Newbie struggling post surgery

[Moodle214]

Hi all, I'm a newbie to the forum but 17 year 'veteran' of endo and just had my 5th laparoscopy. Apologies in advance for the long post.

I thought I'd write on here as to put it bluntly I'm really struggling after my last (5th) lap 3 weeks ago. A bit of history - I have or had endo on both ovaries, bladder and bowel with cysts and fibroids. My previous laps have been laser ablation and I felt incredible always two days post surgery but this time it's just not the same at all. This time round I'm 5 years older, waited way over what I should have done for surgery (was over 9 months) so I was really suffering with chronic fatigue, depression and pain. At surgery it was established that I have deep infiltrating endo on my right ovary, bladder and bowel with a fibroid the size of a golf ball which were all removed with retrograde fixed uterus. All were removed with excision rather than laser.

I felt better within 2 days as I thought I would although nowhere near as good as I used to but it's been downhill from there. I'm teary all the time, feel really down, feel very fatigued and wooly headed and I have persistent pain in my right ovary region especially when I pee and even when I walk I get a sharp stabbing pain which has come on in the last week or so. With hindsight the info I got from the consultant was really lacking especially with regard to the differences, if any, in recovery between laser and excision. I just don't know if what I'm feeling is normal and I'm putting far too much pressure on myself to be feeling better or whether something is amiss.

Thanks all x

[Catness]

Hey Moodle,

I’m sorry to hear you’re suffering so

Post-op blues are a real thing, you can google it and find lots of people from all different types of surgeries suffer some form of it. Lots of people feel very down after operations, myself included, which could be down to many things. State of mind before the op (you say so yourself you’re worn out a little with chronic fatigue, depression and pain), the trauma of the op itself, recovery and all the anaesthetic and drugs they give you in the hospital. I agree with you that you shouldn’t be putting pressure on yourself to feel a certain way. I bet you’re doing the absolute best you can and don’t minimise what you’ve gone through. I’m about to have my fifth lap - it’s exhausting physically and emotionally and I think the way you’re feeling is completely normal. Sometimes you’ve really got to be proud of the little things and have faith that you’re doing your best. Today I managed to have a shower, that was the best I could do and it was enough.

I had abalation for my first lap and every one since has been excision so perhaps I can help by saying the recovery times (for me at least) were vastly different. I suppose if we think of it like a garden abalation is just like burning the weeds down to ground level - there’s certainly trauma in that. Excision on the other hand is the equivalent of digging around the weed, breaking the root, cutting it out, pulling out everything you can see next to it, and then afterwards trying to piece it back together. I know this analogy is reductive but I think it’s a good way to compare the two surgeries. Excision is meant to be a much more conclusive surgery in that, in my consultants words, it’s much more heavy handed. The trauma to your body will be a lot greater than abalation as it’s far more aggressive.

As for foggy headed ness etc most of my laps take around 6 weeks for my brain to get back to what I count as my ‘normal’. And again it’s really important if you can not to put pressure on yourself. Your body is doing it’s absolute best to heal, but there is a lot of healing to do.

I suggest if you’re worried about the pulling/ pain on one side to try and get hold of your consultant for a post-op check up a little sooner and to also try and seek some reassurance that how you’re feeling is what he would consider normal. However if it makes you feel any better it certainly sounds very similar to my lap recoveries.

Sending (gentle) hugs xxxxz

[Moodle214 in reply to Catness]

Catness thank you so incredibly much for your reply and wow the bit about the weeds make absolutely perfect and brilliant sense. That's brilliant you managed a shower today, as you rightly say it's the small (make that huge!!) wins that make all the difference especially when climbing the endo mountain. Thank you for all the fab advice, I am going to try and be more patient and kinder to myself and will have a chat with my consultant. You've made a huge difference to my state of mind tonight!!!! Wishing you all the very best for your next op and hope it brings you some welcome relief xxx ps do we get a medal at 6 laps 😉

[Catness in reply to Moodle214]

If we don’t get offered a medal... I say we steal one 😉 I’m so glad I could be of some help sweet xxx