Surgery

[Cherry245]

I have my third surgery tomorrow morning and it’s my biggest one yet so i am really nervous.

I am getting the Mirena iud placed and adhesions taking out from my bowels, stomach, bladder + and my endo removed from my uterus.

Does anyone have any tips for anxiety before surgery? Im not really sure what to do with myself and to stop from freaking out… i also have a phobia of needles which doesn’t help 😅

[Avourneen]

Your third surgey at 19 ? That's so tough. Be careful though if you are under a private suegeon that they aren't pushing you to have repeated surgeries. Most good surgeoens will be very circumspect about doing repeated surgeries like this. 3 top surgeons told me that having another operation would risk amking things worse as I have so much scarring internally after 2 ops.

I get really really scared before the surgery, all I can say is if you can take a friend /husband wth you before? Then remember once you are out you don't feel anything til you come round.So there's not much to be scared of about that ,try to think of it as basically being asleep.

You are also going to be in a very safe place with a whole medical team around you in case of any difficulties.

So really it's just having a sleep in a very safe place.

The worst thing for me is I can't take the anaesthetic well and I vomit for tours when I come round but last time I talked to the doc about this and they changed the mix of the anesthetic and I only threw up once (all over the poor nurse). Then it's just a case of taking things easy for a couple of months. Personally I pary when I'm scared and find that comforting but you might not be religious. Maybe there is something calming that you could try , repeating a poem that means a lot to you, singing to yourself, doing some mindfullness techniques before they put your under the anaesthetic. I think things like this can make you feel calmer before the anaesthetic hits you.

Wishing you really good luck, that the surgery really helps and that you don't need any more ops ever again after this one.

Not sure if this is helpful but I hope so.

XX

[Cherry245 in reply to Avourneen]

Thank you so much, this really did help me!! My first surgery was emergency under nhs and then my second was private and so is the third so i’m hoping this will be my last for a while because i agree i have been told that surgery can just make things worse and adhesions grow back.

I will try the poem technique before i go under as i do like to read a lot, thank you xxx

[CryBaby91]

Hi Cherry245

Sorry to hear you're already on surgery number 3! This really is an awful condition, I don't understand how there isn't better treatment options for us tbh. I had my surgery on the 8th of August, i was quite nervous but not about the needles and such. It was more the idea that they wouldn't find anything! But i ended up in floods of tears multiple times, so i can understand the anxiety in that respect. Have you got a good book to take with you? I tried watching telly but it didn't take my mind off things enough. Books are such a good escape! Failing that, music is my go to!When they actually start all the anesthesia, just remember that you're in very good hands. Listen to the anesthesist, tell them how worried you are and they will do absolutely everything possible to put you at ease. Sometimes they can even put some numbing cream on your hand to reduce discomfort from the cannula. Just talk to the nurses and doctors about your anxieties, they will do what they can to help. Wishing you all the best 🥰