Advice post lap

[mermaidcupcakes]

Hey everyone, hope everyones okay today! I was hoping for some advice after feeling very depressed and lost at what to do next.

I had my 3rd laparoscopy last week, it was done at Broomfield under the NHS, I was diagnosed with endo in my 2nd lap in 2023 during a private surgery that I self funded. My first lap in 2021 was to remove a 10cm ovarian cyst but I wasn't diagnosed then.

I woke up from surgery last Tuesday to have a super brief visit from the surgeon who told me he hadn't done anything. He diagnosed me with PCOS and discharged me back to my GP with the only advice being to loose weight. He showed me photos from during the lap of 'artefacts' that could be endo but he left them there because he deemed the problem was likely elsewhere (he suggested its some undiagnosable bowel spasm, we've all been there, I've been misdiagnosed with IBS many times over the years!) .I waited approx. 18 months for this surgery. He was a general gynaecologist, not an endo specialist. The surgery was delayed by 4+ hours and then subsequently didn't last very long. I have since read about countless women experiencing the same thing - having their lap done under general gynae, being told nothing was found and then having an endo specialist perform the lap shortly after to find they are riddled with endo. It seems general gynaes don't have the specialised training to be able to identify and remove all endo. I've read it can be pretty much invisible to the untrained eye, and unless you are thoroughly examined during the lap, it is also very easy to miss lesions that hide in unusual places.

I'm in so much pain every day, I get pulsating, radiating pains in my left lower adbomen, I have very severe bladder symptoms that I've had since I was a teen, my back and legs are in constant pain.

I want nothing more than to be able to start a family, but I don't see how I could try and get pregnant in this much pain. And that's with all the painkillers and hormone therapy I'm currently on, which I'd have to stop to attempt pregnancy.

I'm feeling really hopeless and lost at the prospect of having to be re-referred to an endo specialist, having to wait 2 years + to see them and have surgery, by which time I'll be 35. I keep being told by gynaecologists I should attempt pregnancy sooner rather than later, so I really feel like I'm running out of time.

I guess I'm asking if anyone has experienced similar in having their surgery done by general gynae over a specialist, and for any advice about what I should do next to get back on track to trying to fix this and start a family.

Should I look into egg freezing? Any advice on that greatly welcomed!

[RedCat24]

I was in the same situation as you. 1st lap nothing and was done with a general gynae amd they discharged me. I went to my GP in tears and asked to be refered to a bgse specialist, he agreed but wait list was over a year, I then went private he wasn't an endo specialist but it was his interest he was a cancer consultant on NHS, he found endo, GP kept then expediting app but it took several rejections. But now cos iv been private the nhs want to start all over again 🙄