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!

Hey Jewellerymum, welcome to the club, so to speak. I wish you well in your surgery and recovery. Be sure and keep us posted. I likely will be going in shortly after you do. Good luck and keep well.

Has anyone out there had a spinal? What can you tell me about it?

Thanks for your posts ladies.

Does anyone else find that the 'heavy' feeling is worse when they're on? It also seems to play havoc with my BM's.
One thing I've found really helps is glycerin suppositories.

The reason I asked about pesseries, was I was hoping you could just pop something in to have a BM and then remove it. Didn't realise they had to be worn all the time - Feel kinda thick now

missing you have a great way with words- very candid - lol

Whenever I read this thread, I feel the need to do loads of pelvic floor exercises!.

Have a good wweekend everyone.

Hi all, like |Rect, I too would like to ask you all

a)How long were you in hospital (on my appointment sheet it says Day Surgery - Surely I wont be going home the same day!!!)

b)How long did it take you to get up and about, leave the house, drive the car etc

c)How painful was it REALLy and how long did it last for!

Thanks x

I can answer a bit but am not long enough post op to answer all. I am 3 weeks post op.

how long in hospital - I stayed in 3 nights but my health care insurance had agreed up to 5 nights, but then I had 2 ops at the same time so maybe that increases the length of time needed. They did say I could go after 2 nights but I wanted to stay the extra day cos I didn't feel ok to go home

to get up and about - I was pootling about upstairs like a mad woman locked in the attic the first week, I was coming downstairs and pottering the 2nd week, and the 3rd week I have been out of the house doing stuff but then feel like I have overdone it later that day/the next day. Too much walking isn't good. I am not comfy in the car as a passenger at the mo, so wouldn't consider driving yet.

Pain - in the hospital I was given lots of lovely medicine and felt pretty ok (hooray for morphine). The only painful bit was having the catheter taken out the next day (OMG) and having the packing taken out was odd but not painful, it was more shocking than anything else - how the hell did they get that much up there!?!?!?!. So I am sure it would be painful without drugs but the painkillers mask it and its uncomfortable rather than painful. Ouchy. Not enough to make you want to cry (this is only my experience, obviously everyone is different).

Doing anything you shouldn't will bring some aching and stinging pain, ie bending at the start, and too much walking at 3 weeks. Lifitng anything!!

At home it gets a bit painful so you take the painkillers and its ok. It is painful but NOTHING like having a baby. This toothache I have right now is MUCH more painful than the stitches etc.

But... there is always a but... having a poo after getting home OMG it was like having a baby I nearly died of shock. I could have avoided that by not taking the codeine etc, but eating more veggie/fruity/whatever makes poo soft kind of things. That did hurt but the rest of it has been ok and I think if you are careful with your food/supplements/meds you can avoid that.

TBH its more annoying than painful at this stage, I just want to rip the stitches out cos they are getting on my nerves. For me now the TVT tape aches when I overdo it, and the stitches sting when I wipe my bum.

Hope that helps. It sounds to me like your idea of the pain is lots lots more than my experience of the pain.

HI Rect & Jewel...

Having the repair was worrying at first, they didn't give me much time to think about it - I was in and done 3 weeks after seeing my surgeon! I stayed for 2 nights. The pain during the first night was unbearable - more for the fact that the nurses lift me to it and I had to beg for pain relief! So I would ask straight away for pain relief and not leave it to build like I did- I ended up having a panic attack! ( sorry I am not a good reference for post op advice!).

The next day I had the packing and catheter removed and again that was painful - I said fudge a lot! and its amazing how much packing they use - loads! ... once all the poking and prodding was gone - I felt much better, had a shower and rested! I couldn't sit due to the stinging and pulling of the stitches so you have to learn to slouch to the side or lay down. When home things gradually got easier - you can do things at your own pace - I stopped all pain relief a few days after leaving the hospital - my pain thresh hold is high and I hate taking tablets. But I did stick to the movicol, fibogel and ex lax to help keep my bowel moving. BM are painful - there is no way to prepare yourself for that but again they get easier.

I would say that post op wound infection rates are high - I had to have 2 courses of antibiotics and I had a UTI also. So if your feeling really unwell post op - then see a Dr straight away.

I am now nearly 6 wks post op - and I am fine! My stitches finally fell away this week and moving is easy. I drove my car at wk 4 - but I felt sore and stopped for another week. Driving now is fine.

I am sure you will both be fine - but shout on here for advice if you need to.
Take care

Hi Suzy can you advise when can you start doing any kind of exercise, or does that have to wait longer than 6 weeks? I am getting fatter and fatter and I was already a weeble before I had the op!

ta!

