Lap tomorrow - stupid questions

[RedA28]

Hi all

I have my lap tomorrow. It's the first time I've ever had surgery with a GA so I am a bit nervous. I have a couple of possibly stupid questions!

Fit note - I will need a fit note for work - does the hospital provide this when you are discharged or do I need to get this from my GP afterwards?

Roughly how long after coming round from surgery will I be allowed to go home?

What is recovery like? I'm not anticipating that they will be doing loads in the surgery - I'm 99% sure I have endo (thanks to the umbilical symptoms) - the primary aim is to confirm diagnosis and see if there is anything specifically that might be affecting my fertility (3 unsuccessful IVF rounds with no real explanation) and rectify that if possible). I'm finding it hard to envisage what recovery will be like as someone who is rarely ill. Will I be in bed for the first few days or able to potter round at least quite quickly? I know it will vary person to person and depend on how much they do in the surgery but would be interested to see people's experiences.

How soon did people get a follow-up appointment? One of my worries is that, as a deaf lipreader, I will struggle to understand what a masked doctor is saying to me after the surgery, especially if groggy after anaesthetic, so I don't want to be waiting weeks and weeks to find out the basics of what happened in the surgery. I am going to see if they will write down some bullet points or let me use my speech-to-text app but worried I might be too out of it to ask!

Anyway, sorry for the mountain of questions! I think I am a control freak that doesn't like not knowing exactly what will happen...

[Endohope18]

Hey I’ve just had a lap 4 weeks ago. To answer some of your questions as per my experience;

I had a large endometrioma removed and was apparently straight forward.

1) I told the nurse before hand that I need a sick note or they’ll ask you - but it’s good to remind them.

2)I came around 2/3 hours after I woke up from surgery - in terms of allowing you to go home it all depends on how well you come around, the amount of pain you’re in and if you’ve had a wee ( to make sure all is ok) - if you’re able to wee and eat drink ok then you’ll get discharged pretty quick.

3) Again, recovery is different for everyone, I was in a lot of pain due to the gas and so stayed over the night and was discharged the next day. You won’t feel the pain from the actual surgery but the pain from gas is horrible - I suggest walking around as much as you can but don’t over do yourself! Walking will help to release the gas from your shoulders. I felt better after a week in terms of pain but obviously this is different for everyone - do expect to be in bed first couple of days as the gas pain is not nice at all and allow your body to recover and rest as much as you can - over the course of the week you’ll see a gradual difference and will start to feel better. Stay on top of pain killers strictly and request for codeine as they’ll usually discharge you with just paracetamol which isn’t enough.

4) The medical team are really nice and make you feel at ease well for me anyway, so any concerns just speak to them. My follow up appointment is scheduled for mid September so around 1.5 months after surgery but luckily my husbands a gynae doctor so I got to find out the details straight after my surgery. If you do end up staying the night - a consultant will come and see you the next morning during ward rounds. You can request to know how the surgery went.

You mentioned that you lipread so get your questions written down on paper before you go into surgery! You’ll meet the surgeon and the anaesthetist right before your surgery so you can hand them the piece of paper and jot down anything that you need to know or for them to do.

Hope this helps, and best of luck it’s really not as scary and a very straightforward procedure xx

[RedA28 in reply to Endohope18]

Thank you so much, this was all really helpful! Thanks for taking the time to answer.

If you work, how soon did you go back to work?

[Endohope18 in reply to RedA28]

I went back after 4 weeks! Still don’t fully feel like myself as I’ve just had a period and apparently the first period can be a lot heavier and painful than usual! A lot of fatigue and tiredness - but you’ll have good days and bad days! I reckon I could’ve gone back to work after 3 weeks but allow time to recover properly!

You’ll also get a discharge letter around 3 weeks later of full findings

[RedA28 in reply to Endohope18]

Thanks. I'm still mainly working from home and my employers are quite flexible so might let me do some sort of phased return. Good to know about the discharge letter too, that's a relief that I would get something relatively soon.

[Endohope18 in reply to RedA28]

I’m currently on a phased return - requested half days and gradually back to full time after a week! My GP wouldn’t allow a phased return as I also work from home but luckily my manager was happy to do this!

All the best!

[Hunter-23]

Sick note.. I think it depends on each employers but we get a week off then we need to provide a sick note. I contacted my GP for a sick note.

I had surgery 1350-1630. I was in the car by 2200 (2hr drive, husband driving).

Recovery will definitely vary. I couldn't do anything for the first week or two. Only walking back and forth to the toilet. The gas pain was awful so keep topped up with painkillers. I drank peppermint tea too.

