Re: Vestibulectomy Questions

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

Thanks for the reply! I had a vulvar vestibulectomy. I'm not sure

what a perineal graft is, but my stitches don't extend beyond the

vestibular area. I guess I am so nervous about the surgery that I am

jumping the gun. Did I expect there not to be some residual soreness

even after I was up and about walking, etc.? I just have put so much

hope into this surgery working! I will wait a bit longer before I

start getting freaked.

Thanks again, . I know you are very active in the boards,

helping out newbies like me. I will be sure to pass this kindness

forward and share my experiences about the surgery when questions

are posted.

Becky

>

> I had a compleate Vulvar Vestibulectomy in May of 2001. I am not

sure what

> procedure you had done, but I would say that 8 days is still quite

soon to

> be concierned that things did not go as planned. It took me about

2 weeks

> to recover from the trauma of surgery so to speak. During that

time I was

> actually told to stay in the area (my surgeon was in Milwaukee WI

and I live

> in MN) just in case I need to come in to the office. By 2-3 weeks

out if

> your pain is still worse I would ask your doctor about it. My

surgical pain

> was better by 2 weeks and at about 2 and a half weeks I had some

burning

> pain that lasted a couple of days from when the nerves came back

to life

> (There was some swelling and numbness and when that went down the

nerves

> came back kind of like sleeping on your arm). Did you have a

perinial graft

> done? What type of surgery did you have done?

>

> Bunny

>

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[Guest guest]

Hi -

Sorry to hear you are still in some pain. I had a partial

vestibulectomy on Aug 14 and have just gotten to the point where I

don't have that persistant burning. Up until a couple days ago, I

felt a general burning everywhere and found relief in warm baths and

ice packs. I used lidocaine ointment when it was really bad. Now, I

just get the burning when I've been sitting for too long. At work, I

get up from my desk every 20 minutes or so to walk around and that

seems to help.

What day was your surgery?

Jenn in CO

>

> I had a vestibulectomy 8 days ago. I am still experiencing a

> significant amount of pain. I don't have the sharp pains when I move

> anymore, it's more of a persistant burning, like a more intense

> version of what I had before. I am worried that the surgery made

> things worse. Can anyone who has had a vestibulectomy comment on how

> long it took for their pain to subside?

>

[Guest guest]

Hi -

Sorry to hear you are still in some pain. I had a partial

vestibulectomy on Aug 14 and have just gotten to the point where I

don't have that persistant burning. Up until a couple days ago, I

felt a general burning everywhere and found relief in warm baths and

ice packs. I used lidocaine ointment when it was really bad. Now, I

just get the burning when I've been sitting for too long. At work, I

get up from my desk every 20 minutes or so to walk around and that

seems to help.

What day was your surgery?

Jenn in CO

>

> I had a vestibulectomy 8 days ago. I am still experiencing a

> significant amount of pain. I don't have the sharp pains when I move

> anymore, it's more of a persistant burning, like a more intense

> version of what I had before. I am worried that the surgery made

> things worse. Can anyone who has had a vestibulectomy comment on how

> long it took for their pain to subside?

>

[Guest guest]

Hi Jenn,

I had the surgery on Monday the 29th, so it was 10 days ago. I think

I was definitely getting ahead of myself, thinking the surgery was a

failure because I still had pain. I say my doctor yesterday and he

said that I am healing well, and no one is without pain so soon

after this surgery. I am just very anxious. Right now the pain is

almost to the pre-surgery amount, so I have confidence that at the

very least once I am healed I will feel alot better. The biopsy

showed inflammation and HPV.

I am happy to hear that your pain is subsiding. Did you have to see

a ton of doctors before you were diagnosed? I went to seven! This is

such a terrible disease - mentally as well as physically draining.

Thank you for contributing to this group with your experiences... I

don't know personally know anyone with this problem, so this message

board has been a lifeline for me.

Regards,

> >

> > I had a vestibulectomy 8 days ago. I am still experiencing a

> > significant amount of pain. I don't have the sharp pains when I

move

> > anymore, it's more of a persistant burning, like a more intense

> > version of what I had before. I am worried that the surgery made

> > things worse. Can anyone who has had a vestibulectomy comment on

how

> > long it took for their pain to subside?

