How many keyholes do they make in your stomach? 3 each time for me. One in your belly button, and they try to keep the others below your bikkini bottoms line.
Who has had problems with the gas afterwards (eg shoulder pain etc)? Some, but sitting upright seems to help it. Only lasted about 24 hours.
How bad was that pain? More like discomfort from the gas. I found I was very sore after the operation both times. Kind of bent over double for a couple of days (remember I had big ops both times).
How long did you have off work? A couple of weeks both times (but I have severe endo). The worst was the first few days after the op. I just felt fragile for the second week.
When did you start feeling normal again? The second week after
Do the keyholes have stitches? Yes, first time disolvable ones, the second pull out ones. Both were absolutely fine.
Does your stomach get bruised? Not sure. You feel kind of sore inside more than outside.
How long does the procedure take? Can be from 15 minutes to 3 hours depending on how bad the problem is (if there is a problem at all). If it is really bad when they first look at it, and it needs to take longer than theatre is scheduled , sometimes they wont do the whole treatment during the op as theatre time is precious and they may book you back for a second go. I don't think this happens too often though.
Try to focus on the fact that most women with endo don't have too much of it (a few patches) and it can mostly be dealt with in one go during a lap and potentially with follow up drug treatment.
Don't freak out. I never saw the gauze get taken out. If it was there at all, it was taken out before I woke up.
The pad under me wasn't that bad either, I just didn't expect it, and certainly didn't expect it to look kinda purple (blue dye & blood combined). I freaked for a second til I remembered I was having blue dye put through. Just something to remember in case they do the dye with you. It's perfectly normal to look purple.
At least I know now so I'm prepared for blood and dye...
When I was 16 I had to have a colposcopy (biopsy) which was done without any anaesthetic. It hurt like HELL and I was traumatised about it for years - even now I still cringe when I think of what it felt like. But the worst part was when I got up and saw this pool of blood on the tray underneath me. Mum had to catch me while I fell to the floor. I was out cold!
Yeah they gave me some strong ones (no idea what they were though...) for the first day once the anaesthetic wore off completely. After the first 12 hours I found panadol and neurofen worked fine. The feeling is more like when you've worked your ABs out way to hard and pulled a muscle, a very stiff kind of pain. The only thing that hurt was my stomach. My girly bits didn't hurt at all.
And like I said, the bleeding isn't (shouldn't be) worse than having AF.
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