Laparoscopy to Diagnose Possible Endo

Hi, and thank you for your reply!

You're right I will definitely consult my doctor. It has been frustrating as they moved my pre-op appointment to the day before my surgery so I am left with all these questions and no answers until next week.

It may be worth waiting until another time to go on a trip. The timing is just so incredibly frustrating. I guess there is never a "good time" for health problems and I know the surgery is what I need to do. I've just been in so much pain and feeling down and the trip and seeing my loved one would be one thing to have to look forward to. Ugh so tough. Thank you for letting me vent and your help!

Mandy, please consider calling the doc's office 1st thing tomorrow & talk to the nurse. Explain that you need some answers NOW, concerning the surgery, travel & sex. Tell her it can't wait til next week. It may not work but it's worth a try.

Hello,

I took your advice and called my surgical center. They said a nurse will call me back, so fingers crossed that it happens.

I am thinking perhaps I could push back my trip a few weeks until later in April. But you are absolutely right, I do not want to be stuck out of state with medical complications so I need to be practical.

Linda, many of us on here agree that a lap is the only absolute way to know if you have endo. These days many docs prefer to put it off and run all sorts of tests that can't give a final determination, and then one still has to have a lap done.

My doctor never gave me a choice. He only mentioned the lap surgery. But after reading more about endo I found out Drs can see if you have endo thru an MRI. I don’t regret my surgery only the fact that it wasn’t a full hysterectomy afterwards. 

Lap is definitely the sure way to know. I had an MRI done a year before my lap and it showed nothing. Luckily I had insisted on the laparoscopy because of the overwhelming pains, and we found and treated the endo.

Hi Linda, no my doctor did not do an MRI. I had a CT scan and many ultrasounds/bloodwork. I've also been on birth control for 2 months but nothing has given answers so I asked to have the surgery done.

My doctor hasn't spoken to me about the process if he does find endometriosis so I am not sure. Is that something they should have discussed with me by now?

I had endometriosis one year ago exactly n had to get it removed plus I was having complications with my heavy periods so they did half hysterectomy. But now one year later I’m having more issues bc they never removed my ovaries! So I just went to the Dr today n now he wants to do another laparoscopic to remove them n the endo that has since recurred. I’m so tired of these Drs n surgeries. Just make sure they do everything they can when you’re under. So you don’t have to go back again. I wish my Dr had listened to me when I told him to “gut” me out (conplete hysterectomy) 

Omg Linda that's terrible! Did you go on any treatment after surgery? Like those hormone things or a tablet of some sort?

Linda,

Wow that sounds like so much work. It must really be exhausting having to go through so many procedures. I feel stupid asking but what exactly is a half and complete hysterectomy?

I am 22 so I want to make sure that I am able to have kids one day

Of course if Mandy might want children, Linda, she might want the doc to leave as much as possible. I didn't want kids so had a total hysterectomy which could not have been done in the lap procedure.

No. None. The Dr told me everything was ok now n didn’t put me on anything since I still had my ovaries, he said I wouldn’t go into menopause. He made me believe I wouldn’t get endo again! N now I’m having the same symptoms. 

I had my uterus and cervix removed the first time. It’s different for everyone. A complete hysterectomy is getting everything removed. Since I still had my ovaries I didn’t start menopause. But ovaries are what needs to get removed if you have endometriosis. Going through it again. The Dr now mentions that part! 

Thank you for clarfying that for me! I really hope that that is not what I need to do because I really do want to have children still  

Hi there mate, did the surgery to remove the endorsement stop the pain and for how long?

Mandy, everyone is different. If you have not had kids and you want to have them, there's not a doc around who's going to do more than clean things up without a long conversation first and photos, film and notes lasting 50 pages to prove that you were in danger or there's some other blatant medical reason why they would take everything.

Linda, since you have already terrified Mandy completely, let me clarify something for you: endo CAN come back even many decades post removal of ovaries, tubes, cervix, uterus. It came back 27 years later in me. I generally agree that when a woman is ready, just remove it all in order to avoid that second rapid surgery to remove however many ovaries were left behind from a hysterectomy. I would still make the same choice because I had a great 25+ years without endo. But don't spread misinformation, please. If you didn't know about the ovaries and how they control growth and sloughing of endometrial lining and cells wherever they may be misplaced in our bodies, that's on you, Linda.