New here & Seeking Opinions
From: Gina (gina@maine.rr.com)
Thu Oct 14 12:33:46 1999
Hi everyone,
I found this board through a long series of links originating at
hystersisters.org. I am 36 now. When I was 18 I had PID so bad I was
hospitalized and it formed scar tissue throughout my pelvic area (yet
didn't affect my life one bit as far as I can remember). I have been
sterile since then. Then in 1987 I had emergency surgery to remove my
gall bladder and appendix (I had gall stones which had moved to the
common bile duct, which is normally fatal I'm told). I almost died, but
lived, with an 11" long scar that looks like a railroad track across my
abdomen. (This was before laser surgery I guess).
I have always had painful monthly periods for as long as I can remember,
probably due to the PID scarring. I also had ovarian cysts periodically
with my cycles. I had wanted a hysterectomy at age 25 because of pelvic
pain and problems, and since I was sterile anyway, why not. But no Dr.
at that time would do it because of my age.
Recently, the pelvic pain became so severe that monthly ultra sounds
were done to see why, and they found numerous growths around ovaries,
pelvic area and inside uterus. An emergency surgery was performed
8/12/99 for a laprascopic vaginal hysterectomy, it took 5 hours because
they had to remove the extensive PID adhesions 1st.
2 weeks after that surgery I had such severe pelvic pain and right side
pain, and had been in the ER so many times, and once admitted just for
pain management, that they decided to do a second surgery and removed
both ovaries and tubes, plus massive adhesions in my upper right abdomen
(from the '87 surgery) which had wrapped around my bowel and attached to
organs in that area.
I was in bad shape after this second surgery, started to get pneumonia
but fought it hard, and my recovery in hospital was much longer. Even
the morphine did not help the pain. But I eventually went home after 4
days, feeling I could rest better at home.
I am now 4 weeks post-op from that 2nd surgery. My surgeon--even
knowing I was prone to adhesions--never discussed any type of prevention
technique, nor any type of follow-up to prevent adhesions. I have since
learned what they are, that they can sometimes be prevented, that there
are exercises that sometimes work if started immediately following
surgery, etc. I didn't know any of this til this week.
I now have adhesions again, only this time I suspect they are
interfering with my bladder and bowel functions. I feel severe pain and
pressure on my bladder, vaginal canal and color. I had an internal exam
last week and my vaginal canal inside is fine with no prolapse. My Dr.
referred me back to my surgeon who pretty much washed his hands of
me--neither Dr. at this point wants to see me again, or follow-up on
this at all.
In the meantime, I am not having normal bowel movements: just diahrea
periodically, or pinched stools. I have tremendous bladder pain
constantly, yet have no infection and have no trouble going--I just
can't expel everything in one shot so end up going every 5-15 minutes.
This keeps me up all night so I can't sleep. I constantly feel the
pressure on my bladder. I also feel pressure on my vagina internally
(it hurts to sit), and on my colon. I was given Urispas pills for
bladder, doc thought I was having bladder spasms I guess. It didn't
help the pain or pressure at all, but does seem to help with the
frequency a tiny bit.
I am nauseous all the time, and have to take zantac with every meal or I
vomit. I also am having severe stomach pain. I was scheduled to have
an upper GI test but when I went in this week, they refused to do it
because my bowels are backed up to the limit and they said the barium
would make it worse. They were quite upset and it scared me. Yet my
doc didn't think anything of it, he has prescribed laxatives. I don't
think he understands how much pain I am in, and how much pressure I
already feel inside. Laxatives, to my mind, will make it
worse--increase the pressure and pain. I know, I had diahrea all
weekend and was crying the whole time.
I have no fevers, though all of my lymph nodes are swollen and painful.
I am not anemic, my kidney function tests were fine, and liver functions
were a little elevated.
Knowing all of the above, do you think I have a partial bowel
obstruction? Bladder adhesions? Vaginal adhesions? Is this something I
should wait-and-see, as my Dr. suggests? Or is this something worthy of
an ER visit? Would a laxative be safe to take?
Finally, I do have an appt. for a urologist in 3 weeks. I'm hoping I
can stand to wait that long! If not, I will go to the ER. If a
urologist does the tests, and finds adhesions, is adhesiolysis something
I can expect him to do?
Up until the "simple" surgery on 8/12 my quality of life was great. Now
instead of fixing the monthly pain problem, I have been given more
problems which are much worse than the original one.
Gina