I didn't see the surgeon after surgery as it was late when I left. The endometriosis specialist nurse rang me a week after surgery to make sure I was doing OK. I'm 3mpo now and still waiting for the surgeon to contact me in depth about what they found! I did get a discharge letter with basic info on. Ie diagnostic laparoscopy performed, endometriosis confirmed and excision carried out. Make sure you tell the anesthetist about your hearing. You should have the same person that is there when you go to sleep to when you wake up. So just make them aware of what you'd like to know when you wake up and how you want it communicated.

Good luck!

[RedA28 in reply to Hunter-23]

Thanks this was really helpful!

Good to know in advance that it might be quite late in the evening coming home (although thankfully we are only a 15 min drive away, not 2 hours - that must have been uncomfortable!).

Also good tip about the anaesthetist as well, thanks.

[Natalia88]

Hi I had my lap this Monday. I did ask nurse for a sick note and she gave it to me straight away.

For me, plan was to go home the same day but because I had slow recovery after surgery I was kept overnight.

Also I've been told that my follow up will be around 3 months after surgery.

Good luck to you!

[RedA28 in reply to Natalia88]

Thank you. I'll definitely be prepared for an overnight stay in case.

[ZiggyandBC]

Hey lovely. I had my lap in June and was a bag of nerves!! I got a fit note from my GP but if you ask the hospital before you get discharged they can sort you one as well.

Personally I had to stay in hospital overnight and was only allowed home the day after my operation because I needed a catheter because I couldn’t empty my bladder so it really depends on how you’re feeling but they’ll make sure you can empty your bladder before you go home so they got me to do 3 wees until they let me go and they’ll make sure you can get up and walk around okay.

I struggled to get around the house for the first week after my op, getting up and sitting down was quite painful and I had to have help to get dressed and get a shower but after the first week I felt much better and slowly started doing more and more.

My follow up appointment is next week which will make it 10 weeks since my op, I think this is so they can see if surgery has helped with the pain.

I was told exactly what was found after I’d woken up and I also had my discharge letter which said they had found but I’m sure they’d write it down for you so you can read it if you’re feeling too groggy!

Try not to worry, overall it was really a smooth process and wasn’t as bad as I expected! The nurses who looked after me were lovely too. Wishing you all the best! Xxxx

[RedA28 in reply to ZiggyandBC]

Thank you that's really helpful! I'll be prepared for an overnight stay in case. Hope your follow up goes well.

[ZiggyandBC in reply to RedA28]

thanks angel! Xx

[Moon_maiden]

HiI might be repeating bits

It’s not as scary as you think, theatre and ward staff will be great. I’ve found theatre staff to be really helpful.

Make sure they are aware of you being deaf and ask them to write anything down that’s important. You’ll probably get more info than most, you’ll get a discharge form and account of what they did. Some consultants are doing consultation mask free.

The hospital will give a fit note for two weeks. If you need painkillers ask for those to go home with.

Have a small pillow for journey home between you and the seatbelt. The worst pain for me was the gas after effects, peppermint tea can help. Have a small overnight bag just in case they run behind, plus phone charger.

Hope this helps 🙂 let us know how you go

[RedA28 in reply to Moon_maiden]

Thanks so much - everyone has been really helpful - put my mind at ease!!

[Completer40]

Morning, first of all I'm so happy to hear that you are getting a diagnostic lap. You will finally get some answers! I've had 3 and they aren't so bad. I've always been feeling pretty much back to normal after 10 days.

The hospital will give you a sick note for two weeks. I would tell them about your worries when you get admitted. They need to ensure that you understand everything. A tip would be to get pictures of anything they see inside of you, they take them routinely and you can ask for them. This will help a lot if you need more surgery down the line and want to go to a different consultant.

I hope it goes well and that you can move forward after today. Take care

[RedA28 in reply to Completer40]

Thanks for the tips! I didn't know about pictures so that's good to know as I think I'll end up seeing someone else further down the line for the umbilical endo stuff at least. I'm waiting in admissions now, eek!

[Completer40 in reply to RedA28]

You will be fine, enjoy some downtime and make sure everyone looks after you for a change!

[RedA28]

Hi all just thought I'd give a little update after my lap yesterday. Despite my nerves all went smoothly. Confirmed endo which was not a surprise but also confirmed stage 4 which was more of a surprise. It was quite extensive and my uterus and ovaries were stuck together and to other bits too (not exactly sure haha) but they have managed to excise a fair amount and unstick things so it sounded like a positive outcome and I'll know more at my follow up. Thanks to everyone on here who helped to put my mind at rest in advance! Just taking it nice and easy now. Just sent my husband off to get me some granny pants, something I hadn't planned for 🤣

[EndoJaz]

Now the worse bit is done, rest up and relax xx