My first lap experience

[Georgia03]

Hi! A little update, my lap yesterday went much easier than I thought it would. I was made to feel very comfortable, it was the waiting around that was bothering me. I spoke with the consultant and she told me what will happen and the birders then took my obs and gave me a very pretty outfit and stockings to put on! (Not) I had a private room with a bathroom and tv and myself and my boyfriend were very impressed with the care. Before I was taken down to theatre the anesthesia man came to see me and introduced himself, I explained that I was quite scared and he made me feel at ease and told me it won't hurt, he gave me paracetamol and ibuprofen. When I was taken down to theaters I again was looked after and I told them I was scared of the anesthetic and they put me at ease and kept talking to me he told me to think of something nice and last thing I remember was looking at the clock and seeing it was 2pm and then a nurse woke me up afterwards and it was 3pm it was very strange! I was very uncomfortable after and in pain so was given morphine and rested in bed, I had 2 incisions one on my belly button and one just above my pelvic bone.. My consultant told me she had found endometriosis on my pelvic wall and had treated it. I was still away with the fairies when I spoke to her so will have to wait for the follow up to find out more. I had to have a wee and eat something before coming home and I felt quite sick and had hot flushes but that soon passed. I was prescribed codeine and told to take paracetamol and ibuprofen. I also used heat pads on my shoulders as the gas pain is really bad and drank peppermint tea.

I had quite an unsettled sleep last night due to pain and not being able to get comfy and kept crying randomly but I think that's normal.

Overall the procedure wasn't as bad as I thought and I was made to feel very comfortable, it's just the pains afterwards I am struggling with.

You will be completely fine! it is very daunting but once it's over you will think how easy it was.

All my best to anyone who is nervous just like I was! I would definitely recommend stocking up on heat pads and peppermint tea as they help ease the gas pains in the shoulders. Apart from that plenty of rest and listen to your body!

💕💕💕

xxx

[jjeemm]

Hi Georgia

Great that you had such a good experience! I really hope you're recovering well and will feel much better soon! Can I just ask, were you treated in the UK? If so, did you go private? If you were treated on the NHS did you request a private room? Can I also ask how long your wait was - you said that was the worst part of the experience. What time were you asked to arrive at the hospital? Can I also ask whether or not it hurt when the anaesthetist put the cannula in? Did he put it in the back of your hand/wrist and did he find the vein okay? Sorry to ask these questions, it's just that I wanted to compare other people's treatment with mine. Unfortunately I didn't have such a good experience when I had my laparoscopy in September and it would be really useful to know how other people are treated so that I can strengthen my case to request a transfer to a different consultant or possibly different hospital.

Wishing you all the best for a really speedy recovery and many thanks in advance for sharing details of your experience!

[Georgia03 in reply to jjeemm]

Hiya, thank you! I'm getting there just very uncomfortable with the pain especially gas pain. I was treated in the U.K., it was at a private hospital but I was referred there by the nhs. I was there for 11 but didn't go down to theatre until around 01.45 so not to long it just seems it when your waiting. The canula didn't hurt at all that's what I was worried about but honesty it was fine, yes in the back of my left hand as he asked which hand I wrote with. Sorry to hear you didn't have a great experience, where were you treated? xx

[jjeemm in reply to Georgia03]

Hi Georgia

You poor thing - I really do sympathise....I felt pretty uncomfortable for the first few days and couldn't really sleep on my side for a couple of nights because every time I rolled over I had gas pain in my chest. Once you get past the first couple of days you should gradually feel a whole lot better

Wow, you were lucky to get referred to a private hospital - I ended up having to stay overnight because I wasn't able to pee....I got literally about half an hour's sleep because of the constant noise, admittance of 2 new patients, one at 2.15am and one at 4.15, together with loud noises of doctors, nurses chatting, beeping machines, anxious relatives, phone calls, intercom going off, nurses coming round to do bladder scan, taking blood pressure, etc., etc. It was honestly hellish!!! I ended up discharging myself the next day at 7.30am because I was so exhausted I was almost in tears. No-one ever even asked if I needed any pain relief either...I just ended up taking my own paracetamol that I'd brought with me....

It also didn't help that I'd been told to arrive at the hospital at 7am and I was second on my consultant's list, so I didn't actually go down for my surgery until 1.30pm.....I think because I hadn't had anything to drink for so long (9pm the evening before) this led to me being extra-dehydrated and unable to pee...

My anaesthetist was really rough inserting the cannula and to find my vein he literally flicked the back of my hand with his finger-nails. I'm really sensitive to pain at the best of times! He clearly hit a nerve because I screamed out in pain and now, 4 weeks on, I have a bulging vein sticking out of the back of my wrist. For the first few days after I went back home I also couldn't lower my arm without feeling pain and pressure building up. I'm in two minds about going to see a doctor about this...while I'm a bit worried I've also read online that this can happen after a cannula has hit a nerve and I should probably wait a couple of months for the vein to go down.

Anyway, never mind...sorry to moan!

I'm not sure if I'm allowed to say which hospital I went to because the 'Code of Conduct' states that we shouldn't mention names of hospitals or consultants. I'd love to know where you were treated - it sounds like the place to go! To be honest I'm dreading my next surgery now which is going to be a whole lot worse, probably involving another overnight stay (the one in September was only diagnostic). The next one is going to be a complex operation involving excision of endometriosis from the bowel, apparently.

Anyway, thanks so very much for coming back to me with this, Georgia....at least it sounds like there are some good medics out there (to be honest I've been losing a lot of faith in the medical profession recently)...and it's really reassuring to know some women are treated with kindness and compassion.

Get well soon and just take it easy! Sending hugs and many thanks again.