Re: Question re surgery (pg, m/c, ttc mentioned)

[Guest guest]

Hi Miriam,

I'm very sorry about your recent loss. Right after my loss I was

very urgent to get answers and referrals and just have all of the

questions done with. I m/c'd in Feb. of this year and FINALLY had my

surgery on 7/29/04. My doctors had also thought I was bicornuate

with my pregnancy, only to find out I was septate when we did an

MRI. I recommend you work with an RE, as some ob/gyn's will try to

perform the resection surgery but I felt much more confident working

with an RE.

<<Do we have to wait two months for surgery?>>

I don't know if your doctor is proposing waiting two weeks for the

surgery to give your uterus time to get back to " normal " but I would

assume that's the reason. It's frustrating, I know, but definitely

worth the wait. Once you have the surgery you will most likely have

to wait 2 more cycles to give your uterus time to heal before you can

start TTC again.

<<Is the surgey traumatic? and how long is recovery?>>

It depends on which surgery you have. If you have laporoscopic and

hysteroscopic surgery, recovery time can be more painful and a bit

longer. I had just hysteroscopic surgery because we could visualize

the fundal contour very well on the MRI pictures and knew for sure

that I was not bicornuate and was truly septate.

When I was being put under anesthesia I had asked the

anesthesiologist to whisper in my ear that I was going to heal well

and that the surgery was going to go very well and that my body would

do fine. I don't know if that made a difference for me, but I really

feel that I'm healing greatly.

The worst thing for me was the anesthesia. I don't do well with any

kind of drugs (I want to vomit if I have 2 glasses of wine!) so I

threw up and dry heaved into the evening of the surgery. Other than

that, though, the surgery was not very traumatic at all and I went to

a 3 day camping reggae festival 1 week after the surgery.

<<I am anxious to have another child and so this is really bothering

me.>>

I am also very anxious to have a child so understand how frustrating

it is having to just put everything on hold. For me, though, the

chances of another loss--especially a late loss because the septum

was vascular, but very thick and non-maleable so the baby would

probably run out of room--were so high that I figured it would be

much more of a waste of time if I kept getting pregnant, staying

pregnant for another 17 weeks or 20 weeks and then just losing the

pregnancy. With the surgery I knew I had to wait a few months, but I

also knew that my chances of successful conception and delivery of a

healthy baby were MUCH higher.

<<Is there a risk in surgery?>>

I was very jazzed to go in for surgery and then I went for my first

consultation with my RE. He scared me so bad with all of the chances

of things that can go wrong that I left not even wanting the

surgery. But fortunately I came here and voiced my fears and was

encouraged. The doctor will most likely tell you that there is a

risk of hysterectomy, perforation and scarring. You will also

probably be told that you have a risk of death from the anesthesia.

As most of the ladies here pointed out to me, the chances of any of

those things going wrong are so remote, but the chances of things

going wrong in future pregnancies are very high.

I'm very glad you found the group as I have found many answers to my

questions and much support here. I am now in a spot where I just

feel awe and relief that everything is over and I have a whole

uterus. Oh, I forgot to mention, my septum was VERY difficult to

visualize when I wasn't pregnant using ultra sound. That may be why

you had been told before that everything was normal. When I was

pregnant, though, it was very noticable.

Good luck to you and your family!

Jasmine

SU, resected 7/29/04

1 m/c @ 17 wks, 2/12/04