Hi Missing - Exercise - mm thats not one of my favorite words...! And I am not the best at doing a lot! But for me during week 2 I still felt tired just pottering about and I managed one short shopping trip - which was only just tolerable, by week 3, I was able to do the school run - going very slowly! (approx a 2 miles day - but then felt shattered!). I think you should do as you feel able - the sch run was enough to start with - and I gradually built up on that.

With regards to the other essential for post op is the dreaded pelvic floor! I did try to do pf exercise about 2 weeks in and I am still rubbish at them. I am sure my PF was ruined after my children. But I am persisting with them. I am seeing my physio next week - so she can help me. I am going to ask for the bio feedback device - so I can try to work harder.

How are you feeling 3 weeks in Missing?

I am feeling drained and about 100 years old. I have packed in the painkillers so today and yesterday everything is aching and ouchy. I have a broken tooth that is aching - I have to wait 2 weeks to see if it can be saved or not. So nothing is terrible but the TVT, plus the tooth, plus the posterier repair stitches mean that something aches, twinges or stings most of the time... great fun.

I think this could all start getting better quickly though. I haven't slept properly for about 3 days now, mainly cos of the *&@#£$ tooth, so I am a grumpy harriden TBH

DD (age 5) has just demonstrated why you shouldn't let kids play on a trampoline when the net door is open - flew out and landed on her head - so tired, stressed (checking her for head injust symptoms), aching - yeah I am a bundle of joy. My poor old husband I don't know how he puts up with me..!!

So I am 3 weeks post op but the though of the school run (its about a mile each way, so 2 miles twice a day) makes me want to go for a lie down. Still at least now I know what old age is like, so I know what to expect when I am 80. No, hang on, Grandma is 82 and she is more energetic than this...!

Still I think this is worth it for a life on continence and also the designer vagina..

Hi Suzy and Missing, thanks for your posts. It really helps to hear from someone who has it fresh in their mind. I am still terrified though. So infection is something to keep an eye on, Suzy you're right in that it is quite common. I think my doc plans to give antibiotics as soon as surgery is done as a precaution. He told me the mesh sling or TvT as you call it, can cause infection because it is a foreign substance in the body. With rectocele repair, sure a lot of stitches to become inflamed. On average how many stitches and how far up the vagina is the incision?

Missing, so sorry to hear that you have a tooth issue as well. What a bummer. It is difficult taking care of young children at the best of times and now you have so much to deal with. Feel bad for you.

When I have reached the point of recovery I certainly hope I feel the same way as you do and that it will be all worth my while.

Suzy, I hope the nurses I have on shift care more for my comfort than the ones you had. I just think some people are not understanding enough of what woman go through. So sorry that happened to you. I think I will likely be desperate for pain killers of somekind. I know after I had my open tubal. I had a 5 inch cut in my lower abdomen and it hurt like hell. As soon as I woke up from general, I was transferred to my room and bed, when they lifted me, I nearly hit the roof. Felt like my body was ripping in half. Imediately I wanted something for pain, but they said that I had to wait until my nurse was done her lunch break, so an hour and a half later, they finally got her there to give me a shot. i don't get it, why wouldn't something like that be a given??? Well I lived through it though.

Talk to you ladies later on, take care.

Ah Rect that is kind of you but luckuily for me I have super hubby who is doing everything. Kids are 5 and 8 so they aren't as needy as toddlrers or babies. And today we have made cookies and cheesecake so that's smiles all round

re the meds I told them I wasn't comfortable in the recovery room (it was the catheter, sometimes your bladder can spasm if it doesnt like the catheter and that is what mine did) so they gave me meds right there, so I never had any unmedicated time, well just a few mins in the recovery room but I was just coming round from the general then (I was stroking the recovery nurses face how embarresing) so maybe just say ouch ouch in the recovery room then you are not waiting on absent nurses to give you the much needed painkillers

Oh also I didn't know that about the TVT likely to cause infection - very interesting! I wangled some antibiotics cos of an oozy TVT stitch and have felt much better since.

Re the posterier repair I dont know how many stitches and how far as they are mostly inside. I know just two very well cos they are pissing me off... ouchity ouch. They are the only two I can see.

Missing, glad you have a wonderful hubby. Mine is great also!! Nice to hear of the cookie and cheesecake baking. It lets me know that you can eventually return to normal life stuff afterwards.

Thanks for the advice on the pain relief. If I have general I can ask, but if I have a spinal I won't feel anything right away, so I will see.

So the stitches take a long time to dissolve? Mmmm...sigh.

I am going to ask a highly informed question of you. What kinds of laxatives did you use if any and did they actually prevent the Bms from being big and hard? If you had a Bm that was soft, did that hurt also? I am just wondering what to expect with anything in that sense. I am hoping to have diarreha (sp)? ,but maybe that won't make a difference. I have constipation issues now and I take a fiber supplement everyday, so I am freaking scared!! If I choose pain relief good enough to actually take pain away, then I will get constipation for sure. Dilemmas...

