Laparoscopic Surgery poss endo

[Loulabelle1709]

Hi,

i am going in for laparoscopic surgery in a couple of weeks time for poss endo excision.

Does anyone have an tips for rexovery etc?

Ive not have surgery before and want to be prepared.

[Doublebassoboe]

my daughter too is going in for laparoscopy and possibly excision so we would also like to hear all about this. Many thanks and good wishes for yoursLoulabelle x

[Orange8 in reply to Doublebassoboe]

Hi Loulabelle and Doublebassoboe- Thinking of you both as you prepare for surgery/support your daughter with surgery (perhaps both surgeries have already happened at this point). I had the same surgery (laparoscopy for possible endometriosis excision) just last month, so hopefully my tips will be helpful….

The surgeon ended up finding Stage IV endometriosis all over everything (off-the-charts for the amount of tissue excised). Eek! Although this was upsetting, of course, I felt relief in knowing that I now had a surgical diagnosis to explain the severe pelvic pain that I have had for a long time. What helped me the most after surgery:

-Making sure that my apartment was set up for recovery before going in for surgery (cleaning that I would not be able to do after returning home, putting my cat’s food and litter in a place where I wouldn’t have to bend over to reach it, setting up special pillows, heating pad, books, etc. on my bed).

-Making sure that I got good sleep the night before surgery.

-Making sure that I left plenty of time the morning of the surgery to go for a long walk (which I knew that I wouldn’t be able to do for a bit after), soak up the sun, listen to a guided meditation, and dance to a song that made me feel ready and strong (“I am a Warrior”…AKA endo warrior! )

-Making sure that I had a plan in place for my sister to stay with me the first night (I live alone and knew that I would be on heavy drugs, so having her support was the best). She woke me up throughout the night to give me my medicine at the scheduled times.

-Not to a scare you, but I was in so much pain the day after surgery that I wasn’t able to even get out of bed. So my sister called an ambulance and I ended up on a stretcher headed to the emergency room. Even with all of the pain medication they had given me to take at home, it wasn’t enough to manage the pain, so I needed to be back in the hospital on an IV. Not sure where you are located, but I’m in the U.S., where they try to get people “in and out” for surgeries as fast as they can. If you are able to stay the night at the hospital the day of your surgery, I highly recommend it to avoid what I went through after returning home.

-I ended up staying with my sister for a few days after that, so it really helps to have someone around to monitor your pain, help with getting you food, etc. You won’t be able to do much on your own.

-The worst pain lasted for around 2 or 2.5 weeks. After that, I felt like I could return to short walks (while still taking pain meds, of course). I had a little bleeding every day from the excision, but I also had Botox injections to pelvic my pelvic floor muscles at the same time, so the bleeding could have been from that, too.

-I felt like I was making progress with my recovery (I had increased activity), but at around 6 weeks out, I had increased pain and bleeding. I think I’m at the end of that now (fingers crossed). It was most likely a “breakthrough period” (I’m on continuous progestin to prevent having periods due to the pain that they cause). I reached out to the surgeon, but she wasn’t worried about it, so that made me feel better. She said that I could increase the progestin if things were unmanageable, or that I could give it a couple of weeks. (I was hopeful, so I haven’t increased it yet.)

I hope that some or all of this helps! Please just let me know if you have any questions…happy to help. Thinking of you as you go through this, and sending hugs. You’ve got this! Xoxo