1st lap and no advice given...

[lemmi]

I saw a consultant last month (1st ever gynae appointment) as I had been diagnosed with chocolate cysts from a TV ultrasound. He said he would schedule me for a laparoscopy (waiting time of 2-3 months) and an MRI (as he suspected my bladder &/ bowel are effected ) depending on the MRI result my lap might be brought forward, had the MRI just over a week ago. It a letter a couple of days after that just went over today he points from the appointment and it said the consultant had recommended a laparoscopy, histeroscopy and dye test. I received a letter confirming my admission to the ward next month with a leaflet about the ward. I haven't got any information about what to do leading up to the admission day (ie when to eat before etc) he mentioned something in my appointment about an enema the night before but there is no mention of that in the info. I have looked at the info on endo-resolved.com/laparosco... and I will phone the number on the letter tomorrow but should I expect to see/speak to someone again before admission?

[Impatient]

Yes you will get an appointment for what is called a pre-op. This will be with a staff nurse on the gynae ward. You will be there for a grilling of questions about your medical history, family medical history (risk factors for the op) , measured for surgical stockings to prevent a deep vein thrombosis after the op, and she (usually a she) will talk through what should be being done to you, what the risk factors are, any preparations you need to do before the op..e.g. Clexane which is a blood thinner to stave off a DVT, or an enema to clear out your digestive pipework.

She will also be checking your height and weight etc to feed the info back to the anaesthetist who has to decide how much anaesthetic is required to knock you out !!

and if you do have any risk factors like smoking or repeated chest infections or family history of heart disease etc..all these things are gone through with you.

You cannot have an op without a pre-op before hand. Usually it is about 1 week before, unless in a critical life or death emergency. This isn't one of those.

The pre-ops are usually very thorough indeed. but if you do have any questions, then that is the time and the right person to ask. The gynae staff nurses are as well qualified as the surgeons in gunae matters of all descriptions and probably have a darn sight more experience of post op ladies and what they can expect to experience in the recovery stages.

Please don't panic. it is daunting not quite knowing what lies ahead but from the hosp point of view they will definitely invite you in to discuss things before the op, it won't be with your specialist though...you may not see him till right before surgery when he comes to ask you to sign the consent form for what they can and cannot do once inside you. For example you may insist that they do not remove both your ovaries or you could say you definitely only want a lap(keyhole) procedure and if it turns out the endo is really complicated and needs a big hole operation, but that recovery from that (which is months) is simply not something you can afford to do, then let them know to stop the lap op and reschedule you for a big hole op at a more convenient time.

you may be happy for them to just get on with it, at their discretion.

You do have rights and you can make notes on th consent form about what you will and will not allow them to do. Obviously the more restricting you are, the less likely they will do a decent removal of complex endo.

there is a great website for adenomyosis (similar to endo)

adenomyosisadviceassociatio...

look on there for advice pages on pre-op questions to ask

also what to pack for hosp

and what to do when you get home.

Definitely worth reading that.

Best of Luck

[lemmi]

Thanks, that helps. I was just kind to find expecting to hear about the pre-op assessment either before or at the same time as the laparoscopy date. I need to let work now when they can expect me to be taking ng time off to go in and having all the information at the same time would've been helpful. At least I have an idea of what to expect now. Thanks again

[becca88]

i had an appointment to talk with the gynie about what they found on the screen, suspected choc cysts (because they cant diagnose without a lap) and agreed to do the surgery and while i was there, paper work was filled out and i was given a special body and hair wash with lots of booklets, so when i got the call i knew what to do, but i guess all hospitals are different x