First Laparoscopy and hystereoscopy cancelled by hospital!

[3SPRIG98]

I was meant to be getting a laparoscopy and hystereoscopy this Wednesday coming up, however, I had a phone call from the hospital who said it has been cancelled due to the surgeon being away, they didn’t tell me when it was going to be rescheduled- just said that they will get in touch when an appointment becomes available. Due to this I no longer need to go to my pre op which makes me fear that I’m going to be waiting a lot longer now- I’ve already waited over 5 months and can’t quite believe it’s actually been cancelled. My symptoms have gotten worse these past few weeks and I no longer have anything to take the pain away. Has anyone else experienced this? How long did it take for an appointment for the surgeries to be rescheduled?

[RJS626]

I'm sorry, I haven't experienced this but can only imagine how upsetting it would be if it were happening to me. I really hope there isn't too much of a delay for you, fingers crossed your GP can do something to help the pain till then

[charlieconchurros]

Hi, this happened to me very recently with my first laparoscopy (I had it 2 weeks ago/early March).

First off I never received any paperwork/letters about my surgery, all correspondence was done by phone, I was told I should have received letters and written confirmation but actually I did not receive any letters, I’m not sure how normal this is?

I first saw a specialist in mid December who referred me for surgery. Then in mid/late Jan I received a phone call telling me the date of my surgery which was to be in late Feb, I think this was 4-5 weeks away at the time. Then no more than 2 weeks later I received a second phone call informing me that the surgery needed to be rescheduled because the surgeon was sick but I wasn’t given a new surgery date. I received a third phone 1-2 weeks after this, rescheduling it for early March (just over 2 weeks after the original surgery date) but was not told if it was a morning or afternoon surgery (the surgery was now 1 month away at this time).

I received a phone call a few days later booking me in for the pre-op and blood tests (I only found out the actual time and when I should arrive at the hospital for my surgery by pestering the nurse who carried out my pre-op with questions) and then at the pre-op the nurse booked me in to go back for more blood tests two days before my surgery.

I arrived at the hospital for my surgery in the afternoon (as the nurse told me) and was told I was in the wrong department (apparently the location was specified on the letter which I never received) so the receptionist printed out the most recent letter that was supposedly sent to me and told me where to go. Then I read the letter and found out that my surgery was actually rescheduled for a 2nd time for 11am on the same day - which meant that I had technically already missed the surgery so I had a bit of a panic and a cry (I was already so nervous before the surgery anyway so you can imagine the emotion) but still went straight to the correct surgical department anyway. At the correct department they said that the most recent phone call I had was actually the newest/correct time and to ignore the letter and they told me I hadn’t missed the surgery which was a big relief. I was prepped for surgery and then ended up sitting in the waiting room for around 5 hours (it was already nearing 9h that I hadn’t been allowed a drink of water) and then two male staff members (I had not met them before, they were not my surgeons/specialists/anaesthetist/nurses so I am assuming they were administrative staff or department managerial staff as they were in suits) took me into a side room and told me that they needed to cancel my surgery again because the surgery scheduled before mine overran and there was now no anaesthetist available to do my surgery. They said that if the surgery is cancelled on the day the NHS legally has to conduct the surgery within 28 days so I would definitely get the surgery soon. So I went home (3.5h drive away).

I got a phone call about 4/5 days later giving me a new surgery date for 2 weeks away. I asked for a letter of confirmation and they said that they couldn’t send me a letter because they couldn’t change the date on the computer/system (no idea what that’s about). Then about 3 days later I got a phonecall saying that they had a last minute opening for surgery first thing the next morning, and I said yes as I wanted to get it out of the way.

Everything went smoothly on the day, knew where to go this time. The only difference was that my regular female specialist was not available as it was a last minute cancellation so I had a new male surgeon and I do not know anything about him and not sure if he was an endo specialist or not - I honestly can’t remember if I was told this beforehand or not or if I found out when I got there, my memory of the surgery day is all a bit fuzzy. I was told where the endo was found/removed from just after I woke up from the anaesthetic but I can’t remember a thing the Dr said as I was half asleep so I still don’t know. I got a piece of discharge paper that says only that it was confirmed endometriosis and excision but no more details than that which is very annoying as I’d like to know what happened during surgery... I feel like I’ve been kept out of the loop with info about my own care which is frustrating, and I don’t even know who to call to find out more information and I don’t have the names of anyone who was eventually involved in the surgery to follow up.

Good luck and I hope you get your surgery date soon, try and be persistent and try and get as much (written) information as you can! Ask to take photos of the surgical report if you can - I was shown it briefly but as I say I was half asleep and didn’t know I wouldn’t receive a copy for myself. I didn’t ask half as many questions as I should have. I have heard that you can ring and ask how far down you are on the waiting list too and can try and ask if you can be contacted in case of last minute cancellations.

Best of luck

[3SPRIG98 in reply to charlieconchurros]

Aw thank you so much for your reply. That’s absolutely awful what you went through, I can only begin to imagine the frustration and stress it all put you under! Thank you so much for your advice, I’ve been really fortunate to have got through to the management at my local GP who then contacted the hospital about what’s been going on and have now got my surgery later today, I’m so grateful as I know ultimately most women are left longer to wait. I felt that with the whole not being in the loop about your own health- a lot of things that have been said to me are not adding up with what other doctors have been told about me.

I hope you manage to find out more information and wish you well in your health and that things improve as much as they can.

[Peebles2sarah]

Have you had the diagnostic laparoscopy done? What is the hysterectomy treating?

[3SPRIG98 in reply to Peebles2sarah]

Hi, no this laparoscopy is going to be the diagnostic one and the hysteroscopy is being used at the same time, I’m under the impression if they find anything it’ll be treated there and then however

[Peebles2sarah in reply to 3SPRIG98]

Hysterectomy does not treat the disease be careful with that. Some doctors dump the gun on a hysterectomy but endo can grow anywhere. A lot of women have had hysterectomies and still suffer from endo. I personally have endo on my bladder, intensities, etc, so hysterectomy wouldn’t help me. I’d highly recommend excising the endo instead.

[Peebles2sarah]

Hahaha well I guess I really should put my glasses on 😂 sorry. Please ignore me.