Re: choosing pain meds over surgery

From: Jo Eslick (joanne@bombobeach.com)
Mon Apr 8 11:02:05 2002


Hi Em,

Thanks for your great message, and I couldn't agree with you more... I really believe that at this time the best option is our own diversional therapies (anything that is relaxing or help takes our mind off pain, or reduces it's affect on how we function through a normal day) with a combination of pain medication. I have been doing that for almost twelve months!

However :-( when my ovaries were removed last April.... one tiny little piece was left behind & I can't believe the havoc & pain this little spec of almost nothing has caused!

I had been gradually getting worse (pain wise) over a period of months and was put on higher doses of pain meds and then switched to the slow release version of the same drug. I was in heaven! I was able to get back into activities with my girls (I have four), I was actually participating in the running of our own business and I did a few... just a few household chores...

BUT enter the nasty ovary remnant... who made my body believe that my ovaries had simply switched off...not been removed, so my body started to produce all sorts of other chemicals and hormones to try and stimulate my hormones back to life.... mmmm well since they ain't there.... that wasn't what was happening! I was getting some pretty impressive sized cysts which would kinda just make my pain a little more than I could handle...and I can be pretty determined...

4 weeks ago I visited my specialist for an outpatients visit because i was starting to feel as though something wasn't right, and that my pain was increasing & my new wonder drug and pain management routine was taking a nosedive. So we upped the meds, changed a few things around, had an internal (aren't they one of our favourite things? NOT!) I also had a vaginal ultrasound to confirm yep, you guessed it another cyst! *sigh* this one however was playing a new game called push into the back wall of my bladder and make the stubborn beast work less than it already does! So, self-catheterisation became a more frequent event in my day-to-day life.

I had another exam with the physio, because I wanted to check if the exercises I was doing were working... yep, another internal, so all of that coupled with a three and a half hour bumpy car ride to Sydney from Bathurst left me feeling pretty yuk.... so I decided that collapsing in the foyer as we were leaving was a great way to protest about my pain... so here I am four weeks later after trying all sorts of things like rest, extra pain meds, all sorts of really exciting tests (none of them suitable for description here....for further details send a personal email ;-))

So, I have come to the end of my choices and surgery on Thursday afternoon to remove the ovarian remnant, oh and just to make things a little more interesting, the remnant is in my cul-de-sac where yup you guessed it my worst adhesions live there in fact, my last gynaecologist said my cul-de-sac just doesn't exist anymore it's just adhesions.

So fingers & toes crossed and so many people sending positive thoughts and prayers my way, hopefully this surgery will be the end to this part of my saga, and I can go back to pain management...mmm ... all though PAIN FREE would be nice... nahhhh better not get my hopes up too high!

--
Love and gentle hugs,
Joanne Eslick
Founder Australian Adhesions Support Group
http://www.bombobeach.com
Australian Co-ordinator of
International Adhesions Society
http://www.adhesions.org

--
I am not a medical person, and all my messages are based
on personal experience.  I am a fellow adhesions sufferer
reaching out to help others.

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