Surgery (Part 2)

Continued from Part 1.

I met Dr. K, the general surgeon, on Thursday.  While it definitely felt weird meeting him for the first time less than 24 hours before he'd be cutting into my stomach, he was really nice and explained exactly what he'd be doing.  And he promised to make the incision as small as possible!

Dr. K would remove the mass first, and then Dr. S would perform the hysterectomy.  A total hysterectomy is defined as the removal of both the uterus and cervix.  Dr. S would also be removing both fallopian tubes and my right ovary.  As long as there wasn't a significant amount endometriosis or scar tissue, she would leave my left ovary so I wouldn't have to do hormone replacement (and I REALLY didn't want to go down that road again).

The next thing I remember after being wheeled into the operating room was waking up to Billy and my dad watching golf on TV.  I kept trying to talk to them but I was so groggy I couldn't even keep my eyes open.  Another couple hours went by before I had an actual conversation with them.  They were happy to tell me both surgeries went really well, and best of all, I still had my left ovary!

I was in surgery for a total of 3 hours and 15 minutes.  While it took a little longer than expected to remove the mass, the hysterectomy went really quick.  There actually wasn't a whole lot of endometriosis, which was quite remarkable given my history and symptoms.

Dr. S cauterized several small areas of endometriosis, but ran into some trouble when trying to remove a medium sized lesion on my right ureter.  Without getting too technical, the ureters are long, narrow tubes that connect the kidneys to the bladder.  After carefully trying to remove the lesion one layer at a time, Dr. S decided it was just too risky.  We had talked about this type of scenario ahead of time, and we both agreed it wasn't worth compromising the functionality of a major organ.  When I spoke with her on the phone the next day, I told her I thought she made the absolute right decision.

Billy left around 4:30pm so he could get home and eat dinner with the kids.  About 20 minutes later the nurse came in and asked if I wanted to go for a walk (actually it was more of a request than a question).  She gave me a walker and I shuffled along slowly.

My mom got there around 7:00pm and would stay with me until I was discharged the next day.  I went for another walk around 11:00pm, without the walker this time, and that really wiped me out.  I tried to sleep but one nurse or another kept coming in to check on me.  At 5:30 the next morning, a nurse I hadn't seen before came in and said it was time to take out my catheter.  As gross and unappealing as it might seem, the catheter was actually quite convenient and one less thing I had to worry about.  I was told the earliest I'd be leaving the hospital would be early afternoon, so why did it have to be taken out right now?  

My mom could tell I was anxious about taking it out and told the nurse that wasn't going to happen.  I don't think the nurse was happy being told what to do, but oh well.  After that I was able to sleep a little more.  And later when I tried getting up to go for another walk, I almost fainted.  So I wouldn't have been able to use the bathroom myself anyway.  (Always trust your 'gut' instincts!)

After eating a few bites of cold eggs (hospital food is the WORST), I tried getting up again.  Nope.  I was starting to get upset because I really didn't want to stay another night.  I rested and ate some Saltine crackers, but what I really wanted to do was go home.  I knew I had to be able to walk on my own and go to the bathroom, and I was determined to do both.

Finally I was able to go for a walk without feeling like I was going to faint, so we called the nurse and she took the catheter out.  Shortly after that I was able to use the bathroom on my own, and I even showered and got dressed.

I was discharged around 2:15pm and the kids were waiting for me as soon as we pulled in.  I got snuggles from everyone and then it was time to lie back down and rest.