anyone had posterior repair/ rectocele repair

[flourybaps]

Hi, got to have surgery at the end of the month, rectocele repair and posterior repair. Have done a search in the archives but found very little about this prob.......

surely I cant be the only person with this problem? Anyone out there? Just wanted to know a little about the recovery. I have an 8 month old dd to look after so im a bit concerened as my Dr said avoid lifting, well thats easier said than done!

Hello Footle. It is such a long thread and I too get confused as to who has had what done sometimes. This will be my first op. I am having an anterior repair for bladder prolapse. I'm 41 and have had 2 large babies which I think have contributed to my condition. I have had it for 4 years plus, but now I am so unconfortable, and it is so low I have been referred for surgery.

Do you have a date yet?

Ah Pinski you are cheering me up. I am now 2 wks and 6 days post op and still knackered and aching. To know that I will suddenly feel fine is good news.

We went out on Monday, dentist then went to park while we were out, and wandered along sea front to pier, amusements with the kids then back to the car, I guess going from pootling around the house to that was overdoing it. Really aching and sore in the TVT tape area in my abdomen that day and the next day.

Has anyone else had the TVT as well, I am keen to know how long before it stops aching and twinging if I move. I want to sleep on my side but am scared to in case I pull something that hasn't quite settled in yet if you know what I mean. The stitches in my abdomen fell out at 2 weeks and although it was nice that they had gone, my abdomen became more painful at that time. I am hoping that is normal.

For info for those earlier on, the posterier repair stitches, nearly 3 weeks post op, itchy and scritchy and really annoying but not too painful. Achy sometimes but no longer the bomb in the pants kind of painful. Am easing off painkillers but not quite there yet.

Also if there are others that have had the TVT as well, I was wondering how long before you can do any exercise and what kind can you do? Ie is there anything that is banned for life, or can you get back to anything and everything in due course? I have all this time off and am sitting on my arse getting fatter and its really annoying, but I dare not do anything for fear of messing up the tape.

I went to the dentist and the black teeth are cleanable, thank goodness, it must have been the prunes. I will go back and get them done when all this is over and done with.

I have one more annoying thing, my right eye has been twitching more or less constantly for 3 days now. This used to happen to me a little bit, ie the occasional twitch, if I got stressed, doing too much (work etc) so I cant understand why its happening now, more than I have ever had it, when I am reading, watching TV and generally slobbing about. Anyone had similar?

Sorry for waffling on....

Hi All,

Im now 2 weeks 2 days. No pain relief needed since week 1. Infection has now cleared up. Stitches still hurt when I go to the toilet, more a stinging then anything else.
However even though it looks a lot tidier down there and there is no longer a bulge. I still cant have a BM properly like I used to. BMs are still very thin and hard to get out even though they are very soft. Also still feel like there is that little bit left in there that could be sitting inside a small rectocele. I usually find I need to go again after a short while to try and get rest out. Hope this gets better.

x

Today am 2 weeks 6 days and going to try no pain relief today ouchity ouch ouch

same as you alexandra, much stinging maybe a bit more pain than that

looking forward to a pain free poo at some point

this is what my life has come to argh

cant wait till everything has healed up and DH and I can take it out for a test drive hee hee

Footle, it is a miserable state of affairs, you are right!! Let's hope that the consultant tells me what he is going to do to sort me out tomorrow. It is the second consultant who is going to operate, not the first, and the answer to your other question 'Do I feel confident in him?' is 'I don't know!'. I am hoping he is very good at stitching...VERY nervous!
Enjoy the new baby, how exciting! I have always wanted to be part of a home birth.
Alexandra, I so glad your infection has cleared up at last. Now you can start to get better and feel brighter.
Missing, is the eye twitch a nervous thing? I get things like that when I feel anxious? Could you explain the TVT tape?!!
Kazimodo, could you explain about the 'pessary' as I am completely confused?!!
Thank you, all of you, for your support. It has been miserable and I hope that I can have some good news re: operation timescale and recovery soon.

HI everyone - I am glad to read that everyone is doing well ... and good luck to those who are about to have surgery!...

I have a really random question!

I had a posterior repair 5 wks ago, and a mirena coil inserted at the same time. My repair is healing really well and I am now pleased to be getting back to normal. The stitches are coming away and I am now seeing the light after a very long tunnel! which took 2 courses of antibiotics to help things along! .... and like you missing I am looking forward to the test drive - still a wee bit anxious of that! but the hubby is eager to try!

The only down side is I get a lot of cramping/stabbing pains and I am still bleeding a small amount every day - and I am not sure if this is due to the repair or the coil. I've managed to checked my coil threads ( which is not an easy task post repair) and I can feel the strings and a little bit of plastic and the nurse I saw yesterday said it was fine. But I just wondered if this is normal after surgery- I've never had a coil before and I don't really know what to expect from that! I just want the pain and bleeding to stop! Especially as I am going back to work next week! and I am not seeing my consultant for another 4 wks.

