Follow up after surgery....in three months?!

[FairFacedFairy]

Hi ladies,

I just wanted to ask around and see how long you waited for your follow up appointment after your lap?

Mine is exactly three months which just seems so incredibly long!

I've been told I need further surgery as my diagnostic lap showed I had severe endo and in too many awkward places so will need a bowel prep before hand which I didn't have the first time around. So i just feel alittle let down, I have so much to ask and three months and then longer for surgery just seems like a lot seeing as nothing could be done in the first place.

I'm only on yasmin ( I had bad side affects from the pop. I've had cerelle and cerazette so unsure to try others) and I really want to talk to my gyne about what's best...just not in three months time

Faye xx

[Hidden]

Had surgery yesterday, my follow up is in 3 months too. Annoying as I have a lot of questions.

[Jelly67]

Hi there

One thing that sometimes helps is calling the hospital switchboard and asking to speak to your consultant's secretary. Some are really helpful, some aren't in my experience but it's worth a try as you have nothing to lose. Two secretaries passed several questions on to my (two different) NHS consultants this year. When you're polite (and desperate) many will try to help.

Another thing that has worked for me this year is calling the appointments number and asking if they have any cancellations and it's sometimes worth you calling from time to time for cancellations that arise at short notice.

Good luck. Xxx

[Impatient]

I was told I would get an appointment in approx 4 months.

It came.. and went and I didn't hear from the hospital, so I wrote to the surgeon and many more weeks later got a reply to say he was sorry, too busy to get me an appointment and if i had any issues with treatment, then to discuss them with my GP. that was the last i heard from him.

in their defense - part of the reason they have a wait, is that often there will be biopsies etc going on behind the scenes and they need to wait for all the tests to be done and results back. Then write out reports to be sent to your GPand or other specialist surgeons, perhaps alsoneeding time to discuss your case in case review with other surgeons before getting you back to you to run through the results and what is planned.

The gynaes are not counselors, they are there for the surgery side of treatment only. If you need to speak to anyone about on going treatments, pain relief or period controlling drugs then that side of things is between you and your GP.

Once your surgeries are done and dusted you are off the surgeons list and back with your GP to consult over the longer term plan for dealing with endo.

[xKatie86x]

Hi all,

I can also relate to this! Had my lap in April, was told I had severe adhesions, everything was in one mass basically and both tubes were blocked then was discharged and told to come back in 3 months. So once the anaesthetic had wore off I could barely remember this conversation and had a million and one questions. I would recommend going to your GP as I did - she went through the info she had from the hospital and answered as many of my questions she could whilst waiting for my follow up.

My follow up was then in the July and I was told I need adhesiolysis but my consultant could only perform it as open surgery and keyhole would be a better option. So in July I was referred to a different consultant at a different hospital and have had to wait almost another 3 months for this. After alot of phonecalls I will finally be seeing him next week.

I understand there is a process but I do feel that 3 months is a long time to wait purely to discuss results. If they knew the best option was to refer elsewhere then they should of just went ahead and done so to cut out this waiting around.

Katie x

[Gem80]

I had my first lap 26th August and my notes say follow up appointment in 6 weeks. This is on the NHS at a central London Hospital. They lasered off what they could see, but like you they said the majority would have to be dealt with by a more qualified surgeon as its too hard to get to. I have it on the uterosacral ligaments.

G x

[FairFacedFairy]

Thanks so much for your replies. Its been a month since my lap now so two months to go till my gynae appointment. I saw my gp last week who just told me to wait for my appointment. He was a great support and pushed for me to get a diagnosis but he doesn't have too much knowledge on endo.

I just feel abit confused. The surgeon told me when I came round that I had it and would need a second lap but I was shocked when I was seen about an hour later on the ward from someone from the surgeons team who explained nothing had been touched at all. ( was told before hand they would do any work that would need doing there and then) So I'm in the same pain as I was before. Luckily the surgeon is very experienced in endo and he was fab when speaking to me before hand but they were trying to get me to agree to surgery when I was still half asleep with the anesthetic.

I didn't feel comfortable.

I should count myself lucky really that between the time of me going to the gp with my symptoms and having a diagnosis was only 8 months. I guess when it's your life and your pain you just want it to be dealt with as soon as. I lost my job this year becaus of it so when you have all the time to reflect on it it gets frustrating.

Best wishes to you all xx

Going to ring the appointment team

[missemmabenson]

Hi Faye,

I had a diagnostic lap back in January and have only just had my follow up appointment today... 8 months later!! It was supposed to be 6 months as I had a Mirena coil fitted but the appointment got changed by the hospital four times!

Although I was super frustrated at the time of the lap not being able to speak to anyone... It's actually given me time to reflect on everything, assess my pain and decided what I want to do going forward. I've actually never felt more positive about treatment going forward.

Just stay positive and use the time to monitor your symptoms and plan what questions you need answered. Obviously your second lap will be extensive so you'll want a lot answered before you go ahead.

Stay positive xxx