Lessons from Surgery

I realized last night that having had seven surgeries in less than two years, I might have some advice that's helpful to anyone else preparing to go through gynecological surgery. Thus, here are my "credentials" and also my experiences/advice.

Surgeries since 1/18/16:

1. D&C for missed miscarriage - Jan 16
2. Operative hysteroscopy to remove scar tissue and retained POC from missed miscarriage - May 16
3. Emergency D&C due to postpartum hemorrhage - Nov 16. To be fair, they did two of these, since I Started to hemorrhage again while in recovery before regaining consciousness.
4. Operative hysteroscopy to remove scar tissue and retained POC from losing the twins - Feb 17
5. Rescue cerclage placement - July 17
6. Operative hysteroscopy to remove scar tissue and retained POC from losing Quinn - Sept 17
7. Operative hysteroscopy to remove scar tissue and retained POC from losing Quinn - Oct 17

Things I have learned throughout this process. These may only apply to me, but I thought it was worth sharing:

• If you can, get a morning surgery. Going without food until an afternoon time slot makes an unpleasant day worse.
• Be aware that even though you're groggy, you'll have awful insomnia starting around midnight the night of/after the anesthesia (this applies only to the general anesthesia and not the spinal)
• Be aware that you'll stay groggy the day AFTER surgery.
• Know that it's ok to ask to have the IV placed in your arm, not your hand - often that hurts less. Either way, plan on about a week of bruising from it.
• Expect 2-3 days of sore throat from the anesthesia. How sore will depend on how long you were under. 
• If you're allowed, plan on a shower as soon as you get home - different hospitals do a better or worse job of cleaning up the betadine they use on you, expect that you'll still be orange in a few places until you can shower. 
• If you're outpatient, be aware that the doctor will tell the person you came with the outcome of the surgery. This means that if you have specific questions you want answered, make sure to tell that person. I expect my DH to know what's going on and ask the right questions, but in reality, all he's able to process without specific guidance is, "It went well."
• Wear comfy clothes and a bra that are easy to get back on. At the hospital, a nurse dressed me while I was in post-op. At the surgical center, I had to dress myself in the tiny pre-op/recovery room. In either situation, you want easy to doff/don clothing. 
• If you get cold easily, bring a jacket you can throw over your shoulders while waiting. Yes, hospitals and surgical centers have warm blankets, but they're often about 2" by 2", so it's tough to really bundle up! My local hospital offers a warming gown, but the surgical center doesn't, so having a jacket over my shoulders while waiting to be taken back for surgery was awesome.
• Have a pain management discussion with your doctor before you go under. My first two surgeries, I was given narcotic painkillers and rx strength ibuprofen. I never needed the narcotics, I did appreciate the rx strength ibuprofen. Surgeries 4, 6 and 7 we never discussed pain management, and since I can't take NSAIDs, I went without once home. That's ok by me, but if it's not ok with you, be sure to discuss with your Dr.  
• Have a plan for what to do when you get home. My plan is Netflix under a blanket on the sofa, but figure out what low-energy thing will be a treat for you, and have it ready.  

Most of all, my advice is that you CAN get through this, no matter how scary it seems. 

It Wasn't Mylar

Surgery took place as planned back on the 18th. Being back at the hospital was indeed hard. I might have cried a bit in the waiting room. I might have cried again post-op.

Surgery itself went well. During the follow-up appointment, my OB told me, and pathology confirmed, I had scar tissue and embedded retained placenta in my uterus. I suppose it's no surprise with what happened.

My OB cleaned everything out. Due to the nature of the scarring (Asherman's), she left behind a balloon catheter for a week. It looked like this:

It was the most miserable thing I've dealt with in this entire journey. In my mind, I'd assumed that everything would stay inside me. I know that sometimes IUDs are used for Asherman's patients, and I've had an IUD that only had a tiny string in my vagina. I just assumed this would be similar.

Nope. Wrong on all counts. First off, that tubing is just slightly smaller than a quarter of an inch. Not at all like the string on an IUD. Having a string the width of a thread coming out of your cervix is a very different experience than having a .25" tube coming out.

Second, the tubing was long. Long enough to go through my cervix, and vagina, and hang a good few inches outside my body. From a practical perspective, that meant that anytime I moved, stood up, sat down, or rolled over, the tubing got pulled on a bit. Tubing that was going through my cervix and into my uterus. Imagine what that might feel like. On second thought, don't. It sucked, no one should deal with that.

Third, there was a hard plastic connector on the end of the tubing. It allows the balloon to be filled with saline. That's great. Except from a practical perspective. From that perspective, no matter which way the tubing points, that hard plastic connector is going to be jabbing you in a sensitive spot of your anatomy.

Finally, surgery made my digestive system unhappy. Consider the logistics of trying to keep a dangling tube and connector out of the way as you deal with what you have to deal with when your digestive system is unhappy. This is especially fun in my case, since I know the bacterial infection that took my girls and led me to this point in my life was largely comprised of bacteria found in the digestive tract. And here was a fucking superhighway going right into my ute.

It sucked. But it's out, and it's over, and now we move on to the next hurdle: figuring out if the surgery worked and if  my tubes are clear. More on that to come.