OT: Surgery Update

[Guest guest]

Sorry, guys, you may want to delete this now as it talks about girly stuff...LOL. I just wanted to check in and report the results from my surgery. You may have seen some posts from me this week during my coherent times between doses of percocet, but I hadn't seemed to have enough time between naps to let you all know what happed last Tuesday, so here is my post for that.

Got to the hospital at 5:30am--ugh!--for paperwork, iv, etc. At first they didn't want to let my husband back there with me, which I had to promptly correct them on. On what planet do they expect a woman to go have surgery and sit back there in a room for an hour and a half alone before hand? I'd have gone nuts and left. Anyway, they relented when I told them that he had to be there until I went to sleep or I was going home. Let's just say that before the day was over, they realized that I'm use to being in charge, and probably decided that I'm the biggest nut job to ever walk into their hospital. We did all their paperwork, suffered through the iv insertion and was then told that I had to take my piercing out or they couldn't do surgery. Now I have had a private piercing for 4 years because I got drunk one night when Mike and I first got married and thought it would be like a private wedding ring. Well, in that 4 years, I have never taken it out--even for other procedures of the feminine kind--because I don't have the tools to remove it. It was a spur of the moment thing, that my husband loves, so I never felt it necessary to remove. But last tuesday, my DH had to borrow some tools from the hospital and remove it. I can't get it back in because, again, I don't have the proper tools. So I had to go after surgery and buy another piece of jewelry with screw on ends to keep the hole from closing up until I feel well enough to go into the piercing place and have my ring put back in. Lets just say, I wasn't a happy camper. But now I have new jewelry, so I guess I'm okay. New jewelry always cheers a girl up!

Anyway, they got me drugged up enough to go to surgery, but I wasn't quite unconsious when they wheeled me into the operating room, just loopy enough to let my husband go ahead and go to the waiting room. Before they put the gas mask on, they started strapping me down to the table, apparently so I didn't try to move or help them with the proceedure. Apparently, this is common procedure because you never know what an unconsious person it going to move. But at this point, I thought it was hilarious, probably from the combination of morphene and demorall they had put in my iv. I embarrassed the nurse who was strapping me down by suggesting she get my husband and a video camara cause this could be fun. Like I said, they probably thought I was a nut job, but that is just me when I'm on strong medication--I'll say or do anything that comes into my head, even if it is something that I would never say or do or would blush at the thought of without the medication. Hence the reason I rarely drink, because it always gets me in trouble.

So finally, I'm ready for surgey, the knock me out and the doc goes in. First was a D & C, to get everything ready for the ablation. Then a hysteroscopy so she could look around and make sure everything was out before doing the ablation. Then the endometrial ablation, which she said went wonderfully. Finally, she went in through two incisions on my stomach, one at the belly button and one at the suprailium (yeah, right where you pinch for body fat analysis), to do the laparoscopy to clean everything else out. Now is where I'm confused. She originally thought that the excess endometrium that she had seen in the uterus was spreading throughout the abdomen, which was why she was doing this procedure, to remove it from everywhere else. Instead, she found that there wasn't any endometrial tissue outside of the uterus (which is good, becuase that means she got it all with the ablation), but that I had a ruptured cyst, which she cleaned up the stuff from, and, get this, vericose veins. Vericose veins??? What? In my abdomen? Apparently the arteries supplying blood to my uterus have taken on the same characteristics as vericose veins in the legs. The bad news is that there is nothing that they can do about them. The good news is that because of the ablation, I won't be needing as much blood to the uterus, so they won't be working as hard, so hopefully, this will still end my pain. The cysts are still a possible issue, because I still have everything but the ability to produce endometrial tissue, but she is thinking that the lack of a period will decrease my estrogen production, therefore decreasing my risk of cysts. I'll just be glad if the estrogen decreases enough that I quit storing extra body fat preparing for a baby I can never have. I know I have a gorgeous six pack in there because I've seen it before all these problems. I'll be glad when the estrogen level drops enough that I can see it again..hehe.

That may already be happening, becuase I'm definitely experienceing some irritability issues and when she said I would bleed from this for 10 days to two weeks, I bled while I was at the hospital, but none since the afternoon of surgery. We'll see if that stays the same when its time for my normal period again. I definitely won't miss those if they are gone for good. The irritability could be from the pain killers too, or even from the increase in testosterone I'm having from my asthma medication lately. (It was changed a couple of months ago, and I've felt anabolic effects from it as if it were a steroid the bodybuilders would use instead of an asthma steroid. My doctor knows about that side effect, but isn't concerned because I've had a very low testosterone level from the feminine problems, so it was balancing it back out.)

Anyway, the past few days have been me laying in bed and taking percocet to deal with the pain from the incisions. The old site of pain is not hurting at all, but the site of the incisions are. It's just because she cut through all of my abdominal muscles, so I get the fun job of starting over with them when they heal. Right now, I can't do anything that pulls them, contracts them, or twists them for fear of opening the incisions and letting intestinal loops get in the muscle. Since I don't even want to think of what would have to be done to correct that, I'm following orders and not using them at all, which is very hard because you use your abs for EVERYTHING! I went yesterday to the store and bought a girdle to help support it until I can use them some, but I'm still taking the pain meds because if I move wrong it hurts. I'm having to have DH drive everywhere because the meds make me goofy. Even when I'm coherent, like now, I am much less inhibited then normal, so please excuse my mouthiness...at least that's what I'm telling all my friends who have been unhappy with me telling them like it is since surgery. I think I'm normally the type to tell it like it is, but I think I may be a little more polite about it without these drugs. I'm hoping to talk to the doctor tomorrow about giving me something different so I'm weened off this stuff slowly and don't have the side effects of withdrawl. Gee, can you tell my husband works at a drug rehab center? I'm in pain and worried about withdrawl when it's over...LOL. I'm also going nuts from not being able to work out. I'm thinking I'm going to try walking on the treadmill, or at least doing some arm weights while laying here in bed. I want to get up, but DH won't let me. I think he thinks I'm much more fragile then I really am. Either that, or between the doctor and my sister the nurse, they've scared him into thinking I can't do anything yet. On the upside, I do have plenty of time to read email, even if I can't comprehend it all in my percocet fog. I promise, I'm only answering it when I feel mentally able, even if I'm extremely long-winded when I do--like today. Sorry, this turned into a book, didn't it. Well, anyway, you know how I am now, even if it is more then you wanted to know.

Hugs to all and keep up the great workouts. I'll be laying here dreaming of the day when I can workout with you instead of wanting to be you!

Tonya L. -Certified Personal Trainer, Aerobics Instructor,Yoga Instructor, Pilates Instructor, Aqua Instructor, and Sports Nutritionistwww.trainingwithtonya.com