> >

>

[Guest guest]

8 days post-op is no time at all! Feel free to email me. I am 3 years

post op (is that possible??) I would actually expect that your pain

would be worse now because you have a wound that's relatively recent.

Don't panic.

Lia

>

> I had a vestibulectomy 8 days ago. I am still experiencing a

> significant amount of pain. I don't have the sharp pains when I move

> anymore, it's more of a persistant burning, like a more intense

> version of what I had before. I am worried that the surgery made

> things worse. Can anyone who has had a vestibulectomy comment on how

> long it took for their pain to subside?

>

[Guest guest]

Hi Lia, Thanks for the response. With a problem that is so rare and often misdiagnosed (2 OB/GYN's and a urologist were clueless), it is really great that we have resources like this to connect. Once this whole horrible experience is over, I will "pass it forward" and relay my experiences on the message board. I am now exactly 2 weeks past surgery and the pain is still worse than the daily pain that I was dealing with before. About how long after the surgery would you say you no longer felt pain? limay103 wrote: 8 days post-op is no time at all! Feel free to email me. I am 3 years post op (is that possible??) I would actually expect that your pain would be worse now because you have a wound that's relatively recent. Don't panic. Lia>> I had a vestibulectomy 8 days ago. I am still experiencing a > significant amount of pain. I don't have the sharp pains when I move > anymore, it's more of a persistant burning, like a more intense > version of what I had before. I am worried that the surgery made > things worse. Can anyone who has had a vestibulectomy comment on how > long it took for their pain to subside?>

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[Guest guest]

I had surgery June 21st and finally got the go ahead to try and do

stretching exercises and attempting very very easy intercourse. I

still have a small area that is not healed so he said to take it

easy. We are going on almost 3 months he told me by 8 weeks i

should be healed. everyone heals at different paces and the more i

talk to people that had the surgery the more varieties of responses

i hear. it took me almost 4 weeks to not feel pain. I couldn't

drive for 2 weeks and couldn't sit straight on my bottom until 5 1/2

weeks after. My butt cheecks and hips were so sore from leaning to

the side! I kept ice packes between my legs for over a week every

night and day to keep it from hurting. hang in there and best of

luck!

> >

> > I had a vestibulectomy 8 days ago. I am still experiencing a

> > significant amount of pain. I don't have the sharp pains when I

move

> > anymore, it's more of a persistant burning, like a more intense

> > version of what I had before. I am worried that the surgery made

> > things worse. Can anyone who has had a vestibulectomy comment on

how

> > long it took for their pain to subside?

> >

>

>

>

>

>

>

> ---------------------------------

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call rates.

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[Guest guest]

Hi...

It's so hard to make generalizations about recovery. I can tell you

that when I had my surgery, I spoke with a woman who was having sex

at 6 weeks post her vestibulectomy. Then when I was NOT feeling good

at 6 weeks I totally panicked. In my case... I remember going back

for my 3 month check up kicking and screaming I was no better and

when he did the q-tip test, I was reporting zero pain levels whereas

the test had been very painful before. So my experience was that

after my topical pain was resolved, I still had muscle problems to

work on and that has been a loong process. I actually wish I had the

surgery sooner because I think that long term flinching is what

messed up my muscles.

I know it's so hard, but really try not to measure your recovery

against other women's because that got me into really dark,

pessimistic thinking. Then I met a woman online who had a recovery

more like mine and got totally better. Then I felt like I had

permission to heal at my own rate. Also consider that these docs

won't call a surgery a failure for a year, and my doc thinks that

even after the year mark there is healing.

I also think that what kind of job you have influences speed of

recovery. For me, sitting for a long time was the hardest thing, so

that was frustrating. But I was lucky in that I was teaching and not

working 9-5 so I was able to be home a lot w/o underwear. I think

air time down there is really important for healing.

Hang in! Don't stress! You will have incisional pain for a while.

By the way, the yahoo vestibulitis list is MUCH smaller, but tends to

have more surgery stories.

Lia

> >

> > I had a vestibulectomy 8 days ago. I am still experiencing a

> > significant amount of pain. I don't have the sharp pains when I

move

> > anymore, it's more of a persistant burning, like a more intense

> > version of what I had before. I am worried that the surgery made

> > things worse. Can anyone who has had a vestibulectomy comment on

how

> > long it took for their pain to subside?

> >

>

>

>

>

>

>

> ---------------------------------

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>