Post surgery

Hi Sandra

I had rectocele and fixation a year ago also had 12 weeks off due to being a cleaner they forgot about my 12 week appointment which I wasn't happy about so went 16 weeks after my op I also thought it had dropped and got told I needed the bladder prolapse done which I had done last week I've also had continuous back and leg pain which my consultant said it wasn't due to that well I'm sorry I didn't suffer these pains before I just hope there not going to be yearly ops I did read somewhere that if your prolapse has dropped then u can get back pain with it so who knows but if u feel it's dropped then make a appointment to see your consultant hope this helps Chrissy xxxx

Hi Sarnie

I am now just over 3 years post op for repairs to both front and back vaginal walls.

They don't give us anywhere near long enough to recover properly from these ops (must be a male or young pre-menopause female that sets the recovery time.

I took 3 months out, had hoped for more but felt really good and thought I would be ok , pressure was on as hubby had unknown pitturitary tumour and wasn't doing well.

Problem is once you re-enter the labour market you don't have the same control over your limits such as no down pressure and sitting down once you feel like its all sagging and therefore causing lower pelvic pain in lower pelvis at the back which is your body telling you you have overdone things.

The reason we prolapse is often to do with lack of collagen (lower levels can be due to menopause) weakening the pelvic ligaments along with what we are doing (heavy impact activities at work, gym, garden) and unfortunately if we return to doing same things our repairs just fail again.

you are very early on in your recovery and our bodies are still recovering for many months afterwards.

I was pushed to quickly at work into staying on my feet for longer periods than I could cope with. So had a long ongoing dispute over the need for a good supporting seat which while I do get a good seat much of the time I still on occasion have to remind them.

Anyway the fight for a decent seat and being left on my feet for too long in the early months eventually caused my repair to permenantly sag a little which has left me unable to cope with many daily activities which I felt I should by now be able to cope with , I am limited on a daily basis by pain in pelvic floor due to very angry tissue around back end of vagina opening around edge and more toward left of perinium.

I did get rechecked post op twice and told it was expected that I would be a bit red and that the lower pelvic floor back problems where nothing to do with the repairs to see a physio for my back.

I've never had back problems (matron however always said that we can have back and or legs problems due to position if our lower back on operating table they suspend our legs up).

Anyway was at physiotherapist some time after returning to work for frozen shoulder and I asked her to about my back, she checked my back and posture and couldn't see a problem.

I still can't walk too far after about 45mins to an hour I'm in pain and if I push for longer I get nippy pain in that area I mentioned above and after a day or two a creammy pinky staining on my pad.

I feel that I did not get enough time to heal properly and have not had enough control over what happens to me at work and not enough after support.

I was told if I cause down pressure my repair will fail again, my first one lasted three years so was so very careful for first 12 weeks this time round and while holding up it is slightly sagging and I did not fully recover able to do most daily household activites as I did the first time.

Hope some of this experience helps, remember you are early days yet and can still be a little swollen , please take care and give yourself time to heal our pelvic floor supports the weight of our pelvic organs and is trying to heal too, deeper tissue can take so much longer to heal.

Good luck for the future and remember its you long term health that is important , x

Hi ladies!

I too am exactly 3 months post-op and am beginning to wonder if everything was done correctly or my surgery was a fail also. I had a rectocele repair and they lifted the vaginal vault Plus while under the knife he decided to "fix" my perineum. Dr actually made my vaginal opening quite tight and now it is impossible to have sex yet. the opening of my vagina is still rough especially towards the back. Doctor tells me that this is normal and it will take some time to heal but I'm not convinced that it will ever be normal. The Doctor told me to use a small dildo and gradually increase the size until my vaginal opening becomes softer and stretched and more comfortable. Can you believe that! I don't understand why he even did what he did - must be a guy thing! I also am starting to feel a small bulge in my vagina again especially when I wait too long to poo. I have started adding Metamucil to my coffee every morning and Miralax once or twice a week and that seems to help keep me regular in addition to trying to eat more fruits and vegetables. LOL. I have had a few episodes where I have leaked a little bit of urine after I'd gone to the bathroom and I thought I was done. I hope it's not my bladder now prolapsing! I did go back to work after just 5 weeks even though I initially got permission from work to take longer but I was going stir-crazy at home. Thankfully I do you have a job where it's pretty flexible I can sit or stand or walk whenever I need to and my hours are fairly flexible. I just hope I didn't overdo it.

I have not had swollen legs or ankles like you mentioned, nor any back pain any worse than what I experienced occasionally even before all this. I would definitely get that checked out because swollen ankles and legs can be a symptom of some other problem. Hoping we all get to feeling normal again!

hi

my first anterior repair failed after 3 weeks of pure rest. I waited 18 months to have it redone but then my uterus came down also.

I had my tvh and a done 14 maths ago and although all went smoothly I really do think that the life of these repairs are not as high as you'd expect.

I will need my back wall lifted but I'm managing ok other than the feeling in vag like yiu havevwith bladder prolapse .

these repairs really suck because yiur always paranoid they will drop again with the slightest bend or stretch months after your healed.

I'd wished I'd opted for c section 23 yrs ago🤔🤔