First my story. In January I started having pain in my left side that radiated down into my thigh. I had a history of migraines and they were intensified to the point that I was having a headache every day, apparently because of the influx of hormones being produced by what was going on with my ovaries. Jump to a lot of different doctor consultations and I had a hysterectomy in May. My gyno said he had to do a full hysto because my ovaries and uterus were enlarged and full of cysts and I had adhesions attached to my intestine on my left side and at the pelvic rim which was causing the pain in my side. The surgery was May 29. I went back to work 6 weeks later. 2 weeks after that, the pain returned. It intensified so fast that on Sunday, August 3 I had my husband take me to the emergency room. I hadn't had a bowel movement in 3 days. The ER doc heard no bowel sounds and admitted me with a possible obstructed bowel. My gynecologist was on vacation so the doctor on call saw me the next morning and said that I didn't have a complete obstruction but she believed the adhesions were back and I would need another surgery. They kept me in the hospital for pain control and I had my second surgery on that Wednesday. Dr. Ottman, the covering gynecologist who performed the surgery, said that I was completely full of adhesions. They had attached to my bladder, kidneys, rectum and intestines. She put the spray in that was supposed to help keep them from coming back so soon (yeah right). I went back to my regular doctor for my 2 week check after surgery and he left the stitches in telling me they would dissolve. On the third week anniversary, the stitches, that were not the kind that dissolved, were infected on the inside. I went back to Dr. Ottman who removed them and she became my gynecologist. The pain in my left side, however, has never left. I have not been off of pain medications since my second surgery. I have went back to work and put in as many hours as I can although they aren't very many.
Here we are, tomorrow is the 5 week anniversary of my second surgery and I found out last Friday that I will have yet my third surgery on the 24th. What she is planning on doing this time is to make a full incision and wrap my organs in some kind of saran wrap like material that will dissolve over time and give me a chance to heal without allowing adhesions to attach.
She told me I could get a second opinion on this if I chose, but my original doctor had already told me this would be the next step so I went ahead and scheduled the surgery. I am desperate. I can't afford to lose my job and I have missed over half the year already. I know she has done this surgery before. Her nurse has had it done and it worked great for her. Can anyone here tell me if they have had it and what it entailed? I am scared? God did bless me by taking away my migraines. I don't think I could deal with migraines on top of the adhesions although I would take migraines over adhesions because at least with them, I wasn't in pain every day.
Now that I've written my book, can anyone offer me any hope?
-- Julie Clark