Josephine Eliza: September 2012

Laparoscopy....eeek

My poorly bloated belly pre-op

The night before the operation:

My surgery was only meant to be a day case so I packed my weekend bag just in case with:

4 x pairs of socks

4 x big knickers for comfort

2 x bras

face wash

body wash

shampoo

brush

couple of hair ties

a book

glasses

wet wipes

slippers

nightie

pajamas

Noticeably less bloated post-op

dressing gown

sanitary towels (do not pack tampons as they do not advise that you use them so you can keep an eye on blood flow after sugery) also its not very comfortable.

money

peppermint tablets (these help with the gas/wind from the operation)

phone

I got everything ready to be close at hand so that when i came home i could relax, I put a chair next to the sofa to act as a little table with some drink and snacks and laid out my pillows and blankets on the sofa to make a bed.

The Operation:

7.00 in the morning was my surgery for the Laparoscopy investigation to see if I had Endometriosis.

I was very nervous but it went quite smoothly, I was ushered into the day sugery room and asked to put my gown on and was weighed.

Drugged up and puffy post-op

next i had to sign the consent form and wait.......

The wait seemed like ages but i was called and walked down the corridor and through the double doors and into the operating theatre (i would rather be out of it before entering that room!) They told me to lay on the operating table, I had the aneasatist and 2 nurses around me patting my arms and talking to me like i was a child trying to calm me down, My veins are very small and everybody always has a problem getting my blood, they tried a couple of times and then bingo....1...2 and i was asleep.

Around 4 hours later I woke up with fits and serious pain, screaming and yelling. I cannot take morphine or any derivative, So they gave me during the procedure diclofenac i think it was called, so because i was in serious pain i was in recovery for quite some time and even then they couldn't control it, so the aneasatist gave me two more shots and still nothing worked. I was in complete agony.

They finally took me up to the ward and started me on a diclofenac button like the morphine button, to press every 5 minutes, my pain was getting worse, nausea was setting in, my body was inflating and i was fitting what seemed like every other minute. I was getting pains in my chest so they sent me down to x-ray, I asked to be taken off the button but was told that they wanted me to finish the whole thing but it was making me worse i told them but they insisted it wouldn't make me worse.

4 stab wounds, down below, belly button, left hip and just below
the bottom of my rib cage

Down waiting for x-ray I was still fitting and in alot of pain but i needed to lie down for the x-ray to take place which was excruciating, on the way back the porter said that he was worried for me, and the nurse replied 'don't worry it's just one of the side effects of the drug she's on' from that moment on i didn't press that button again!

I finally got an hours sleep but I couldn't sleep very well at all still yelling in pain it just wouldn't go, I was more upset about waking the other patients than i was of myself. The next day was quite the same, except the one nurse did try and move the bed and get me to stand and there was no chance at all that was happening i was nearly balling my eyes out with the pain.

Bruised belly button and stitch

The third day was better and much calmer i could control my out breaks and act more like me not a drugged up out of it me, the nurse even said 'you were right about taking yourself off the drug you look much better'

the pain was still bad but i tried to get out of bed and was sat in 'the dreaded chair' i hate that thing!

then after a while they put me back into bed, that afternoon i walked to the toilet assisted....I do not like weeing into a pan on the bed it really doesn't feel natural. I was having trouble emptying my bladder at least a week after the operation. and I was having blood for around 2 weeks after the operation. They had me on a course of anti-biotics, buscopan, peppermint tablets, paracetamol and ibroprophen.

Endometriomas (chocolate cyst lookalike)

The Drs came to see me and told me that i had a bad case of Endometriosis and it was indeed type IV they had to cut all of my organs free because they were stuck to each other and i had adhesions and endometriomas (chocolate cysts) on my ovaries, they also removed endometriosis from everywhere, but they said they only managed to get the left side done because there was too much there.

They showed me some photos of my insides and it is very odd, but i think it looks exactly like marshmallow stringyness when its melted. and Endometriomas like toasted marshmallow. (sorry i am an artist and have a vivid imagination but it does well with frightening things because it always turns horrid situations around)

Faux Adhesion (looks exactly like the strings!)

SO Forth day in hospital and I am told i can go home that night, but i will have to think about whether i want to have the other operation to do the right side and to look into the bowels to see if there is any endometriosis growing inside there. I am still in alot of pain, my bowels still do not want to open, my bladder isnt emptying properly and i cannot walk very well......I really want to go though!

I am home and trying to get better one day at a time, my mobility is less than it was before the operation and the pain is still there but it is only the third week of recovery and i have been told to treat it like a 3rd degree burn inside me and to be honest it feels that way!