Surgery date

Expect the unexpected.....

I had prepared myself mentally, emotionally, physically and organised my home and work life so I could heal with ease after surgery. I had pushed for laparascopic (keyhole) surgery as this seemed the less invasive and took less time to heal from. I was optimistic and had managed to reduce my anxiety by reciting some mantras and reassuring myself I had good support networks in place when I was discharged from hospital.

But the best laid plans as they say.......

I awoke in a morphine haze to find myself in a lovely room of my own in hospital with an ensuite wet room (nice you might say), however my surgeon was telling me there had been a few problems and unfortunately my right ureter had been cut, but it was ok as the urologist had been called in and repaired it so it shouldn't cause any long term problems! I'm not sure how much I was taking in at this point as the room seemed a bit transient through my drug induced state.

As you can imagine this was not a gift I had wished for or even imagined, a cut ureter, a large abdominal incision, a drain coming out of my left side to take away blood into a bag, a canula attached to some morphine, a fluid drip into another part of my arm and a catheter draining into a bag on my right. Not to mention bruises and a rorschach teddy bear in sepia staining into my hospital gown where my poor body was leaking!

The nurses were wonderful, checking on me throughout the night, taking my blood pressure and temperature and being kind and gentle.

Drugs were very much needed so I stayed immobile like a stranded seal on its back waiting for my family to turn up and survey the damage.

Introducing skywomb

This is an honest personal account of my hysterectomy story...

But first some background about me so you get a fuller picture. I'm currently 38 years old and was diagnosed with endometriosis in April 2013 following laparascopic surgery to remove an endometrioma (also known as a chocolate cyst) from my right ovary. I was still in denial afterwards about the severity of the endometriosis which had spread over most of my pelvic organs explaining the debilitating symptoms and cyclical problems I had had for most of my adult life. I thought it was normal to suffer this as a woman!!!

I felt great after the laparoscopy, for a few months my energy levels were back up (I was no longer floored by exhaustion after carrying out the simplest daily tasks), my periods were not as painful and less heavy and I thought I'd been cured. But then the pain returned in the form of chronic back pain that left me bent over, tiredness, mood swings, bloating, bowel disturbance and heavy clotting that left me no option but to rearrange my social and work life and seriously reconsider what my body was telling me.

After much research into endometriosis and discussions with my gynecologist I had no hesitation in my decision to have a hysterectomy. I felt it would improve my life considerably reducing the messiness and disruption that the symptoms bought with it. My main dilemma was whether to also have my ovaries removed; those little nut-sized hormone powerhouses that had been the trigger for my endometriosis in the first place.

For more information on endometriosis I recommend Endometriosis UK which explains more about the condition.

So, after doing what all people do (googling all sorts of symptoms and horror stories) I got myself into a pickle about the disruption to my hormonal balance and the onset of surgical premature menopause if both my ovaries were removed. Panic stations a few days before my surgery and a phone call to my gyno left me more confused. Because of the potential re-occurrence of endometriosis it had been recommended that both my ovaries be removed at the same time thus reducing the risk. If they were both diseased this would be a no-brainer but as far as I knew my 'left' ovary did not have any endo on it but was the source of oestrogen (the main antagonist in production of endo). Dilemma, dilemma, dilemma.

In the end I decided to keep my left ovary if it looked disease free, as a better-the-devil-you-know approach rather than launch myself into premature menopause with potential symptoms of hot flushing, night sweats, emotional swings, depression, lethargy, weight gain, risk of osteoporosis, aches, pains, headaches etc. etc.. The anxiety lifted when I'd made the decision so I then focused on being as fit as I could for surgery.

Here follows my hysterectomy story which I hope you can draw some insight from as we are all unique.....