DD 19 Laparoscopy tomorrow, what to expect and anything useful to get that will help/be nice afterwards.

[Allromanticsmeetthesamefate]

My lovely DD, after having years of the most horrendous heavy bleeding and pain all the way through her cycle, is having a Laparoscopy tomorrow.

She is currently in her Uni city where the procedure is going ahead and where she has all her pre-scans etc. She phoned last night and was really upset and worried, especially about the anaesthesia as she has quite a traumatic experience to coming round when she was a child and had surgery on a broken arm.

I feel absolutely awful as due to bad timing at work I cannot take tomorrow off and despite DH travelling up to take and support her I know she really would like me there and just feel so sad I can’t be.

I’m going to nip into town to make her a nice care package for DH to take, was thinking loose pyjamas, a new mug for her peppermint tea and maybe some nice edible treats but is there anything else that anyone can suggest that helped for them or anyone they knew that has been through it.

I know in terms of operations, it’s fairly small and minimal procedure and the likelihood is she will be back to normal quite quickly but I also don’t want to minimise her feelings so would be good to know what to expect…

DH, an over planner, is already considering a contingency plan if she has to stay in and while I have told him this is highly unlikely it’s made me start to panic that I haven’t given is enough though.

I had one at a similar age.

very very unlikely she will need to stay in.
maybe wheat packs?

what I remember most (tmi) is the horrendous wind as they pump your abdomen full of gas to separate things out so they can see.
peppermint tea sounds about right!

Extra long phone charger and or power bank to avoid stretching and moving. Particularly if she is kept in hospital. And a good water bottle. Paracetamol. Possibly sensible pants if the incision points are in difficult places. Also, tiny adhesive hooks that you can put on the bedside table that you can use to keep your phone charger cable from dropping to the floor. :)

A firm pillow held tightly to her abdomen. Discovered this was far and away the most effective form of painkiller after I had laparoscopic surgery - was a tip from a former surgical nurse.

My mum also kicked me out of bed for a walk everyday when I just wanted to wallow. She was correct, it helped me get better quicker.

Along with the peppermint tea I was told to suck peppermint sweets for a similar gas inflating op. Foxes glacier mints are just peppermint oil and help greatly with the wind.