Thanks

Hi Suzy, I had the mirena and had spotting all the time (which is why I had it removed!). One of the side effects of this coil is spotting initially followed by what should be lighter or even non existand periods:- Quote..

You may experience irregular bleeding or spotting in the first few months after Mirena is inserted. After this your periods will usually settle down and become shorter and lighter, or may stop altogether.

You can also get cramping with this and if it doesnt settle down then you may need to see the nurse again.

As for the repair im on 2 weeks 2 days. I only see a slight pink when i have a bm and I can tell its from the stitches and I dont get any abdominal pain.

Heres a link for the Mirena

www.mirena-us.com/mirena_right/safety_with_mirena.jsp

Take care (and I cant berlieve you have to wait another 4 weeks to see your consultant!)

x

Jackie yes I guess the eye is a nervous thing (I am a nervous person sometimes) but no idea what its doing now, I am not working, I am not doing the housework - uh oh unless I am such a control freak that letting DH run the house and kids for the first time ever is too stressful for me ...!! It's driving me nuts.

TVT tape is a bit of tape put in to stop me peeing myself, had that and the posterier repair done at the same time. Two small stitches in lower abdomen and it loops down under some part of the bladder to hold it where it ought to be. It works!! Haven't peed myself and went 4 hours without a wee the other day instead of my normal 30 mins.

Suzy, re the test drive... my consultant told me it might be ok after the 6 weeks, but for some people it can be painful for for a few more months, but will settle eventually. If its not TMI I would love to know what date works out as not painful. Can't imagine it at the mo...!

And...this is ridiculous.... for some reason having my fanny fixed has messed up my teeth. First my teeth go black (it was the prunes I ate to counteract the codeine and can be cleaned off when I get round to sorting out an appointment). Today I bit a date (no stone) and snapped one of my back teeth in half. Today I was giving up painkillers. Ouch bloody ouch. My teeth have always been fab, I was told they would last longer than I would, it feels like having this op has made them go rubbish. Emergency dentist tomorrow.

Feeling very sorry for myself. Back tooth REALLY hurts, TVT bits are sore and achy, and won't let me sit or lie in any positions apart from dead straight, and as for the bloody stitches, well that's just adding insult to injury. Boo Bah Humbug.

Oh dear missing.... you having a time of it! and I am glad things are improving with bladder control! Must be a relief. With regards to the discomfort - Your just going to have to ride it out, and have faith - it will get easier! At least having your tooth fixed will distract you from pain elsewhere.

Thanks Alex for the advise re coil - I've been reading up on the internet about them... sure its more a mine field of information (and not sure how much faith I have in it!). But from what I've read your not meant to feel any plastic - and I definitely can. Maybe thats why I am cramping all the time. Maybe I'll go and see the dr - I don't have much faith in the nurse if she said its ok to have the plastic there. Who should I beleive... internet or nurse?

Guess my plans for a test drive will have to wait! if my coils not in the right place I don't want to risk any thing unplanned. I was told no more children!

And I know - 9 weeks before I get to have a check up post repair - feel like I've been left in limbo! But I guess thats the nhs for you!

On the plus side, DH is in the army so we are used to going months with no nooky..... but usually we are in different countries. I am looking forward to the summer, figure it should be fun unless we will have forgotten how to do it by then, or unless the doc has stitched me back together completely... it does feel a bit like that right now... all together now...your best Madonna voices please.. " like a virgin...."

Thanks Suzy. Am proper fed up with this now. Hoepfully if the dentist fixes tooth the other aches and pains will fade out a bit. Double bah humbug.

Hi to everyone, I'm new here. Posting from rural Alberta, Canada. To MrsBonkers there is a portion here regarding pessaries, hope the info helps.

I am so relieved to have found this website, I wish I had found it years ago. I am a 45 year old mother of 6 and now are reaping the rewards of grown children, teenagers and one pre-teen. With all this came urinary incontinence and a big old rectocele. I have had the rectocele for about 7 years and need to splint to have a BM. I put off having surgery as I am terrified and thought I would just live like this for the rest of my life. I have been to pelvic floor rehab and was told my kegels are really strong, my body is just worn out. I opted for a pessary for the time being. It was supposed to help support the urethra and lessen the incontinence. It helped very little in that respect and made BMs more difficult than before. I kept developing infections and I had it removed. I am now completely pad dependant and fear a future in diapers. My activity level has suffered so much because of this and I am finally tired of it. i feel like a freak and I feel gross. I worry if people can smell urine from my leakage. I have cried a lot over this especially lately, I am getting depressed.

