My fibroid surgery

I guess it is time to stop wallowing in the here and now and catch up on the rest of my ttc story.

My fibroid surgery was on August 4, 2004.

After my miscarriage, my doctor recommended having my fibroids removed. We will never really know what caused that miscarriage, but a recent study showed that people with small fibroids like mine can cause miscarriage 50% of the time. I have copied below some of the links I used to research the subject.

Small Fibroids May Increase Miscarriage Risk:
http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=32233

Uterine Fibroids (Benign Tumors Of The Uterus):
http://www.medicinenet.com/uterine_fibroids/article.htm

Obstetrics and Gynecology, December 2001 Journal Scan (See 2nd Article);
A Prospective Controlled Study of the Effect of Intramural Uterine
Fibroids on the Outcome of Assisted Conception:
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/411093_2

Mayo Clinic; Uterine Fibroids:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/invoke.cfm?objectid=802ED1C5-492F-4D34-ACA0D4A
C3566D98E

When my dr. recommended the surgery, I agreed. If that could have been the cause, I wanted them gone. I didn’t want to EVER have to experience another miscarriage. Plus, it was action. Something to do. And, if I had to do the surgery, what a better time then when my cousin was here to visit. We couldn’t get the scheduling down with my dr., the assistant surgeon, and the hospital until August 4th, which was after my cousin was supposed to go home. She agreed to stay with her two younger children and only Elizabeth, who was starting high school and need to get back for band camp went home as scheduled. It was really great to have my cousin here. She was a great advocate at the hospital and I didn’t have to worry about my dogs.

In preparation for the surgery, although my doctor said nothing was needed, I started swimming every day. We had a trip already planned to go to Lake Arrowhead for 4 – 5 days and it was great to get away. The dogs and I and some of the kids slept outside on the deck under the stars. I remember sitting out on the deck watching the sun set one night enjoying a glass of wine and thinking that I would give anything in the world to still be pregnant.

The official name of my surgery was exploratory laparotomy with abdominal myomectomy. This was the first time I was going to stay in the hospital. I had outpatient knee surgery several years ago, but had never required overnight in a hospital. I was a bit nervous, but not freaked. I was told to plan on being in the hospital 2 or 3 nights. I had to be mobile, eating solid food, and able to pass gas in order to leave the hospital. I ended up being there 2 nights. The surgery was a little over 2 hours long and they found four fibroids instead of the expected two. He needed to make two incisions into the uterus because one of the fibroids was on the top and the other three were on the bottom. I was fortunate that none of the fibroids were in the uterine cavity so he didn’t need to cut into it. Because of this, I don’t have to worry about scar tissue. While he was in, he also did the dye test to help locate the fibroids and my tubes were all clear.

It’s funny. The anesthesiologist asked me if I wanted an epidural or general anesthesia, but recommended the epidural. When my doctor found out, he asked me if I requested it. I had to laugh, but told him, “no, the anesthesiologist recommended it”. I thought that I was getting the epidural with a twig light sleep, but when I read my surgery report, I realized that I was also given general anesthesia. I guess the anesthesiologist didn’t run the epidural idea by my doctor before he suggested it. The very first thing I remember thinking as I was waking up from the surgery was “OMG, I’m paralyzed. I can’t feel my legs or feet.” Then, I remembered that I had the epidural. They left the epidural in until the night before I left and gave me all my meds through it. I was supposed to get up and try to walk the morning after the surgery, but my legs were still numb and I couldn’t move them. I was weaned off the epidural that day and was slowly walking by the second night.

When I was in the recovery room, I remembered hearing this lady yelling and screaming and panicked. A few hours after I was moved from recovery into my room, they brought this lady in as my roommate. She was old and almost blind and hard of hearing. She was completely disoriented and out of it. I took one look at my cousin and said “this is NOT going to work”. My cousin arraigned for me to be moved to another room. It looked like I was going to be roommate free, but no such luck. Late that night, another lady was brought in who didn’t speak English. I’m not sure what she was in for, but think she came in to emergency and was admitted. She was given some sort of medication that she had an allergic reaction to and almost died. Or, at least that is how it seemed to me in the next bed. She was having trouble breathing and couldn’t properly communicate because she didn’t speak English. With people running in and out half the night, I am sure that I got little or no sleep that night. The next day, twenty or so of her closest friends and relatives came to visit. The most annoying thing was that her husband kept opening the curtain to my portion of the room and looking in on me and then leaving it open so people could see in as they passed by. It was creepy and gross. My cousin worked with the nurse to get me moved to a private room the second night. This was much better.

I was told to expect a clear liquid diet at first. I took this to mean water. When a tray was brought to me that night, I asked, “Do I have to eat that?” I was told I should at least try, but took one whiff of the soup and vomited. I was already feeling a bit nauseous and that put me over the edge. I was given nausea medicine and then more nausea medicine before it finally came under control. My nurse had some medicine in pill form that I was supposed to take. Just thinking of it made me want to vomit again. I told her that it wasn't a good idea and I didn't think I would keep it down. She came back with another alternative that was fed into my epidural. I think I had the clear liquid diet for the next two meals and was able to keep it down so was upgraded the second night to solid foods.

I also started to sit up outside of bed and slowly walk around the room my second night. The problem was that I accidentally stepped on my catheter and partially pulled it out. My nurse was swamped and her nurse’s aid called in sick to work so my cousin finally found another nurse to help out. He was a young Asian nurse and said he would be glad to help as long as I didn’t mind a male nurse. I laughed and said, at this point, it was fine by me. He did whatever was needed and removed the catheter. My nurse came in a few hours later and removed the epidural.

My surgery was Wednesday late morning and I was home by Friday afternoon.

The morning of my surgery, I was up early waiting. I was told not to walk the dogs because of the chance of dehydration. I was bored and decided to go re-read the profile of my donor. After the m/c, I needed to order more sperm, but was told that my #1 guy was no longer available. He was so limited that the remaining vials were being reserved for siblings of women already with children. However, I was pleased to find out that 4 vials of my #2 guy was available and pre-purchased them. However, the morning of my surgery as I pulled up his profile, I though the number sounded a bit off. I called and left a message for the nurse practitioner at my sperm bank saying that I was probably over anxious because I was going in for the surgery, but I wanted to confirm that I had bought four vials of the right guy. Since I was going to be in the hospital for a few days, would she just confirm by leaving a message on my cell phone. It turns out that I DID buy the wrong guy. I don’t know if I made a mistake or the person on their end did, because the first 2 digits were the same, but the third was a 3 and supposed to be an 8 (or something like that). With exchanged messages and cell phone calls from the hospital bed, we got it all worked out and they kindly swapped it out for 4 vials of my #1 guy. Once again, by some fluke of the fates, I got him again against the odds.

When I first went to my doctor, I thought I would have to have my fibroids removed before trying to conceive. We agreed to not at the time because of their location and size. However, I was very pleased with my doctor’s surgery experience. As an OBGYN, he specialized in women with ovarian and uterine cancer and treating them so that they didn’t lose their fertility. I was glad that he was the one to do my surgery because of his experience and because I trusted him to preserve my fertility.

I am glad the fibroids are gone and hope they stay that way.