10:15 was check in time for the hospital. I had been up early, because who can sleep in on the day of surgery... 2nd enema was done. Nerves were crazy town.
When we got to the hospital, it was crazy town, there was a fire about 2 miles away, evacuations were ordered and houses were already burned, this included some doctors houses. Thankfully my surgeon was not affected and we were still a go.
In pre-op they got me into a gown, pregnancy test done and IV in. Everyone was sweet and helpful. Dr. Arrington came in and gave us a run down of how things would go. And time expected.
Not too long after I handed over my glasses to my husband, and said goodbye as they wheeled me away. I was scared. Into the O.R. I went. Although they gave me something to relax, when they tried to put the mask on me I had a bit of a panic and felt as thought I was suffocating. They gently held the mask just off my face until I dozed off, not rushing me or making me feel stupid.
Coming to in the Recovery Area. My first thoughts upon waking up were thank God I am alive. Then the pain, bladder, pelvic, everything. Burning, stinging, aching. They had trouble getting my pain under control so I spend a bit longer in recovery than some. My husband was freaking out a bit when I didn't come out when I was supposed to. They did thankfully remove the catheter right away. I hate cath pain.....
Finally I was wheeled to my recovery room, I don't remember much of this. Since my pain had been pretty bad I had the option to stay the night at the hospital, which I took. I had quite a bit of nauseousness to work through. Hubby showed my photos from the surgery, including endo that he had found and a para rectal mass. I was relieved...this definitely wasn't all in my head. We won't know for sure about the adenomyosis until pathology comes back. I was also really struggling with oxygen, since I have sleep apnea and pain meds make it worse. I had to have oxygen and my cpap at the same time.
About 8 pm I was finally able to keep some food down and take some better pain pills. I was also able to get up and urinate on my own. Secretly this was a big fear, that I would have to have a catheter put back in. I had a little bleeding but nothing scary. My husband was so sweet, he refused to leave me for the night until I was sound asleep. That night went pretty well, the nurses were great about keeping things low key for nightly checks.
The next morning I had my husband bring me a bagel sandwich and chai tea, I was definitely in better spirits. Dr. Arrington came in and went over everything again with me now that I was awake and would remember. He said that my ovaries were covered in cysts. This is very typical for PCOS, but doctors had never noticed and/or said anything about them at any previous appointments. He drained all the cysts and did ovarian drilling hoping to give my ovaries a jump start. He felt the surgery went well and that he had removed all the endo. It was over both ureters, sprinkled on my left side CDS (cul de sac) as well as having the right side para rectal mass (possible endometrioma) and some on the right side.
I was discharged around lunchtime. Since I wasn't up to road tripping home yet, we headed over to the guest house where we were staying. They tried to take me over in a wheel chair, but the bumps were too bad so I ended up just walking. It felt good to rest without interruption.
My husband was so awesome and supportive through this whole process. I love him so much!
Here are some of the photos, we got a video of the whole surgery too.
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| Right Endo |
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| Left Endo over Ureter |
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| Uterus |
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| Left Cul de sac endo |
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| Right Para Rectal Mass |
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| Endo |
