Aa
realistic recovery
I am 28 years old. I am having a laparoscopic procedure done to remove a 5-6 cm endometrioma (and whatever endo is found) in a little over a month. My first doctor told me to take off at least 2 weeks from work. At the surgery consult, the surgeon said I should be 100% in 5 days?!?! why the big difference? What I have read on here leads me to believe longer.... so confused. I know everyone is different and they don't know the extent of the endo until they get in there..... but 5 days? I feel like maybe that would be the case if they were just doing a diagnostic laparoscopy.
thank you for your response! good luck with your recovery and have fun on your trip!! :)
thank you for your response :) I definitely do not want to have surgery every 2 to 3 years!! I have suffered for YEARS! I have been to a ridiculous amount of doctors, including at least 5 diff gyn, rheumatologist, neurologist, urologists, and another handful of general practioners. I have been given several different diagnoses ranging from fibromyalgia, depression, and some random sleep disorder- ALL because of back and pelvic pain!! Once I found this gynecologist that listened to me and actually took the time to look, honestly, I wanted to hug his neck. I mean, an answer, at last!! I have been blessed to have naturally conceived and to have two healthy children! But he was surprised I was able to do so. :/ I am ready for this to be over!
I can not tell you the long-term outcome of surgery as I just had my first one yesterday. Mine was done by a regular gyno. I woke up on the way back from the OR, and immediately afterwards, the doctor tried to show me pictures of the surgery and described all the locations, but I was pretty groggy and can't remember everything he said. He said I had endo on the outside of my right ovary, which was surprising because I had the most pain near my left ovary, which was fine. I did not have any cysts yet. Most of my endo was on the peritineum, exterior surface of the uterus, and behind the ovaries. I'm glad I didn't wait for it to spread even further. I'm guessing I was probably a solid stage 2.
The surgery took about 1 1/2 hours (I also had a hysteroscopy and d&c for endometrial hyperplasia... I don't get the biopsy results back for a few days, but doctor said he does not think it's cancerous.), I spent another 1 1/2 hours in post-op, and they kept me in recovery for almost four hours because my blood pressure was 84//47 when I got to the recovery room. They said I had to be able to eat, pass urine, and walk to the bathroom on my own before I could leave. My diastolic bp also had to be above 60, and it took an usually long time to get back to normal.
When I woke up, had a pretty sore throat, and I've never been so thirsty in my life. The nurses gave me a big cup of ice chips to take home, which felt good on my throat and made me less sick than drinking straight water. I also had mild shoulder/neck pain, but it was nothing unbearable. The nurses forgot to tell us the doctor had prescribed an anti-emetic. I wish I had known, as I felt pretty ill on the way home and had a hard time not throwing up. As soon as I got home, I took another oxycodone and managed to sleep it off. I ate a tiny bit of chicken soup and still felt nauseous last night. I also had some sharp pain on urination after I got home. I was worried I might have a UTI, but the doctor on-call at the hospital thought I was probably too soon after the surgery for a UTI and told me to call back later if it got worse. I'm thinking it's probably just irritation from the catheter.
I woke up with a sore throat again today. My stomach muscles are more sore today than they were yesterday even with the oxycodone, but the pain is definitely not unbearable. The worst is probably when I try to stand up and have to contract those abdominal muscles or when I need to cough as I've also been dealing with some bad allergies/asthma lately, but at least the pain with muscle contractions is over fast (much like soreness you might get from doing too many crunches or sit-ups). I do not have any nausea, but I also don't have much appetite. The shoulder pain is gone. I still have a bit of gas and some pain when I pee. I have not pood yet.... but, I've also not eaten a whole lot. I forced some oatmeal down this morning and am trying to much on small pieces of apple... high fiber pills. I began taking a stool softener yesterday and some fiber pills, so hopefully those will help after I've eaten more.
All in all, I'm feeling as good as or better than expected for day two. I have no problem walking, and I will be able to shower tonight. Stairs are okay, though I'm trying to avoid them as much as possible. I'm very tired and have spent much of the day napping. But, as you can see, I am able to read and write and watch tv and talk on the phone (though my voice is pretty scratchy right now).
