Finally getting a Laparoscopy!

[Elephy]

After being mucked about for years by GPs telling me things like I'm just 'unlucky' I am very happy at 27 I am getting a Laparoscopy but Im also feeling nervous as I don't know what to expect, I don't know what they'll find and how much pain I'll be In, will I have to take a lot of time off work/studies? I know its hard to answer these questions until it happens but my mind is in overdrive.

Also due my periods tomorrow and the past couple of days I have been irritated, sad and of course in pain. Back is killing and ovaries cramping . Working tomorrow and anxious if I'll make it through the shift.

Feeling sorry for myself today sorry for the rant 🤣❤

[BunnyBean]

Huge congratulations! I think recovery seems to differ for everyone and one of the things will be if you have much pain and if you can cope with that.

All that aside, one of the things I suppperrrr recommend that they did for me in hospital was give me peppermint tea for the trapped gas. I looked at it like... Minty wet grass... Gross but I was so uncomfortable I drank it and okay it wasn't great, I imagine if you tried to eat a salad with toothpaste it would be similar but oh my gosh it worked. That horrid trapped gas pain is one bit of a brutal you don't need. I went to a private hospital so I don't know if peppermint tea is on the NHS, I can report back in a couple weeks, but if not, be sure to take some with you so you can ask for some hot water and brew it yourself. I had the clipper brand one but I'm sure they are all as equally minty and grassy as each other.

Otherwise, I had no idea what to expect either and didn't know til I spoke to my surgeon the following day what they'd even done. I think I went in expecting them to find nothing so to expect to be disappointed, but in hindsight I should have done "prep for the worst, hope for the best". Wishing you loads of luck and you tell those ovaries to pipe down!!! ❤️

[Elephy in reply to BunnyBean]

I have some peppermint tea here in the house as I had really bad trapped gas a couple of months ago so that is ideal I will take that 😊 yeah definitely don't need another thing bugging my happiness 🤣 thank you so much for your advice! ❤

[Pinkmice]

Hi Take time to recover- peppermint tea good for the wind but if you feel sick try ginger biscuits- which will help - as a tea if you are unable to eat alot.

Pain - try to keep to natural treatments as pills will cause above- heat pads also help.

Look after yourself and wait to do too much- gentle walks etc with that you should be

better,this is to prevent scar tissue.

Yours

With a hug all goes well

[EllaB3]

Hey! Firstly congrats on getting your laparoscopy through! I’m 23 and I had mine about a week and a half ago now! I was terrified as I’ve never had anything like that done before and never been put to sleep (one of my biggest fears). The women were SO lovely and they made me feel so comfortable. What happened for me was:

You go on the day and they have a bed waiting for you. You put your gown on and these lovely knickers. They also fit some compression socks for you so you don’t get blood clots. Very glamorous! They’ll ask you a few questions and what you’ve experienced and what your symptoms are but they’ll mainly know most of your info. Also TAKE A DRESSING GOWN AND SLIPPERS!

I had to have a blood test as I have never had an op before so they needed to cross examine my blood type in case I needed a transfusion.

There’s A LOT of waiting so I would recommend taking something to amuse yourself. I think I waited about 3 hours but I know some women on my ward waited 5! They’ll also make you have a wee to check for pregnancy!

They’ll take you in and ask you some other routine questions then you’ll get an injection and be put to sleep. For me, this wasn’t without its dramatics. I cried! But I was so nervous and they didn’t make me feel silly at all.

I woke up and I’m not going to lie, I was in pain. They gave me morphine and took me back to the ward. The pain is obvs in your stomach but what they don’t tell you is that they pump you with gas. This is so that they can see all of your organs. About 80% of that gas goes during surgery but you’ll still have some left. Often this can press on a nerve in your diaphragm with is connected to your shoulder and gives quite intense shoulder pain. Mine went after 3 days though!

As for time off work I think this obviously depends on you! I personally had 4 days off, one for the op then three to recover. I’m a bid writer and work from home full time so on Friday I felt up to doing some work. I don’t think I could have managed going into an office!

I hope this helped! I’m nearly two weeks post op now and pretty much back to normal!

Sending you love and I hope it goes really well and you get some answers! X