Multiple Repairs, Here for Support. :)
Posted , 3 users are following.
Hello all,
While looking for real-world experiences healing from PoP repairs, I ran onto this forum of lovely people.
I gave birth to my 9lb.1oz little boy in March of this year. He had a large head which he presented sideways, along with his little hand and arm. I thought I escaped okay, only had 3 minor stitches. After a couple weeks I could tell something was wrong. I could barely walk, it felt like all my insides were going to drop out. It had actually started prior to the birth, but I was constantly dismissed and told to "give myself time". When nothing was improving I started paying attention and trying to determine the issue.
By 5 weeks I found a rectocele. I went into the doctor and was again dismissed, told it wasn't that bad and by three months it would resolve itself. I was also told several times during that appointment that I shouldn't be in pain, it didn't make sense... Which was some version of "it's all in your head". I was also told they wouldn't do surgery because I was too young, that kegels were over glorified and if it turned out I didn't just get better, the only thing that they might do to help was a pessary.
I already knew I would want surgery, that the rectocele would not be helped by a pessary and that kegels wouldn't fix what was going on. After 5 antenatal months and 3 postpartum months of being diminished, I found another doctor.
I'm so glad I did. By then I'd determined I also had a cystocele and prolapsed uterus. I couldn't use a diaphragm or menstrual cup, due to too much tissue in the way and the uterus being too low.
He's been great, confirmed the cystocele and rectocele. He didn't see that my uterus was as prolapsed as I told him until surgery, but did see it was at least some. Also found issues with my urethra, not surprisingly.
He agreed surgery was best, and it must have been, because insurance didn't fight one bit. I might want another baby, so no hysterectomy. I was scheduled for Dec 6th with rectocele, cystocele repairs, sling, cystoscopy and possible sacrospinous ligament attachment if he discovered the uterus was low while I was relaxed under anesthesia. All those and I think he said a perineorrhaphy were performed, and supposed to be a great success.
Pain has been up and down. I find making sure I have both NSAID and pain meds in my system is imperative for management. I came home Friday with no catheter, in fact I didn't have one post surgery. I did have massive pain in my right thigh and hip, probably from sacrospinous fixation and OR positioning. My whole body really hurt, so figured it was the table in part. My pack started coming out on day 1 so he had them remove in the evening and it went fine.
My first evening home was after an hour car ride and stop at pharmacy, topped with a flight of stairs. It was horrible. I couldn't get up from my bed and had no idea how I'd get through this coming two weeks.
I will be staying home alone with my infant. We were able to get things so I can get out of bed and we have a nest set up to make things easy as possible. Little dude is a bit behind on crawling, which I'm thankful for. I got a lot of rest today and yesterday, with little bouts of being up to "improve healing". Being super careful about effort and figuring out best for me pain meds schedule and position switching. Have to wee pretty frequently and no BM yet, though I feel it looming.
I'm just hoping to have some people to talk to here and there as I'm sure I'll get overwhelmed. BF has been doing his best and finding out how much I do. I hate not helping, but this repair is more important to me than a lot of things, as my ability to function again is resting on its success. My Dr had this "I'm surprised you even could function" tone when he brought up my uterus post-op and said he's sure once I'm healed, I'll feel like a new person! I can't wait for that, but know I have emotional mountains to climb before then.
So, hello all and please tolerate my down days! I am so so impressed with how kind people have been to everyone else I've seen post, so I hope you will lend your kindness to me, as well.
0 likes, 5 replies
angela36386 Rammia
Posted
I admire you for going through all that when you have such a young baby! I had a posterior repair and sacri thingy fixation two years ago and am due to have an anterior repair done in February and it took a long time to recover. I hope that they have prescribed Laxido for your bowel movements as when I came home they only prescribed movicol and it was not enough but the Laxido was much better as a bit scary the first time you go! What are you going to do about lifting with a baby? Be really careful and get someone to do all your heavy jobs like hoovering. Good Luck with your recovery-the good thing is you are young so tissue will heal quickly .
Rammia angela36386
Posted
I'm sorry for taking so long to reply, but truly appreciate your comment! I've been rather up and down since my surgery and haven't had a lot of energy beyond taking care of my little guy. I scoot him along if I need to move him, usually using my elbow to lever the weight to my forearm, that way I don't strain myself bad. There have been a couple "ouch" moments when I reflexively grabbed him and used a bit too much internal muscle, but I don't think it was close to damaging, just pulled a bit from a quick movement. He got ill and there was a point where he started to choke on drainage, which led me to a fast attempt to flip him over.
My bed for the last several years has been an Asian style futon, which is on the floor. So, we set everything up around that, as well as a floofy chair in the bedroom for me to sit on when able, and an ottoman to help me be able to get up. I normally nurse him lying down, anyhow, so, in all, it's worked out fairly doable. The worst bit I have with the baby is when he wants to wallow all over me. Trying to manage that leaves me fairly sore. I have let the housework to my boyfriend and his 10yo son, but that's suffering. He's been trying to keep up, but the kid is not keen to help much. It gets heated sometimes.
