Surgery

On Wednesday, January 20th I had a tubal ligation (tubes tied) and thermal ablation of endometriosis.  

I'm pretty sure every nurse in the unit came by to see our babies before surgery, it was quite humorous.

Anyway, my preop nurse was fabulous.  Even though I've had numerous laparoscopy's in the past, I was a nervous wreck.  My anxiety was definitely getting the best of me.  She was beyond awesome though.  She formerly lived in California so we talked about Disneyland, which helped take my mind off of the procedure.  My doctor came in and talked to me before the surgery, they gave me an 'appetizer cocktail' if you will, and took me back to the OR.  It was so difficult being wheeled away from my babies.

The procedures we supposed to take all of 45 minutes, but I was in the OR for an hour and a half.  They completely removed both of my Fallopian tubes and thermally ablated the Endometriosis they could get to.  You may wonder, given our struggles with fertility, why I chose to have my tubes tied.  There were many things that we considered.  Although the chances of a spontaneous pregnancy occurring is slim to none, we didn't want to be surprised or caught off guard.  We have five frozen embryos left, so if we decide to have another we will obviously use them.  The removal of the Fallopian tubes actually benefits me in a few ways -

1. If spontaneous pregnancy were to occur, the scar tissue from Endometriosis could cause an ectopic pregnancy.

2. Complete removal reduces my risk of certain cancers.  Hormones from fertility treatments are believed to increase my risk of gynecological cancer.

3. If we decide to do another FET in hopes of having another baby, it actually increases the likelihood of success.

So, why did the procedure take twice as long as expected?

My insides were ravaged by scar tissue from Endometriosis and it took quite awhile to get it out.  Unfortunately they were unable to get it all out.  I'm am considered to be Stage 4, which is the worst it can be.  My OB said that I'm not the worst case he's seen, but I'm definitely close.  The before & after pictures blew my mind.

After surgery I woke up in PACU where I stayed for awhile, and was then taken to my 'room.'  As I was wheeled there I saw a sign on the door reading, "Please be quiet, babies sleeping!" Apparently they gave Chad & the kids a room so that they didn't have to sit in the waiting room with all the germs.  All three kids and Chad had a nice nap while waiting for me to return from surgery.

The following information I found out after my surgery, at my two-week postoperative appointment:

My OB is hopeful that I will have six relatively pain-free months.  We aren't sure how realistic this really is, though. When the pain returns, I will have a MRI done to see how deeply it has infiltrated my uterus, bowels, and bladder.  The next step is a major robotic surgery involving my OB, a colorectal surgeon, and urologist.  Together, the three of them will collectively work to remove the scar tissue and repair damage it has caused.  My uterine wall will be rebuilt at this time.  This means that I need to be honest about my pain, which although I may seem like a whiner, I'm not very good at being honest about this with my doctors.  I don't want them to know that I'm as weak as I am.  

This surgery explains why I rarely feel "great."  Not only does Endometriosis cause severe cramping, but in my case it causes bowel issues, bladder problems, stomach pains and fatigue.  The fatigue obviously means I'm often run-down, which is why my immune system sucks and why I catch everything.  I'm thankful that we know just how bad it is though.

This isn't going to be my last gynecological procedure, my OB said I have a number of them in my future.  In the meantime, I have started taking Lybrel, a continuous birth control pill in hopes of preventing some pain by stopping my cycle.  

What does the future hold? I'm not sure, as there is nothing set in stone with this disease.  I'm relieved to know that my pain and discomfort isn't in my head, and I'm very thankful that my OB was able to get as much out as he did.  

Here we go again

Waiting for my ob in the preop holding area

Home attempting to recover - with a feverish toddler. 😢