Laparoscopy Q's...

[Indadhanu]

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.

Don't worry. It's really not that bad.

[missya]

I hope this helps, just remember it doesn't hurt as much as you imagine it will do and I had great benefits from the procedure so its worth it. It allowed me to go on and have two wonderful children so just focus on the end results... being pain free and having the option of fertility given back to you.
All the best, cheers Missy

How many keyholes do they make in your stomach? I had four in total including one in my belly button, two over my ovaries and one abit higher on my side . Only one on my side was a problem the others only needed a sticky plaster.

Who has had problems with the gas afterwards (eg shoulder pain etc)? I think the temporary pain in my shoulder was worse than the actual operation pain and I did say temporary mine lasted a day.

How bad was that pain? Quite bad but again it doesn't last too long and they gave me some pain meds to take the edge off..

How long did you have off work? Two weeks as mine was quite extensive

When did you start feeling normal again? I'd say it took about three weeks to get back to normal activitys without feeling anything much.

Do the keyholes have stitches? Mine weren't stitched but I think the one I had trouble with should have been as it was quite large but the others were hardly noticable. I have tiny scars with three hole and quite a big one with the bad one. If they by any chance do end up leaving you a big hole then insist they stitch it I wish I had.

Does your stomach get bruised? Not as far as I could see on the outside but it sure felt bruised on the inside.

How long does the procedure take? Mine took nearly two hours but as I say it was extensive

[~clover~]

Hi.
My sister had a lap done a little while ago & is going in for I think the hyster?? one in 2 weeks.

She was shocked & embarrassed when she got up after & blood went on the floor, noone warned her about that & she freaked. It is normal. The bleeding didn't last very long though. A couple of days maybe.

She had 2 insicions. One in the belly button & one down further. The only problem she had was her pants rubbing on the lower one.

She went to macca's after if that helps?
I took my bestie to macca's after hers, but it made her feel sick to eat & she slept all afternoon.

You will feel bruised & sore inside. Thats the main complaint I heard from both of them.


My sister was in for about an hour & a half to two hours. My bestie about an hour.

Hope it all goes well for you.

[Laranna]

How many keyholes do they make in your stomach? I had 3 - one in my belly button, one just on my pubic hair line and one half way in between.

Who has had problems with the gas afterwards (eg shoulder pain etc)? I had shoulder pain from the gas, it was more of an awkward discomfort rather than being painful, lying down helped alot.

How long did you have off work? I had 2 weeks off.

When did you start feeling normal again? Physically about a month, emotionally a lot longer.

Do the keyholes have stitches? It depends on your surgeon...my incisions were glued.

Does your stomach get bruised? No bruising here (my surgeon was fab!)

How long does the procedure take? It depends on what they find. It is normally day surgery. They ended up finding severe endo in me so the surgery took a good couple of hours and I think I was in recovery for about an hour or so before I woke up. I stayed in hospital overnight.

The laparoscopy is essentially the keyhole surgery. They make one hole (usually in the belly button) for the camera and other holes for the tools used to look around and remove endo, scar tissue etc. The hysteroscopy is when they insert the camera, etc vaginally and go in that way to look inside your uterus.

They flush your tubes out with a special dye which shows them if your tubes are blocked and how badly.

For pain relief, I had pethadine and had some other painkillers to take home with me. It really knocks your stomach muscles about and it will be painful to sit up, get out of bed, move around a bit for at least a week. So don't hesitate to take as much time as you need to recover. Take it slow and easy for a couple of weeks at least.

Good luck with it, I am sure you'll be fine!

[Indadhanu]

I wanted to go to Maccas after! It was right around the corner, but the nurse said I had to just eat unprocessed easy to digest food for the first 12 hours while my body comes out of the anesthetic. I tried to convince Shel otherwise but she wouldn't listen lol

[satya]

They made me eat yucky hospital sangas before I could leave so I couldn't possibly have gone to Maccas.

[Aimz]

The procedure is on the Friday and I have the Monday Tuesday off after. Now I'm thinking I will take the rest of that week off to fully recover and have some down time.

If they do find endo and have to remove it I am betting I will be in quite a bit more pain.

[Aimz]

Another Q.. I am on the pill and I worked out I am due to have AF then (I have it now and the procedure is in 4 weeks). Should I skip AF next month or is it ok to have AF when I have the op?

[Indadhanu]

You should ask your FS... I was on the pill for PCOS and they arranged it for right in the middle of the cycle. I think they prefer to do it when you aren't bleeding.

[Laranna]

You should double check Amy. I was on the pill when I had mine and my gynae booked the procedure for mid cycle, they wouldn't do it when I had AF.

[Aimz]

I just rang and spoke to the nurse and she said it doesn't matter what time of my cycle as it doesn't affect the procedure. I think I might skip AF anyway.

[briggsy's girl]

i would contact the gyne about AF amy. i don't know that it would make all that much difference, but they might be able to give you direct advice. when i had my lap i wasn't getting AF visits at all so can't say for sure....

with my lap, i had two cuts - the belly button one, and the one on pubic line - i had additional "surgery" in that i had ovarian golf balling (drilling done) - to be honest, i had pain getting up from sitting, or going from sitting to standing, but nothing that panadol couldn't help with. no shoulder pain, a mild amount of bleeding (on day of surgery) - but was done the next day. i attributed it to the golfballing, but it may have been something to do with the hysteroscopy... had disolvable stitches which cleared up pretty quick

couple of things to be aware of - your wounds might be rubbed by underwear/clothes so might itch. be careful of infection too - i have a VERY deep belly button, and had a small infection in that one - it wasn't painful - but i knew it was infected cos it was a bit smelly. i spoke to GP and got advice on how to treat it at home...

i had procedure on Wednesday - took a week off (wednesdays were my day off, so went back the thursday week after) - didn't need that long off, and was bored at home! i would have been fine to go back on the Monday. given you've mentioned painful AF in the past, i would think this would be on a par with that, so nothing you can't cope with...


ETA - the bleeding afterwards - they had put a pad between my legs - no dressings internally!

[mollycat]

How many keyholes do they make in your stomach? I had 2 each time (I've had 3 laps), one at belly button, one at pubic hair line

Who has had problems with the gas afterwards (eg shoulder pain etc)? shoulder pain,

How bad was that pain? quite uncomfortable

How long did you have off work? with the second and third ops, my gyno operates on a tuesday, I took the rest of the week off and re-started work the following monday

When did you start feeling normal again? within a few days

Do the keyholes have stitches?, the first time yes, the second and third times, no - different gynos

Does your stomach get bruised? Yes, but I bruise easily

How long does the procedure take? Can't remember, but about an hour I think, recover time was the longest.

For pain relief, I was offered everything as nothing seemed to work. When I went back for the third one, (only a couple of months after the second), the nurses joked with me about how much I needed before that. I've since worked out I have a low tolerance to morpheine and usually react with vomiting. So for the third time, the made sure they dosed me up with medications before the operation.

[dusty]

Should I skip AF next month or is it ok to have AF when I have the op?

I am glad you raised this. The second lap I had I got AF the day after the op and it was pretty awful. Avoid it if you can. I was annoyed my doctor didn't suggest waiting another week.