Some pretty big stuff.
As for the surgery - be warned this may get graphic and involve a lot of speaking about lady bits. For those of your who haven't read my previous blog or seen my previous vlogs I was diagnosed with endometriosis and PCOS after complaining to my doctor about heavy periods, blood clots and pain. I had an intrusive ultrasound to check things out where they found out I had far too many eggs - a sign of PCOS and I was sent to a specialist. The Specialist told me she suspected I had endometriosis as well as a possible thyroid condition. To double check these conditions were preset and to attempt to relieve some of the symptoms I was booked in for key-hole surgery.
The whole experience was a lot less scary then I thought it would be but also a lot more complex. I arrived super early in the morning as I was the first patient for key-hole surgery that day. My mother had come down from our home about 2.5hrs away to join me in Wellington where I lived for university and where the private hospital was that I would be getting cut open in. I needed someone to drive me around and because my apartment was up two flights of stairs my parents booked a hotel for us to stay in while I recovered for a few days. I was determined that I wouldn't need to stay here. Oh, how naive I was.
I got dressed in my super hospital gown. Had my private parts shaved by an irritatingly bright nurse who would later turn out to be quite a rude you-know-what. And let me tell you an irritatingly bright nurse is not what you want in your downstairs area first thing in the morning. Then we waited.
A lot of waiting. I thought I would be a lot more nervous then I was but by that point I didn't really care. Usually my anxiety would be driving me crazy and I think it was a little the night before but actually waiting in the hospital wasn't too bad. I had my own room with a T.V. and there was a really pretty garden area outside my window. Thank god for insurance.
Flowers from Maxine
Eventually the doctor in charge (the consultant that I had been seeing up until now) came in to do a little consultation to explain the procedure. They told me it would take about an hour without complications but they had no idea what they were going into so they couldn't be sure if that would be the case for me. I was still under the impression that I wasn't really suffering that much. Sure, my periods were always heavy and painful but I was pretty sure they weren't any worse then anyone else's. Didn't everyone had trouble going to the toilet during their periods due to intense pain? No Clare. Not everyone.
Anyway, eventually some nurses came by including super peppy nurse and they started wheeling me down the corridor. I cannot tell you how much fun this was for me. And I wasn't even on any drugs by then. I asked the peppy nurse if she could wheel me around all the time and she took one good look at me and said "No. You're too fat. You need to get out and walk more." It was no longer fun times in the hospital with that lady.
But she left as soon as I was dropped off in the surgery waiting room and replace by a lovely young nurse from the surgery department. I was getting a bit nervous at this point but the surgery staff were so sweet I was easily distracted. The anaesthetist came in and put the line in my hand for what he called the 'happy juice' and BOY was he right. I'm not into drugs but if I was I would want more of that good stuff. A wave of heat came over me and the euphoria kicked in. It was beautiful. From here things get a little fuzzy.
I think his next move was to start the general anesthetic except I can't remember whether I was in the operating room or the waiting room when this happened. I do remember the operating room looking like a medical T.V. show and I got lifted by some nurses from my bed to the operating table using the sheet trick and not long after I was out.
I woke up back in my hospital room and I don't remember feeling any pain at all at this point. Although I was pretty out of it. I remember smiling and joking; although that might have just been me saying normal stuff and laughing at myself... either way I was HILARIOUS.
Again this is fuzzy but I think after this they wanted me to get dressed. Except the clothes I had had waistbands (obviously) and because my stomach was so bloated after being pumped with gas for the operation they cut into my now sore middle section. I think I started to feel quite sore now. I should mention, my doctors policy was not to give out pain killers... I really which I had known this before I went in. I was allowed a few panadol (asprin) even 4-6 hours or so but nothing more. As I said before though my father is a doctor... luckily we had our own supplies.
I was told that I had to go to the toilet before I was allowed to leave the hospital so I tried a few time but no success. I think they were starting to worry about there being a blockage but I just hated having the attention on me while I was on the toilet. I'm trying to pee! Eventually I was able to release but it happened just when the anasethetist came in. I hate public toilets at the best of times and having conversations through the bathroom door is not my idea of an ideal situation. He left pretty quickly though.
