just left hospital - laparoscopy

[Kay92jay]

Hi, my gyno told me before surgery he wouldn’t get chance to see me after operation as he has other surgeries but he will discuss in two weeks at follow up appointment. The doctor I spoke to said he hadn’t left many notes and said he would come back to me and didn’t, the nurse who discharged me said no signs of endo but he hasn’t left many notes and will be looking over the footage again and will be able to advise once I see him. I am a little annoyed as I have done this privately and paid for it. No one has told me how long recovery is, or what time to take off from work. How long my coverings need to stay on for… ☹️

[JulesUK]

If it’s a private doctor they should have a secretary. Email or phone and explain you have questions that were not addressed on the day of your surgery.

[isabellala]

I can totally relate to your experience. Hopefully I have some useful tips for you:

1. You should expect to be signed off work for one-two weeks after laparoscopy. If it was a diagnostic laparoscopy alone, one week should be fine. For operative laparoscopy, you will need the two weeks. Your GP can sort a sick note out for you.

2. NHS and private surgeons both have secretaries and/or a member in the gynaecology team who looks after admissions. Contact this person/s and ask for more info. They’ll generally be better at getting you in touch with the right person that the receptionists

3. If you’re getting nowhere, contact the hospital’s PALS department who’ll be able to help you.

4. Submit a right to information request via the hospital’s data protection team. You can get the details online or via the switchboard. This will give you access to your medical and surgical notes, but requests take a while to process.

In positive news, your follow up is in two weeks, which is far superior to NHS waiting times. I hope you get your answers. Did you have any clinical imaging done (e.g., MRI)? You can request this too and share it with other consultants if you decide to seek a follow up.

Take care. X