. What happens next is to monitor how I feel not just the next few months but all my life. My doctor mentioned that for some people as many be the case with me I may need a surgery every few years to go in and clean things up again. So that’s the plan.
And to answer some of the questions I have been asked -
No they did not reschedule me because of COVID. We had been trying to schedule this procedure since before Christmas but trying to find a time that the gynecologist office and the transplant office (to have one of those surgeons on stand by just in case) could both make work took a while.
The hospital (OSF Peoria) was pretty much like the hospital normally is. It did suck to not have my mom there since no visitors could be around. I was kept overnight because of my health history and it sucked to not have her there when I was getting sick post surgery which is pretty normal for me. The day I left they had started checking people’s temperatures at the door. But it was still pretty busy. As one nurse noted when she was taking me down to the car the wait for the elevators was still long.
And besides the lack of pain with my period I have been feeling pretty good now. The first week or so was rough. Basically two days of fasting with one of those days also included throwing up and the other included having to clear out my intestines means that my digestive system needed some time to recover. Besides that one of my incisions as pretty painful for a while and still occasionally hurts. My doctor said that while the other spots were fine that one for some reason did not want to stop bleeding and they had to do a few different things to get it to clot. But now it really only hurts when I do something dumb like accidentally elbow myself in that spot.
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