The first BM was horrific to say the nicest thing about it. It set off my pain to be worse for a couple days after, and to even get it going I had to call the nurse to get recommendations and send boyfriend to store for items, since they hadn't given me enough, or proper, stuff to help. YEESH.
As far as being young, I'm nearly 40, and heal slow, but hopefully it won't get a lot worse than I am. Today has been a fairly doable day, and I've been able to take short store trips the last two days (to pick up Christmas orders about to expire) with just a 1/2-1 hour lie down after.
margaret08255 Rammia
Posted
Oh Rammia, my heart goes out to you .I presume this is your first baby.a big one too..I hope you have family near you that can give you the help you need.I had .rectoenterocelle SSF.nearly 5 months ago.I found the most trouble some thing to deal for me was the bm so make sure you drink plenty of water I found senekot and stool softners worked for me.plus prunes.because you must not strain. on occasions I had to take a glycerin suppository. but you may not have to and .as you are a young women.you should heal much quicker.you will get a lot of encouragement and help from the ladies here so keep in touch I wish you a speedy recovery .take care.x
Rammia margaret08255
Posted
Thank you kindly for your response! I apologise for taking so long to respond in turn.
Yes, he's my first baby. So beautiful (steals the hearts of all the women and half the men he meets), and a great baby. Unfortunately, my family is on the other side of the Country (USA) and my Boyfriend's family is a solid 1.5 hours away, and not in the best of health. So far, I'm home alone with the little one for about 9 hours a day. We nap part of it, which helps break up the day, but I'm ready when his father gets home from work. By then, I'm sore enough I just want to lie a while and not be touched or pressed on.
The BM was, as noted above, terrible. I drank water, took the stool softener they told me to buy, ate fruit, ate whole grains. Nothing helped. I had to call the nurse and go get two more things to help, and by the time they kicked in, I was a hair away from impacted. Once that was through, though, I've been able to keep things going, but everything muscle-wise is still really "confused" from the surgery, so it's still some degree of painful and work.
I am younger than some of the ladies I've seen post on the forum, but have been a slow healer for the last several years. However, I do seem at least somewhat better, which I'm happy about.
Thank you again for the kind words and wishes!
Rammia
Posted
A general update for anyone following:
It's been nearly two weeks since my surgery. The absolute worst was the first night home, where I despaired about the coming weeks and how in the world I'd manage taking care of my LO, after that, it was getting past the terrible BM.
The pain when I got home from the hospital was significant. I collapsed on the bed, curled into the fetal position and cried and cried. From there, the pain started to be a smidgen less, but then the build up to, and execution of, the first real BM caused the pain levels to go way up again. That lasted until about 30ish hours post BM. However, I was quite close to being impacted, so once things started going the stitches in the rear repair got stretched notably. The frustration with this is I told the nurse in the hospital the night I stayed that I already had some constipation and it was stuck. She told me that doesn't normally happen and to just give it time. HELLO!! I have been dealing with this issue for months! I'm pretty sure I know how it feels! I eventually got her to start me on a stool softener the next morning, but the dose was too low. Day after day I walked back and forth, put on warm water (to help relax), took the softener I picked up on my way home, ate fruit, whole grains...drank loads of water... no help! After the weekend I finally called the nurse. At her recommendation, I sent BF to the store to get two more kinds of softeners, and then it was still another day before they worked. Anyhow, once they did finally work, it was pretty terrible waiting for those stitches and new bruising to get less angry.
Then I made a terrible mistake of riding with my BF to my doc to get a new script for pain. My doc is an hour away. I felt pretty terrible after that and it set me back about 1 day, so after the next day of resting as much as possible, I was back to the level of the day before the ride. Been a lot more careful since. I've had two shorter trips the last few days and I can lie down about an hour and feel better. My two week checkup is on Friday. I'm not looking forward to that trip, or that visit, or the damn trip after the visit. D: I can't imagine it will be better than terrible.
At home I'm managing the baby pretty well. I think he's a bit bored, but pretty okay. Our main set-up is on the floor, so I don't have to really lift him. I do scoot him and sometimes that gets tiring. He's getting more and more mobile, which makes him excited to....you guessed it!... try to be more mobile. But, he's wonderful company. I've co-slept with him since about 4.5 months anyhow and I tend to nurse him lying down, so a lot of things are as they were. I've gotten to the point I can do little things around the house, a few dishes here, throw away trash there, etc. If I start to feel tired at all or achy even a little I go lie down. When I'm home alone with the baby (about 9 hours a day) I am pretty strictly watching him. I've been able to loom knit a face warmer for a friend with asthma and a hat for my baby. It can help a lot with taking focus off feeling pain, which has been nice. Yesterday, my BF took baby to his old daycare, so I slept quite a solid block, which I hadn't done since the surgery. Today, I'm meeting with someone that may be able to help provide some in-home help a couple hours a week for a while. That will be great if it goes good.
I suppose that's all for now. I'm sorry I rambled a bit!