How to find out more about surgeon?

[Ejrn]

Hi,

I am having my first lap in a couple of weeks, and as explained in previous posts I’m am terrified at the prospect of them not finding anything or just getting no answers at all. I’ve seen a lot of people writing about ensuring your surgeon is experienced etc and was just wondering if anyone can advise me how to do this/ who to contact and what questions I should be asking in the lead up?

If I am told they haven’t found anything and am turned away I’m going to have to accept that this is perhaps all in my head. I so badly want to be certain the first time round, and ensure it’s done by the right person, so I can accept whatever conclusion I get!

Thanks in advance

[luthien]

Hey, being terrified of them finding nothing makes sense, it's okay, we've actually all had that panic!

Firstly the easiest way is if you know your surgeons name you can google them, there should be lots of sites with their name, some will have a slightly different description of what they do depending on where they're working. Best place to start is the NHS and type in your surgeon (if you're UK based).

If you're not sure of their name; you can contact their secretary / center by looking at the details you've been given on your operation letter. If you can't see it on there your GP should be able to chase it up for you. I would definately research if you have their name, sometimes their secretary can point you in the right direction of their site / skills; they often have a staff list too.

You'll need to make sure yours is an endo surgeon as they'll know to look in more hard to reach areas also can spot endo / other issues easier. Gynae are fine but they tend to only look at just the reproductive organs so not the bladder and bowel as thats outside their area. If you want to start reducing your symptoms so you can start to see what your "normal" is you want to see if they can do excision (cut out endo) which is usually only by an endo specialist, and see if they'll do that at the same time.

If you have general gynae it's not the end of the world, it's fine, but just bear in mind they may not look anywhere else in your pelvis and may not treat anything; check what you're signing for - pre op nurses will detail that and explain it, but some women signed for " . . .+/- treatment" with general gynae and they woke up with a coil in because general gynae won't remove endo in your first lap. Mine said " . . with excision if endo is found" and "take biopsies of anything irregular".

If they don't find anything it's not in your head, don't accept that; you'll need a second opinion / push for a specialist, as you're in pain and that's physical so something is definitely wrong and you need to find out what. Leaving / ignoring our health / symptoms will just make stuff worse.

Happy to answer any questions xx