Laparoscopy recovery- please help, second surgery to remove endo after initial op in July, I am 6 days post op and have never felt so sick:(

[MissyTx]

Advice please, I was only diagnosed with endo this year after suffering a ruptured endometrioma following a car crash. It's been a complete whirlwind but my laparoscopy in July revealed grade 4 endometriosis pretty much everywhere. As you can imagine I couldn't believe it. Anyway to cut a log story short, since the ruptured cyst the ongoing symptoms got worse and worse and my ovaries fused together. During the first op they detached the ovaries and tried to remove the cyst but couldn't, so the cyst was drained and I was given a 4 month course of zoladex. I had my second op last Monday and was discharged from hospital 4 days ago. During the second op they mobilised the ovaries completely and detached my bladder from my uterus. The surgeon has said I am to expect a long relationship with endo and that I could require further surgery in the future. I am 28 years old and had hoped for children. Although they have told me my tubes are clear I have also been told that I could never get pregnant. since being discharged from hospital I seem to be feeling worse and worse. They have signed me off for only 2 weeks however I am in a much worse state than last time. I feel constantly sick, can't sleep through sweating and have a really upset tummy. Please someone tell me I will feel better again, I have never felt so disgusting in all my life, my current state is a far cry from the gym bunny I was only 6 months ago x x

[hayls]

Hi

Your story sounds very similar to me, I'm 29 and also have stage 4 endo and I can't imagine getting back to my gym bunny days of 18mths ago, although I live in hope! I'm going to start slowly by trying swimming after I've recovered a bit more but I think my days of running 25 miles a week are over unless there's a miracle

I've just had 2 major laps in the past 2 months to unstick ovaries, uterus, bowel and bladder, strip the lining of the peritoneum and excise deep infiltrating endo in uteral ligaments. I'm now 2 weeks post lap from the 2nd op and still in a quite a lot of pain. I felt the worst I've ever felt in the first week after this lap, really nauseous from the pain I think and no appetite, but slowly but surely in the past couple of days I've started to feel quite a bit better. I'm still in pain and got a way to go but it really does get better. As for being signed off, my consultant also signed me off for 2 weeks and then review with GP. This is the same as my major lap in August where after the first 2 weeks I saw my GP every 7-10 days for review and was off work for 6 weeks and then 2 weeks on part time before my next lap. Im expecting it to be the same this time and definitely can't see

myself back at work before 5-6 weeks, I work in an office most of the time but have a very full on stressful job, long hours and drive 120 mile round trip each day, even if my job was local it would be 4 weeks at least.

I would definitely make an appointment to see your GP 2 weeks post lap to review how you're doing etc. However, if you are actually being sick or have a temperature or any signs if infection definitely try speaking to you doctor sooner.

I'm sorry the doctors have told you that you wouldn't be able to get pregnant, is that because of your ovaries? Also, it can sometimes be worth getting a second opinion. I was told last year after a lap that my only option would be ivf and even then my chances could be slim but the 2 laps I've just had were with a top endo consultant and he said that he actually thinks I have a shot naturally. Even though he's told me that and i do have some hope as so many women do get little miracles after being told it won't happen, I am trying to be a realist and my husband and I have gone some way to discuss how we may change our lives if we aren't lucky enough to have children as I don't want endo to take over our lives any more than it already has or to destroy us. Sorry rambling on a depressing note!!

I hope you start to feel better soon x

[MissyTx]

Thank you so much for your reply,

I can't tell you how comforting it is to know there's someone out there like me. I think I'm probably putting far too much pressure on myself to recover so quickly, I guess I need to listen to my body and just go with the flow. I will certainly keep an eye on things, although I'm not physically being sick at the moment which must be a good sign. Maybe I need to be more realistic about my ambitions of getting back to the gym. The surgeon did say there was a chance I may be able to get pregnant naturally and I'm holding on to the fact that I did get pregnant 2 years ago, and I never even knew I had endo! still sadly at the time circumstances didn't allow for me to continue on with the pregnancy......if I only I could have known i would be in this situation right now. swimming sounds like a great idea and lots of power walking I will remain optimistic as I guess there is no point in writing myself off before I know the real outcome. My thoughts are with you, we will beat this! x