Your website has given me the courage to have the rectocele repaired and I am also going in for a monarch sling procedure. Has anyone out there ever had a monarch sling procedure? So many other sites have nothing but horror stories about both procedures and I just couldn't go through with it. I thought my sex life would be over and my husband was afraid for me also. He and I read a lot of these postings together and he too is totally supportive of this now. We have a great sex life and I don't want to lose that.

I know recovery won't be easy, but I will try to be patient, my husband is a wonderful man and he will help me through this. I haven't got a date booked yet, but I am thinking I will get in for May. I was to pre-op on Tuesday and expecting a call from the booking department.

Can anyone out there tell me what a spinal is like? Does it hurt when they put it in your back? Did anyone suffer side affects? That is what I decided to go with as I am terrified of general.

Sorry for the length of post, just realy needed someone to talk to about this besides my husband. Thanks to all for sharing your experiences, you're wonderful ladies!!!

Made a change to my nickname from wrecked to rect.

Hello everyone.. A question please. I may be due my period when surgery is due. Will this be a problem? Did any of you have your period or receive advice about this when you had your surgery??

Hi Meg - my period was also due the day of my op - but I think with the stress and build up to the big day meant that it didn't come...and now I don't know where I am in my cycle - I've bled every day since opp and that was 5 weeks ago. Your going to be bleeding anyway during surgery - so I am sure the Dr's will be able to deal with it. So I really wouldn't worry!

Welcome Rect... like the name. I'm sure the procedure your having is what the girls on this site call a tvt repair... which I've not had - so I'll let them talk more about it. As for the rectocele repair- its made a huge difference to me - so I would go ahead with it. I did way up the pro's and con's - and I too worried about my sex life after - as I am only 35. But I am now feeling a lot better, I'm going back to work next wk and the best bit is I am able to go to the bathroom normally - which is wonderful. The first few weeks are tough - but if you have all the support in place first then it will make life easier.

I am not so sure I would like to have a spinal - knowing what they are going to do down there... but its your choice. I like the fact that I was asleep through!

Good luck with everything!

Hi Rect, I think the monarc sling is the same, just had a quick google nad its a transobturator tape like the one I had done, but here they refer to it as TVT

www.ocurology.com/bladdersuspension.html

Your symptoms sound just like mine, ie I was worried about the smell, my activity levels have crept down to zero and became a Tena lady.

I had the tape done 3 weeks ago, and although its still achy in the groin area when I walk much, I can go four hours without a pee, have thrown the pads away and haven't pee'd myself once in the last 3 weeks. It worked perfectly from the word go. Now I haven't done any exercise, haven't run or jumped, and am walking like an old lady (combination of the TVT aching at the front and the stitches for the posterier repair hurting down under) so I haven't fully put my new toy to the test, but so far so good, and despite that fact that the recover from the ops is painful, for me, it's worth doing. To have the rest of my life peeing myself is not how I want to be.

I asked him to fix up the posterior bit while he was down there, as we knew there was some damage, but during the op he discovered that the pelvic floor muscles were cut, trashed by the big headed babies, and so it turned out to be a big repair. I didn't have any BM issues as experienced by the other ladies, but was aware that I had a fanny like the black hole of calcutta.

Having the two ops at the same time mean that you will need longer recovery time. It's not comfy after cos you have sore bits here there and everywhere.

So obviously only you can decide if it's right for you, but if you get them both done please make sure you have someone to look after you for the first week, and that DH will be ok to take on cleaning laundry kids cooking etc for a few more weeks after, so you can recover properly.

Myself I am glad I did it and would do it again, so that I am not a pisspants any more, and so that (hopefully) I have a nice new fanny that is a normal size whoo hoo, but that one is yet to be tested out!!

Hello Lovely Ladies

I have been following the threads since last November when I finally saw a consultant and was put on the waiting list for a rectocele repair

Well, my appointment came through today and I am booked in at Salisbury, Wiltshire on the 12th May.

Just wanted to say Hi and thank you for all the info you are sharing. It certainly helps to be able to read others experiences (good and bad) and also gives me a HUGE list of things to ask at my pre-op assesment!!!

So, I will check in again in 12 days time after my pre-op to let you know if they tell me anything interesting!
Good luck to all having ops soon and get well soon to all those recovering

Jewellerymum - aged 34 - 2 children - awaiting repair!!!! - Dorset UK

Wow thanks for all the support and info. This is so awesome!! Suzy75 along with the spinal I am being heavily sedated during the procedure, so yes I agree I don't want to be awake for that either. One of the bonuses to spinal is when your surgery is done, you are still not feeling anything for 2 - 3 hours, well that is what I was told anyway. Hope they're right.

Glad you have some positives to say about the rectocele repair. I am very scared to have a BM afterwards, how did you get through it? I just remember when I had my first baby and I had an episiotomy that ended up tearing as well. I tore to the anus and on my first BM I injured it again from the anus to the vagina, it was awful, took a long time to heal up from that delivery, the rest of my births were fine. I remember feeling like I wanted to scream and I would try to hold it in and on the way out it felt like a knife stabbing me in the vagina, very strange.

