Post-surgery recap

It was a very long week. It started on Weds, Sep. 23 with bowel prep. I’ll leave out the gory details, but the short story is that I had to drink a gallon (literally!) of Go-lytely solution, and it is quite possibly one of the nastiest things I’ve ever had to consume. I followed the instructions of the pharmacist (8 oz every 10 min.) and finished in about 3 hours or so. Not fun, not fun at all. But as it turns out, it was good that I was able to do it.

For the rest of the day I was on a liquid diet, and of course, no food or water after midnight. I was very jealous of J’s yummy-looking dinner. I had my last glass of sports drink around 10 pm.

My mom arrived around 9:30 on Thursday, and we visited for a bit before leaving for the surgecenter. All the prep went smoothly – I answered the same questions over and over about the surgery and my history to the very nice male nurse, my RE, and the anesthesiologist. I think they wheeled me in around 1 pm. I was already hooked up to the IV, and within minutes they had me on the table, arms out, stockings on my legs. I was feeling lightheaded right away, and the anesthesiologist told me he’d started my meds. My RE was with me, I told her my mouth felt tingly and she confirmed with the anesthesiologist that it was a normal effect from the drugs. That’s really the last thing I remember before waking up in recovery. I woke up feeling nauseated, in pain, and very cold. The nurses gave me something to help with the nausea and pain, and plenty of warm blankets.

My RE spoke with J and my mom about the surgery. It apparently went well, as these things go. They removed what endo they could, drained the ovarian cyst, and resected the left tube. I *think* they may have drained the tube, but I don’t remember for sure. They did a D & C – I’m not sure if there was a problem with the uterine lining to cause this. Part of my bowel is adhered to the back of my uterus. My mom thinks this was observed during the first lap, and she may be right, but I didn’t remember it. The key point there was that it shouldn’t have any negative effect on pregnancy. But my bowel was also apparently up around my left ovary and tube, and neither my RE nor her assistant surgeon (another RE from the same practice) felt comfortable messing with it. Fortunately there was a general surgeon who happened to be available and was able to step in and work on it. To be honest, I’m not sure exactly what he did. I suppose I’ll get the details at the post-op appointment.

The best news is that the right tube and ovary all looked normal. We may actually have a shot at trying naturally for a few cycles if we decide to.

Recovery was a bit rough. I had a lot of pain, both cramping and gas pains, the first 2-3 days. I also had taken my last birth control pill the day before surgery, so I had a period but was still on the vicodin, so the cramps were mostly bearable. I started the BCP again on Monday. By then I felt better but was still very tired and napping a lot. I was off work for a week, and needed every day of it. This is my first day back and I’m glad I have no meetings, so I can sit at my desk all day.

My post-op appointment is next Tuesday, so I should be able to clarify some of the details (and hopefully be cleared for sex!).