Details On The Procedure

It was going to take about six weeks for me to be back to my normal self.  The doctor ended up doing more work than he had originally anticipated.  There were three incisions made on my abdomen. One incision was in my belly button, another near my right pelvic bone, and the last one around my lower middle abdomen.  They were about the size of a nickel and had been stitched up and bandaged.  The stitches would end up dissolving on their own.  The nurse informed me that the worst of the pain would be caused by the gas they inflated into my abdomen.  When the surgery is complete, they try to remove as much of the gas as possible, but a good amount still remains.  The gas ends up traveling up your back and into your shoulders and neck.  This was pure misery and so painful.  I slept on a heating pad some nights to ease the pain and discomfort.  Every day I looked forward to taking a nice, warm shower to help relax my body.   They gave me Vicodin to take at home for the pain, but once the anesthesia wore off, I never took any of the pain medication.  Not that it didn't hurt, because it did...  I just don't like to take medication of any kind, unless it's absolutely necessary.

The incision that was made in my belly button had a camera inserted into it, as well as a camera that was inserted into me vaginally.  They used the cameras to perform the entire surgery.  First thing first, both of my ovarian cysts were gone!  For this, I was so thankful!  When they went into my abdomen, they flushed my tubes out with dye once again.  This gives them a more distinct idea of what type of condition my tubes are in at the time of surgery.  They also gave me what is called a pelvic block so that my tubes wouldn't start having spasms during the procedure.  There was a tiny polyp that was removed, but they ensured me that it was nothing to be concerned about.  It was so tiny that the lab could barely test it on the slide.  Good news is that my uterus looked normal, as it always did! :)  

My right fallopian tube, which was the hydrosalpinx, was slightly wrapped around and attached to my right ovary.  This is why it was so difficult to see my right ovary in all of the previous ultrasounds.  It was in such bad condition, and they confirmed that it could not be repaired... It had to come out.  The doctor said that I would have never gotten pregnant, as long as this tube was inside of me.  The only way they could remove the tube from the ovary was to burn it off.  This left my right ovary slightly burned which was quite painful during the healing process, as my ovary was trying to heal itself.  My right tube was then completely removed and taken out. 

They thought that my left tube was in pretty good condition, but once they saw it on the cameras inside of me, they discovered otherwise.  My left tube was also damaged, but THANKFULLY it could be saved.  You see.... your fallopian tubes are suppose to move around quite freely in order to catch the egg that is being released during ovulation.  My left tube was not moving.  It was attached to the fat holding up and surrounding my colon, not allowing it to move at all.  They had to cut the tube away from the fat it was attached to, in order for it to move freely once again.  After that, they repaired it as much as they possibly could due to the damage it had endured and the scar tissue it had developed.  After all, this tube was my only hope it I ever wanted to conceive a child naturally.  

Once I was healed, I got the ok to start trying again without any type of medication.  There was a chance that I would not ovulate the first month after surgery.  It had been about 5 months since I had a period, because we were suppressing it in order to get rid of the ovarian cysts.  At this point, we just had to be patient and let my body find it's natural rhythm once again.    

Due to my left tube being previously damaged and repaired during the surgery.... this has now increased my chances of having an ectopic pregnancy.  The moment I find out that I am pregnant,  I immediately have to go in for an emergency ultrasound.  This is to ensure that the pregnancy is occurring inside of my uterus and not in the tube. 

I now have both of my ovaries, and one repaired fallopian tube.  The doctors are now confident that I should be able to conceive now.  This is where my hope lies.

                                    Bloated from the gas inflated into my abdomen

                                                       First look after surgery

                                                     Removing the bandages

                                     One of my incisions a couple days after surgery