Hi, MissingMySleep. Nice to hear from someone who had the same surgeries I will have. I am nervous because of all the horror stories you hear about and the urethra repair is only 80% successful, I hope I am in the success percentage. I figure might as well try something because if it works my quality of life will be so much better.

I do plan to take it real slow and easy until I know I can handle things. My husband will be home with me and my kids are old enough to take care of themselves in the respect of food etc. My youngest is 12. I am a bit worried about the fact that we live in the country and if I can't drive I will be stranded for a while. The doctor has not mentioned to me that I wouldn't be able to drive, but it seems that is the case among many of the postings here.

Thanks so much for your advice and your experience, I will keep posting and reading, I really enjoy hearing from everyone.

Hi Rect - your right about the spinal and being numb after! Wish they had given me that too - I was in agony the first night after my repair - and they gave me morphine for the pain. The morphine is wonderful - but it dose cause constipation. I didn't have by BM for a whole week and then I nearly hit the ceiling when I did. So my advice - keep off the morphine if you can, plenty of laxities, fruit and drink gallons. Help to keep thing soft!

I had similar tearing to you, very large babies and long labour's - both of my children were over 10lbs - And I tore everything! So I am glad I am stitched back together again, and I wish I hadn't waited 7 yrs to build up the courage to have it done.

One of the biggest challenge for me was to not doing anything, and trying not to feel bad because I couldn't do much either... and I had to rely on my hubby, mum and kids to help run the house. I also couldn't drive for 4 weeks so it was difficult being stuck at home. So have someone help you out and be patient. But be reassured the recovery time is quite quick and time passes and you will feel better!

When are you having the repair?

Jewellerymum - welcome! Good luck at the pre op! Let us know how you get on!

Just to keep you updated...
I met with the surgeon yesterday and had a rather strange outcome. He immediately stated that he was going to go in up the back end, sort out the large rectocele, and I would be a day case. I had made the definite decision that nobody was going to approach from the back end ever again due to the painful side effects that I still have from 7 months ago, which took him a bit by surprise. I said that I was determined to keep the integrity of the anal sphincter muscles and didn't want to be a little old lady who 'poops' herself in old age.
He then said that it could be done vaginally which makes sense for many reasons, not just the fact that this was a birth injury in the first place, but also because the original surgeon had mentioned the damaged septum which needed repair. I am not sure what he was going to secure any repair to without mending the wall in between either before or after. He certainly was not looking any further than his own speciality which I found very worrying. He also had a bit of a cavalier attitude telling me that I would have to expect it to be painful and inferring that other patients had worse problems ...I already know that!
Anyway the outcome was that he has now referred me to his colleague, a gyno surgeon, which I thought could have been done 7 months ago as this obviously had a gyny element.
So in 7 months I have achieved the sum total of 2 tests and 2 meetings with the surgeon! No further progress at all!
On the plus side I can use the steroid gel again which improves things considerably in the meantime as he is not going to operate. Which means I can improve and go back to work, so intending to do that on the 26th May.
Not sure what to think about it all???

Jackie sounds good that you stuck to your guns and have now been referred to a gynae, I am sure that is the right place to go for this repair.

Hi Suzy75, Thanks for the advice on preventing constipation. That is one of my biggest worries. I don't know what I will do about pain in the beginning. My doc said that they give strong anti-infammaory drugs, like toradol, but I know these and they are not as effective as demerol or morphine. I guess I will see how bad it is and whether I can weigh the pros and cons of having more pain later when trying to BM. I currently take a fiber supplement and it is helpful and I plan to continue it with extra water afterwards, along with many laxatives. Did you take laxatives? Did they give them to you in the hospital? How many days were you in hospital for?

I too have waited 7 years for this decision because I am afraid of surgery of any kind. What I am terrified about now is, how long does the horrible pain last? My husband is planning to stay with me in the hospital my first night, I hope his presence there helps me deal better with things. He is also going to stay home with me for a week.

I am afraid to try the spinal though, even though it can have more benefits than general. i am afraid of general also, I guess I am just a chicken sh**.
Can anyone describe the pain? I know it is bad, but is it worse than labour pains? I had it easy, 6 kids and anywhere from 2 - 5 hours labour with all of them. My biggest was only 9 lbs. not so bad. Just my first with her big head that tore me up.

I don't know yet when I will be going in. I asked them not to book me before May 13th as my daughter is graduating highschool that day and I wanted to be in good condition for that. Also it is my girls year end dance recital on the 14th. It might be later half of May, they are calling me next week to tell me.

Any info. that anyone has about dealing with pain, BMs etc. would be great.

thanks all