Yesterday I had outpatient surgery here in North County. Apparently, symptoms I have been experiencing have indicated to my doctor (OBGYN) that I may have endemetriosis, and he recommended we do a diagnostic laparoscopy to see if there was anything that needed to be taken care of.
As a result, I went in yesterday morning for the procedure where they cut two slits in my tummy area and inserted a light, a camera and a laser. 45 minutes later, they had lasered off two areas of scar tissue that were found (translation: endemetriosis confirmed) and they found a third that they could not get to.
I am not sure what my doc plans to do about the third spot which, as luck would have it, is most directly related to the pain I have been experiencing over the last few months. I will find out on Feb 4 when I go back for my post-op visit with him.
Lucky me, I got full-on glossy photos of what I look like on the inside. We have photos for both before the scar tissue was removed and after. We also have a vivid picture of what the inside of my uterus looks like. Believe me, it's not that pretty!
Overall, I was really frightened about the whole procedure. I didn't even realize how scared I was until I chatted with the anesthesiologist before the procedure and he started telling me about how they were going to put a tube down my throat to assist with spontaneous breathing during the surgery. I, who am terrified of choking and generally anything going into my throat (I can't even really swallow pills), had to choke back tears as soon as he said that. I managed to pull myself together, but it was even more overwhelming as I made my way into the actual room where the procedure was going to be done. It was just me, the nurse and a hundred different menacing sterile, shiny bright objects all waiting to be used.
When the nurse laid me down, the anesthesiologist came into the room and they both took one of my arms for different purposes. The nurse had my right arm fully outstretched and the anesthesiologist had my left arm fully outstretched. I felt like I was being hung on a cross! I didn't cry in the full sense of the word, but I was in such sensory overload that as I lay there with my arms outstreched tears started streaming down both sides of my face. The nurse noticed and said in a soothing tone to the anesthesiologist that I was a bit nervous, and he responded kindly that we were all going to be fine and I shouldn't worry about a thing.
And he lived up to his word as he was very gentle and made sure that the anesthetic went in nice and slow so that I didn't feel like I was being pulled under (another very frightening thing for me!). It wasn't more than a minute or two as he was talking to me about skeet shooting in Houston after he learned that I grew up there that I was out.
Next thing I knew it was an hour and 45 minutes later and I was slowly waking up in the recovery room where I could hear the murmur of different nurses as they made their rounds checking on all of us who had just been operated on.
My nurse, Liz, was very friendly and quiet and made the whole experience as plesant as possible for me. Both my docs (the anesthesiologist and the OBGYN) came to visit me and made sure I felt at ease before Liz brought me into the secondary recovery room where Alberto could join me.
Alberto did pretty well, only blanching a bit when he saw the needle from the IV being taken out of my wrist. After reviewing all of the things that needed to happen over the next 2 to 3 days to Alberto, Liz loaded me up in a wheelchair and whisked me out to our car in the back.
You'd think that after such a brief surgery, done on an outpatient basis, would be pretty easy and painless - or at least that's what I thought. Clearly, I was wrong. I am alternating regularly between Motrin for inflammation and Vicadin for pain, and I can't really be on my feet for more than about 10 minutes without feeling like I am going to be sick.
Alberto has been great and has a very gentle bedside manner. He has made sure that I have a ready supply of Apple Juice, water, and Saltine crackers which are the only things I can really eat without feeling sick. In the meantime, I have spent the last 24 hours or so alternating between sleeping and reading my Harry Potter book ( I am up to number 4!)
I'll be hanging out here in bed for the next day and a half or so, and then should be ready to get back to work on Monday. If you come across this post over the weekend and feeling like giving me a ring, please feel free!
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