Tuesday 4 February 2014

Day 1, The Beginning

Endo 365

'The Adult Butterfly'


I have just woken up to my rather beautiful gynaecologists right hand man who went through in detail how my operation went yesterday.

Bare with me- this blog may not be particularly flamboyant as I still have a fair amount of morphine in my system. Thinking about it... Nurse...!

Little bit of a biology lesson so you are all aware of what happened to me:

WARNING, IF YOU ARE A QUEEZY PERSON DO NOT READ

First, a cannula is inserted into my hand so things can be injected directly into my blood stream. I am then anethatised or 'put under'- I had a lovely anaesthetist who said 'sweet dreams' to me just before I slipped into my sleep. Whilst in the theatre the team made small incisions into my stomach through my core muscles and pumped me full of gas so they could easily access and navigate around my organs with the camera. The camera allowed them to see everywhere in me close up and in great detail so they then become aware as to where and what was needed to be done. They then, with the view of the camera, began to use a scalpel to remove the endometrial cells and the tissue surrounding them. Once they had taken away all the endometriosis that they could see, they sucked up all the blood produced from the endometrial tissue when they bleed and then used some jazzy spray to prevent adhesions. They then ran a blue dye through my Fallopian tubes to ensure there was no damage and blockage and inserted the mirena coil as the next stage of treatment for me and instead of GNrH.

I have three new beautiful, petite scars. They removed all the endo that they could find yesterday and interestingly, when I was fourteen having the laparoscopy where I was diagnosed, the consultant only lasered away the endo where she dared (I wouldn't recommend laser to anyone). We know they left endo on my Urethra and Pouch of Douglas, although my endo had grown more in more places since, there was little on my Urethra or Pouch of Douglas, which means the GNrH must had dissolved some of my endo. I owe so much to GNrH. I know my teenage years were still different to most, but not to the naked eye. I managed to finish my education, retain a social life and learn to drive. I may have been chronic fatigued until a year ago and still wake up in pain every night, but hopefully that stage is over now for five years or so, where this operation may need to be repeated again until after I have my babies, then I will conclude this story with a full hysterectomy.

Do you know 'hysterectomy' literally translates as 'to remove the hysteria'. Amazing.

I am feeling very mentally strong and upbeat. My Fallopian tubes were completely clear when they put the dye through them, which made me cry with happiness and relief when I was told. I have to fight the tears every time I think about it.

If I were a 'normal person' I would be on my way home now. However here is a spot of useful information to those people who ever have an operation; apparently it is completely normal for your bladder to go into shock in reaction to being anaesthetised, meaning you cant pass water. For some people this may never happen, or only last for ten minutes but I am usually take 24 hours. This happened to me with my first laparoscopy and we assumed it was because they had been routing around in my tummy. However, I had the exact same reaction when I had my tonsillectomy- and I'm pretty sure they don't access your tonsils via your tummy button... Anyway, because I, like my mother, react to anaesthetic like this, I am now on my second catheter since yesterday (terribly sexy I know).

The most undignified moment of my life (of which there have been many I can assure you) was at the innocent age of 14, with a strange man (a gynaecologist at the hospital who I hadn't met, not a hobo they dragged off the street) fitted my first ever catheter, and had the battle to fit into XXL gloves. Feel free to laugh, I certainly do.

I am looking forward to seeing all the friends and family who are wanting to visit, It is something I pull great strength from. Thank you for the support again. Thank you to the staff at 'The Royal County Surrey Hospital' who have been phenomenal. It is a whole new world in compared to what I have been used to in Leicestershire.

I feel very bright in myself and I think it is because of this blog keeping me mentally astute. Never underestimate the power of your brain.

What I am looking forward to: 

Having normal hormones... I have been a menopausal woman for so long it is going to be interesting to see how my body and moods change. It will be interesting to see how my body reacts to the marina coil- I am just thinking positively right now.

I am looking forward to less pain. I also suffer from IBS (again, another sexy one) which is due to my endometriosis messing around with my bowel and my nervous system. Hopefully the symptoms for this will decrease and give me less pain all around.

I look forward to recovering, this period of time to read and sleep and see people and not rush about like a lunatic.

I am looking forward to being able to have children! :D

This is my turn to have some good Karma.

Just because I may not be 'suffering' from endometriosis in the same way as I have been, that does not mean I intend not to fight for the cause- as Martain Luther King said; "Our lives begin to end to the day we become silent about the things that matter." 

I am so happy, the climax of my gap year is now behind me. Once I am recovered I am free to go traveling and go to uni. Yesterday we indeed, 'a job well done.'  

1 comment:

  1. Hey Alice:) Its so nice to hear some positive words about your endometriosis! the web is full of tales of woes n horror! Its such an odd coincidence that I saw you on the This Morning show and that it is endo awareness week...I had my lap/diagnosis in sept 2011 and went on the Depo for a few years which was ace..no periods,minimal pain..I kinda just forgot about my endo all together! but now i've switched to Mirena and just the past few weeks i've been having some orrible pains which may be caused by a cyst ( off for a scan soon) and i'm sort of brought back down to earth that yes i do have endometriosis and its a bugger..been feeling a bit mopey and a blog like this and seeing all the awareness in the media is definitely making me feel more positive! looking forward to reading the rest of your posts and seeing how you get along with the Mirena, Im hoping mine will settle soon as it seems like its the bees knees for endo..fingers crossed!
    all the best,
    Becca
    www.flowersanddirt.co.uk

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