Check out @rebeccamallick on Instagram, she's an endo surgeon and has recently posted some really great posts about what happens during a lap, recovery etc
depends what your having done. Is it exploratory or are they removing endometriosis?
I had my first and was told they would remove the endometriosis but when I woke up they couldn’t as it was too dense and then had to wait for another surgery. Took me about 5 days to feel better after the first one. The gas pain/shoulder pain was crazy!
Recently had my second op which was much longer and more extensive. Still recovery at day 9 but much better than I was. Not taking any pain relief now apart from occasional paracetamol but I still have pain (which I’m used to haha). I think everyone is different and just listen to your body.
It’s so validating when they confirm endo. Hope everything goes okay
I had a laparoscopy roughly 3 weeks ago now and they found a lot of endometriosis so they had to do diathermy to burn away what they could.
Advice for after surgery, some things that were not mentioned to me.
- Get a supply of large heavy flow pads or full on nappies. I wasn’t warned about bleeding after the surgery and I bled a lot. You also cannot use tampons for up to 14 days after surgery.
- For the trapped wind try to move as much as you can. This helped me so much. Even if it’s just moving your shoulders and upper body about or walking in place. Trapped wind after surgery was very painful, but cleared after a couple days.
- Constipation. The meds and painkillers made me so constipated so just be aware of this, my first poo post surgery was very painful so be prepared, no one warned me 😅
- Stretchy pants, the wounds will be across the lower part of your stomach. If you wear your pants a bit higher this will be painful. I wore really stretchy leggings or loose PJs.
- Be prepared with strong pain killers and heavy flow Pads, for your first period post op. My period was due 5 days after my op. It came 7 days after and it was extremely painful and very heavy. I’ve been told by people who’ve had the op that this is normal. I had pains worse than my normal already extremely painful periods. So make sure you have a stock of strong painkillers. Couldn’t use my hot water bottle due to the wounds on my stomach.
Recovery isn’t too bad, I found I was able to walk about the day after, and I was doing the washing up and pottering about the house after about three or four days. You may tire easy and there has been some pain from where they got rid of some endo but this is normal.
Not too sure how different a laparoscopy is to a laparotomy but hope this is helpful x
As it’s a laparotomy rather than a laparoscopy, I would assume the recovery time would be longer than 2 weeks. I only had a laparoscopy, but from my experience, take the time off they suggest. They will likely tell you how much time during your pre-op appointments, or you’ll have a nice chance to ask. I was pier-pressured into going back to work early (after 7 days rather than 14) and it was the worst decision and one I will not be making if I have an op again. Hope the op goes well for you.
Hey hello,Other than what others are saying...something practical that I found and was really pleased I had with me was some chocolate and a fizzy can of drink!
After my surgery, I felt very weak and shakey and as if I was going to pass out. Probably from not eating from the night before. Immediately after that sugar kick, I felt better. So take your favourite snacks!
I am 9 days post op, abdominal pain has reduced massively and incisions are healing. To be honest, the endo pain I have had so far has been much worse than the surgery soreness. I am still very fatigued, so take it slow and sleep as much as you can. I took 3 weeks off work in anticipation of the fatigue, and to give myself the best chance of recovery.
Biggest tip is have someone to help you for at least 3/4 days after, I was in bed. I suffered with really bad sickness due to codine and anaesthetic, so get some anti-sickness tablets post op so you can eat (your tummy might be fine, but mine was not!). The constipation is also really real, so get some laxatives or stool softeners to take straight after surgery.
Also get yourself on some probiotics post surgery to get your tummy back to normal. Peppermint tea by the bucket load for shoulder/rib pain from the gas.
Its handy to have someone with you post surgery when the surgeon comes round with the outcome. I was so out of it with the anaesthetic, I have no recollection of the conversation.
I built it up hugely anxiety wise before, but, it has felt managable, and I am beyond relieved I finally have a diagnosis for endo. Nowhere near as bad as I thought, but I have been strict with my mindset of taking really tiny steps, day by day.
Hey Endo_warrior01, wish you the best of luck! Yes those things you mentioned and for me I think getting in fairly early with regular laxatives (could buy fybogel/laxido or similar to take in with you, and to have post discharge, if you want - for me this was helpful as mine was private and they were not great about prescribing these early and I didn't get them to take away for some reason. In terms of time off work, I was told to expect roughly 2-6 weeks in most cases I think (I started some remotely after 1), but will depend on your specifics so I would ask your surgeon if you can - will also depend what they find in there as I think others have said. The other thing I would say - hopefully not necessary as I think what happened to me is relatively rare, but still feel worth sharing it perhaps - is that if you are gradually improving, coming off pain meds etc over time, and then start doing worse again and needing more of them, to seek help sooner rather than later, as infections can present that way (and can be quite subtle initially in otherwise healthy youngish women). But as I say I think that's fairly rare, in my case it's because I developed a haematoma on one side that later on became infected. Was sorted with antibiotics fine but I left it longer than I should have to seek care in retrospect.
Wishing you all the best, hope everything goes smoothly for you and that it helps!!
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