Has anyone out there taken a laxative before you went for your surgery, like a couple of days or day before? Just wondering if that might help?

Keep healing ladies and wish you all well. For those not in yet, good luck!

I will likely be reading and posting often as I am so occupied by the thought of these surgeries, just scared really. The more I hear from everyone, especially those of you who have had no regrerts, it really helps relieve some anxiety. Thanks

well the cookies were burned and the cheesecake underdone (baked cheesecake) - domestic godess..? Not!

understand re frequent reading/posting that is what I did before my op cos I was on the edge of cancellig it, I was terrified. A school mum friend is an incontinence nurse so we had a brew and a chat one day and she explained to me what happens next if I DIDN'T get the surgery, ie because I was wee'ing frequently in order to avoid a full bladder (ie to reduce the risk of accidents), I have probably shrunk my bladder and the next step would be irritable bladder issues. So that helped me decide it was the right thing to do, to go ahead.

Anyway re BM - TMI coming up so apologies in advance. Pre op I ahve never had a BM problem, I go easily once or twice a day, which is probably why the rectocele has never bothered me, I didn't know it was there till the doc told me. From op onwards I took lactalose, and after about 4/5 days started eating lots of prunes and dates as well. Pear juice too, I have been told it is good. None of that was anyway near enough. If I was doing it again I woudl be taking every laxative I could get my hands on, runny poo is far preferable to a hard BM with all these stitches. Am having normal BM now, as the painkillers are well out of my system but it still hurts like buggery and I have a little fresh blood after each BM. Not quite sure what to do about that, maybe I will get back on the proactizime I used to take, its a supplement to sort out my adrenals but the side effect is that it used to make me poo 4 times a day, so maybe that is a good thing to take again now.

Yes it is a dilemma. I think you need the meds, but if you can take all the non constipating ones first and save the codeine etc for just as much as you need and no more, plus take all the laxatives and high fibre food that you can. I dont know about taking them before hand - if you are normally a bit constipated then I wouldn't have thought it woudl hurt. If I had taken them before I probably would have poo'd on the operating table!

Sorry such a long post, but wanted to answer your question as much as I could.

hello everyone i'm new to this site, i'm now 11 days post op(posterios repair or rectocel) im feeling a lot better now but still can't sit or stand comfortably yet...but its the discharge that is bothering me, i was told to expect some but for how long? and should it smell? there is no colouring to it other than a slight trace of blood is this normal? can anyone help please.

Hi Rect - I suffered terribly with constipation before my surgery- the rectocele was so large it bunged me up, and I hated having to splint my back wall to help me go!. I took fibre supplement twice a day to help things and I took it up to and after surgery. I still take it now. I was given movicol ( a horrid sachet - mixed with water) twice a day post op and that still took a wk to start working. And I agree with missing - the softer the better! Nothing worse than having a BM putting strain on stitches!

As for the amount of stitches - I guess that depends on the size of the problem. My surgeon had to stitch a lot - the whole length of the vagina and the perineum. I think most the stitches have gone now - although I do still get the odd thread appear! The worst ones were on the outside - they took 4 weeks to go and kept on pulling every time I moved. A bit ouchy!

Welcome Tracy - I guess it was around your time post opp that I needed antibiotics - I bleed heavily for weeks after surgery - but around 2 weeks I had really offensive discharge and felt rotten - my Gp gave a antib's and they cleared it for a time - but then I had a rpt infection after. SO I guess for you - if your discharge is very different to what you've had before and smelly - I would see you dr, infection rates are high.

I was given a bolus dose of antibiotics in the hospital - but I really feel that we should be sent home with a longer course to cover infections. From reading this site - they seem common. I still have not seen my surgeon - so I hope it didn't impede the repair!

S x

suzy -thanks i think that maybe you could be right in saying they should send us home with antibiotics,after reading more on here it dose seem like it is very common...looks like i'm gonna have to speak to my doctor just to be on the safe side. x

Welcome Tracy189, glad to hear you're doing fairly well. Never had the op yet, but you describe what I would think is an infection, get it checked out asap to prevent slowing up your healing process.

Missing, I too was beyond my witts about the op. I in fact refused to book the rect repair and to my surprize when I went to pre-op, I was booked for it. I started to cry and told them this was a mistake, I was ready to leave the hospital and not bother with either procedure. The nurse told me to go back and talk to my doc, but after a few days of crying my eyes out, I decided just to go ahead with it. Still feel like cancelling though.

I am not worried about pooing on the op table, as my bowels are stubborn. I took that go lightly crap for a colonopscopy prep and everyone told me how I would be pooing in ten minutes and it would all come out TMI. It took 10 hours for me to go and it was not very fast, so frustrating! Maybe my rectocele is so bad that it really does compact down there. I can't even go with diarreha, I have to splint that out too. I have been told to do two enemas on the morning of the op. So this is why i am obsessed aboht BMs. Sorry for being such a baby about this, but I am.