I was also worried about the recovery time because we have plane tickets and plans to visit friends in California in two weeks, and most of the stories I had read online made recovery sound pretty bad. In my case, I am now expecting to be fine to travel in two weeks. I might ask the hubbie to carry my suitcase. ;-) I am not allowed to return to work or to drive for one week or as long as I'm on the oxycodone. I'm a substitute teacher, so I have an extremely flexible schedule, and, though I am on my feet all day at work, there's rarely any heavy lifting involved. I think there's a good chance I will be able to work again by next week.
The surgery took about 1 1/2 hours (I also had a hysteroscopy and d&c for endometrial hyperplasia... I don't get the biopsy results back for a few days, but doctor said he does not think it's cancerous.), I spent another 1 1/2 hours in post-op, and they kept me in recovery for almost four hours because my blood pressure was 84//47 when I got to the recovery room. They said I had to be able to eat, pass urine, and walk to the bathroom on my own before I could leave. My diastolic bp also had to be above 60, and it took an usually long time to get back to normal.
When I woke up, had a pretty sore throat, and I've never been so thirsty in my life. The nurses gave me a big cup of ice chips to take home, which felt good on my throat and made me less sick than drinking straight water. I also had mild shoulder/neck pain, but it was nothing unbearable. The nurses forgot to tell us the doctor had prescribed an anti-emetic. I wish I had known, as I felt pretty ill on the way home and had a hard time not throwing up. As soon as I got home, I took another oxycodone and managed to sleep it off. I ate a tiny bit of chicken soup and still felt nauseous last night. I also had some sharp pain on urination after I got home. I was worried I might have a UTI, but the doctor on-call at the hospital thought I was probably too soon after the surgery for a UTI and told me to call back later if it got worse. I'm thinking it's probably just irritation from the catheter.
I woke up with a sore throat again today. My stomach muscles are more sore today than they were yesterday even with the oxycodone, but the pain is definitely not unbearable. The worst is probably when I try to stand up and have to contract those abdominal muscles or when I need to cough as I've also been dealing with some bad allergies/asthma lately, but at least the pain with muscle contractions is over fast (much like soreness you might get from doing too many crunches or sit-ups). I do not have any nausea, but I also don't have much appetite. The shoulder pain is gone. I still have a bit of gas and some pain when I pee. I have not pood yet.... but, I've also not eaten a whole lot. I forced some oatmeal down this morning and am trying to much on small pieces of apple... high fiber pills. I began taking a stool softener yesterday and some fiber pills, so hopefully those will help after I've eaten more.
All in all, I'm feeling as good as or better than expected for day two. I have no problem walking, and I will be able to shower tonight. Stairs are okay, though I'm trying to avoid them as much as possible. I'm very tired and have spent much of the day napping. But, as you can see, I am able to read and write and watch tv and talk on the phone (though my voice is pretty scratchy right now).
I was also worried about the recovery time because we have plane tickets and plans to visit friends in California in two weeks, and most of the stories I had read online made recovery sound pretty bad. In my case, I am now expecting to be fine to travel in two weeks. I might ask the hubbie to carry my suitcase. ;-) I am not allowed to return to work or to drive for one week or as long as I'm on the oxycodone. I'm a substitute teacher, so I have an extremely flexible schedule, and, though I am on my feet all day at work, there's rarely any heavy lifting involved. I think there's a good chance I will be able to work again by next week.
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In 2007 I had deep excision surgery for stage IV infiltrating Endo as a presacral neurectomy by a top Endo surgeon in canada the surgery was over 5 hours long. I was in massive pain the first couple days and it took about 2 weeks to recover however internally it takes a month or more.
2013 I had excision surgery by an unskilled baby gyno doctor. The surgery was about 2 hours or less and she couldn't preform the surgery because it was too complex and she closed up. I didn't even feel like I had a surgery as could have went back to work 3 days later.
If the the lap turns into a laparotomy (open incision) that is a different story however a skilled surgeon won't have to do that unless it's life threatening possible bowel resection gone wrong etc.
You have a fair sized endometrioma so it's safe to say you have moderate to severe disease. I know your surgery is in a month but I would make sure you have a top Endo surgeon operating period. You want it done right the first time and there are only a handful of skilled surgeons worldwide and you want the first surgery to count.
Many women with this disease have gone to reg gynos and onc/gyno however those are the same ppl that have had tons of surgeries one lady I met had over 20 surgeries and she was only in her 20's!!!
I won't tell you what you need to do but I would advise you to really think about this a lot.