Relief! Referred to gynae!

[lausa]

After being admitted to hospital in July with a burst and bleeding cyst, and having countless blood tests, urine tests and scans every few weeks and being told "it's probably IBS" I finally have been referred to a gynae in hospital! The GP said I will likely need a Laparoscopy. My hospital appointment is in 3 weeks, my GP has been great and she booked me the appointment herself!

I do have a concern. Im a final year student nurse in uni and my course (obviously due to it's nature) doesn't allow me any time off to recover from the surgery.

I finish my course in June, I know know it's so far away but I really dont want the surgery until I've finished. I know it means being in constant pain but my education is so important to me and my family I dont want to drop out or defer my course.

I feel awful going to see a consultant and telling them I can't commit to finding out what's wrong after all this hassle and time do you think this will be a problem if I want to wait? The most time I have off at a time is 2 weeks and I work a very manual and busy job so I know I couldn't recover properly.

[Hidden]

Hi Lausa, don't feel bad. Sometimes once we know for sure what is wrong we can work through it and I am sure the doctors will understand or be able to work something out for you especially as you are so passionate about being a nurse. Just be honest with them and don't be afraid to be you. Write down before you go what your concerns are. I did this once with my new Gyni and I didn't think he would ever get all the info down, especially as he is swiss and I was rambling in English through tears (we live in Switzerland) but this time I recently went for a second visit and the medication he had given me hadn't worked out and I kept apologising and he was so kind and said you have nothing to apologise for we just need to find you the right treatment. Even more to my surprise he remembered and had noted everything from the time before. Since I have been en Suisse the Gyni's here are far less keen to carry out surgery and just want to help you get comfortable. They seem to feel surgery is a last resort even a lap. So go without any preconceived ideas and believe in the best possible outcome and I am sure they will help you to get through your exams as comfortably as possible.

Big hugs

[FairFacedFairy]

Hi there.

Please don't feel bad...you had no idea what was wrong with you in the first place so it's not your fault. Wait until your hospital appointment to discuss what to do next. The gynae has to sign off that they are happy to do the surgery. You can be honest and say you're not ready for it but would like to discuss in the future. If it's better for you and your life right now to try other options before diagnosis then that's up to you! You wouldn't be wasting anytime. On the other hand if you want to go ahead with the lap you could just agree to diagnose and nothing to be treated if it's a lot of work to be done. That way you would have more chance of recovering quicker.

If they feel like you have endometriosis then you will be treated until they have done what they can. That can mean treating it with hormonal treatments until surgery or surgery first. Do what's best for you. If the pain isn't stopping your life right now then you may be fine to wait

Good luck xx

[Confused1991]

Hello, sorry to hear you're not feeling v good. I Was in the same boat, my gp refered me to gynae and within a month I had my lap. It took me a week to recover, and I'm now working full time (nursing) and managing my symptoms it's so important you get answers so that you can start to focus on your uni, I'm sure they'll let you have a week off x

[lausa]

Thank you all for the replies! I was thinking if it comes to a Lap I could just have the diagnostic lap and have a week to recover, but as no one is certain what it is, it could be anything and something might have to be removed whilst they're there, so recovery would be longer..

Confused1991, they certainly won't let me have a week off! in 3 years you are only allowed 13 days off placement and university combined, and I severely sprained my ankle in April and took 5 days off, and I had pneumonia last year and took 7 days off, so I can only take 1 day off all this year, no matter what! Even each time I went back to uni after those two problems I was never 100% better but I couldn't afford any more time off.

I'm also terrified to even tell my university as they can see me "not fit for practice" and kick me off my course... they kicked one of my friends off because she had exzema on her hand and because she couldn't prove it was exzema they said "it could be contagious and unsafe for patients"! She had letters from her doctor saying she suffered from exzema too! The OT in University didn't agree with her doctor!