Hi Suzy, your rectocele was a lot like what I think mine is like now. Movicol, I wonder if that is the same stuff as the go lightly crap. It was a horrible tasting salty sachet of grossness? Lol...

Stictches all the way up the vaginal wall, OUCH!!! run for your life!! Are you freaking kidding me? That is what I am afraid of. I am considering not eating for a few weeks, honestly. I can see my appetite going way down after surgery though, so who knows. I will just take laxatives, laxatives and more laxatives with lots of fiber food and hope for the best I guess. Thanks for sharing your TMI, it doesn't bother me, I need honest answers. I guess there really is nothing to do , but to try to deal with whatever happens.

Missing, thanks for your support! I am feeling quite uneasy now. I am really hoping that the gyny lady is more sympathetic and will do what is required. I really felt that the last consultant was only looking at one thing at a time and that is exactly what the first surgeon was trying to avoid! Number 1 had seen the bigger picture and realised that a load needed to be done, and the second guy completely ignored that (very sensible) take on the situation. I just hope No 3 isn't moody and doesn't think I am a pain in the arse (!) for sticking to my guns and saying 'no' to consultant no. 2? I can't wait now for a decision, however I am able to use the steroid gel etc again and that is improving the sore pulsating horrid pain up my back end in the meantime. I am back at work on 29th April and will just have to go with the flow and hope that I don't deteriorate in the meantime.

Suzy, this is going to sound crazy but I am sincerely hoping they DO stitch me the whole length of my vagina and perineum, as that would improve the integrity of the wall and give the repair something to be attached to. I am certainly not looking forward to any of it, but to be honest the way I feel at the moment I would leap into the operating theatre and give them permission to do ANYTHING!!

Hi Tracey, as Rect said you need to get the discharge checked out. I have been told if it is in any way smelly then it's an infection and you need the antibiotics asap.

I agree with everyone, sounds like they should send us all home with 3 weeks of antibiotics.

Rect, re the nerves pre op, I was unable to sleep for worrying about it, and when I slept I had nightmares. So I understand your nerves. However once I had sat down with the lady I know that is an incontinence nurse and she ran through the procedure with me, I felt like it was ok, and then I just made the decision that I was going ahead with it and that I wasn't going to think any more about the pros and cons. And I was a lot happier from that point. I guess what I am saying is gather your facts, consider them, make a decision and then don't dwell on it a minute longer, once your decision has been made.

Plus I dont think you are being a baby re the BMs post op, I have no poo trouble at all and it was the hardest bit of this, so take everything you can get your hands on, and just think once this is done you will be able to have normal BMs, won't that be fun?

Jackie, I hope you are ok going back to work. I do think you are right to stick to your guns and see a gynae. I wouldn't want any other kind of doctore stitching up my fanny!! If its done too tight then people have trouble having sex afterwards. My doc kept banging on about it, how they wouldn't stitch me up too much, and he put it in all the paperwork. A non-gynae doc might do just that.

Re all these stitches, well its a pain in the arse (arf arf) but to be honest it's not that bad. Its just annoying cos its dragging on over several weeks. It's incomfortable and ouchy - not terrible pain. Toothache and period pain are worse. But I am signed off work, getting paid, the sun is shining - life could be a lot worse. If this is the price to pay for being continent and having a fanny of normal size, then it is well worth it. For me that is, obviously everyone has their own decisions to make.

Night ladies

thanks for all the advice sounds like i was right to be a little concerned, so will getting it checked asap. its great to be able to chat to people that have been through the same thin, very reasuring to know that what you are going through is normal, as the nurses and surgeons don't really give you a lot of imformation about pain and what to expect.

Well girls, I think I have a really nice gyne doc. He actually did explain the procedures to me and showed me a model of a pelvis and basically went through it all. He did tell me that the rectocele is very painful especially for the first few days to a week. He also, talked about how careful he is about not stitching up the vaginal wall too tight. My husband was there with me for this consult and the dr. wanted to reassure him that we would be able to have sex again, but it might be painful at first. I hope that he does a good job, he told me he has performed over 500 of these. I think it will be okay. Gotta go now, company for dinner.

HI All... just wanted to say that 6 weeks post op is up and I'm off back to work - I hoping for a gentle return to work... but I guess I'll have to see! My work place can be busy on a Monday morning!

I also wanted to reassure all those about to have surgery... I now feel really good, my stitches are healed and things are back to normal! So I really do recommend this surgery, it really is ok, yes the first few weeks post opp are difficult but it dose get easier - you shouldn't be scared of things. The Dr's have don this type of surgery so many times - your not the first and you won't be the last! Its the best decision I have made! ... and from a personal view - my hubby is very pleased! I have a designer vagina and sex is good!....

x