I've been going through some of the posts that were made while I was gone and would like to make a few comments.
Helen, you wrote that you thought a laparoscopy was basically a diagnostic procedure and that any surgery needed would be scheduled for a later date. This might be true, depending on the surgeon and other factors I guess. In this area, it seems that if the surgery can be done at the time of the scope, it is. I guess they allow enough time on the OR schedule to do this. In my case, my gyn who did the first scope felt that he'd have to schedule another surgery to deal with the bowel/ abdominal wall adhesion that he found during the lap but kept working on it and he was able to fix it within the allotted time. So I guess what I am saying is that they allot you a specific amount of time (probably one hour), assess the situation, do what they can, make future recommendations. But I'm sure this depends on the surgeon, your individual situation, the hospital policy, etc etc.
Ginny, I read the posts asking why didn't he fix things while he was in there and you mentioned that your gyn left adhesions behind. I would like to say that mine did this also. I guess this is a surgeon's perogative. Based on his experience, I guess he feels that he has the ability to assess the situation and do what he feels best and often he doesn't know this until he gets in there. When I had my TAH years ago, I told him I really didn't want my ovaries removed and his answer was "let me decide when I get in there" So I went into the OR not knowing exactly what he was going to do. To some people, this would be unacceptable and the answer would be to find a surgeon willing to comply with their wishes. When this gyn did the scope when this current problem began, he also left all the major adhesions around the sigmoid colon because he felt they would never bother me. He was certain he had fixed my problem (or a potential problem because I'm not convinced he was convinced adhesions were my problem)and knew I had the others for at least 20 years. I was not happy with this,! As you know, I ended up having a second lap with a general surgeon who removed these adhesions (I never asked him if he was going to becasue I felt he was going in to fix the same problem as the gyn fixed because I thought it reoccurred. Surprise, it hadn't) I'm getting carried away here, sorry, just wanted to say that my surgeon did the same thing as yours. Not being surgeons, it's hard to understand sometimes.
Chris S.