I must say that at this time while I cared about people talking to me while I was on the toilet I didn't really care at all about appearing naked in front of everyone. I was still on a bit of a high after the medications and if I needed to get up I just got out of bed in front of everyone completely naked. My mum (she's seen it before), Maxine (she's lived with me for years), and I think at one point a nurse was there too (it's her job). I make no appologies. I'd even go as far as to comment on how lucky they must have been.
My doctor came in and it was then that it occurred to me to ask how long I was actually in there for. I think it was about three hours. It had no been as smooth as they had imagined. She gave me some photos of my inside illustrating what they had removed and how they had attempted to repair me. I had this gauze like padding lining my uterus which actually freaked me out rather than consoling me. Just think of all this paper filling you. Gross. There had been a major cyst on one of my ovaries and they had to drain both ovaries because they were almost forming several more cysts and were far too full - at least that was my understanding of the situation. The lining of my uterus had been covered in little spots that look like acne which is the endometriosis so the had to strip a few of these layers off and use the gauze to stop it from sticking to itself while it healed.
Maxine brought me flowers and a magazine and we chatted for a while, I think... still fuzzy. Eventually mum went off to get some medication for me and I think Maxine went home. I, of course, instagrammed my hospital dinner which I barely touched but there was ice cream so I was happy. I forgot that I hadn't eaten anything for about 24hours but my stomach was so tender I wasn't too keen to binge.
Me in the Hospital
As a side note, my stomach was a brilliant purple and yellow from the dye they used which highly entertained me but was also a bastard to try and get off in the shower.
I wasn't really interested in staying the night at the hospital so at about 8pm we managed to get me discharged. I might add that the nurse since before my surgery had changed and the new one was absolutely lovely. She was super helpful in getting me home as they usually didn't do discharges after 8pm.
We headed out of the hospital slowly. I was super dizzy and almost collapsed at one point (in retroflex I probably shouldn't have been discharged). We got to the hotel and I just collapsed down onto my bed.
The next few days were a confusion of pain, movies, pain, dizziness and eventually sever nausea with a side of pain. Unfortunately the nausea hit on the check out day from the hotel so we made an executive decision that I needed to head back home to Wanganui for the rest of the week to recover. This is one of the worst instances of nausea I've ever experienced. I was super faint and I couldn't move an inch for fear of exploding. After the first few times I obviously had nothing left in my stomach so the constant burning of my throat for about 4 hours non-stop was not fun.
We drove to my apartment first and mum ran in to get me a few thing and to find something for me to be sick in rather then a potentially leaky plastic bag on my lap. I controlled my breathing and tried to be the best statue I could be. Even when Maxine came down to the car to see me I could do nothing but twitch the side of my face into a half grimace and keep staring forward. My bag was replaced with a bucket lined with plastic bags and I slightly moved my eyes to Maxine as a farewell before we drove the worst 2.5hours I've ever experienced to my hometown. I was a silent statue the whole time. I think I somehow managed to put some music in my ears and use the beats to control my breathing and as soon as we got home I made my way out of the car and collapsed into bed. I fell asleep almost immediately and when I woke up, thankfully, the worst was over.
I got back to Wellington that weekend and started work almost straight away. My job was mostly standing and running around on the night shift at a busy after-hours medical center so it wasn't the best job to do right after having your insides scraped out. I really should've given myself more time off but as I mentioned before I was under the impression that they would venture in there only to find that I had nothing wrong with me and I would be sent home immediately.
I'm sorry for the super long entry but I thought that some people would be interested in the follow up to the surgery. This was way back at the beginning of the year so my memory is even more fuzzy then when I was on those drugs but for anyone about to go through a similar experience my advice is not to worry yourself too much. Trust your doctors and they'll take care of you. Make sure you have people around to support you. I was, at one stage, thinking of doing this by myself but luckily my mum had time to come down and take care of me. My friends were pretty great at pep talks too.
There are a lot of women out there who suffer from similar issues and if you happen to be one of those in New Zealand who do, I would highly recommend seeing Hanifa Koya in Wellington. She is a leader in this area and deals with a lot of young women. She doesn't dumb anything down and is completely honest with you. She's also admired by the staff she works with (although she can be a bit harsh with them). They all trust her to be their doctor too which is saying something when you work so close to someone.
Anyway, just thought you might want to know.
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