Hysterectomy.

[Beanfield]

Hurrah and Hallelujah. My uterus has been given an eviction notice!

30 years of being a complete bitch. Let me down twice (miscarriage and ectopic). Did what it should do twice (2 grown up DDs). Never officially diagnosed with anything but suggestions have been PCOS and endometriosis. 30 solid years of hideous periods. 30 years of being fobbed off by assorted GPs who told me it was normal to faint, vomit, incapacitate and take over my life for one out of every three or four weeks.
It’s got to the point where my cycles are just 18-20 days long, I bleed huge amounts for 5 days (emptying cup every 2 hours), overflowing, clots. Light bleeding on and off for a further 4 days. Bleeding on and off randomly mid-cycle. Puking and dizzy. Period diarrhoea, excruciating, labour style pain. Another 3 days of pain while i ovulate plus bleeding then too.
Tried everything. Mirena - I bled for 8 months then it fell out. Painfully. Pill - unhinged. Drugs - I’m allergic to the good ones and the others don’t work so well. Herbs, flowers, tea, homeopathy, diet - all bollox.

Finally saw a Dr who actually listened and agreed to whip the bugger out. Not sure how yet as apparently it's ‘bulky’ (like the rest of me) so need a scan to see how big it is. Also waiting on smear results and endometrial biopsy (which hurt like a bastard and is still hurting 4 days later).

Bringbackthestripes my partner will take a week off then my mum will take 2 weeks off of work and I have various friends who can help out too. It's not ideal but I'll have to make it work. My son is at preschool 3 full days and my daughter will be doing 2 afternoons from next week so I'll just have the baby at home then. The plan was to wait until they were all at school and manage with pain meds until then but I'm severely aneamic and each month it just gets worse and worse there's no way I can wait that long.

Smiling I am an ‘urgent’ case due to anaemia too and it will be 8 weeks between me going on the list and getting the op so, I hope you get sorted as quickly. Are you on iron tablets - I feel so much better already thanks to them.

I had my pre-op today which was all fine so providing there’s no issue with any of my bloods I should be good to go!

Macaroon I've been on iron tablets for months, I feel fine by the time my period starts then by the end of it I feel exhausted and drained, to put it into context I am so heavy I wear 3 pads and have to change every 20mins. I can have a period in a day on a bad month

Sorry didn't mean to hit post.

I hope your bloods all come back ok and you get the OP done quickly, I've been told I should be in within 8 weeks too.

Oh that sounds awful Smiling - my periods had not been dreadful, I think because I was so anaemic, but my most recent one after starting the iron tablets was absolutely horrific but still not as bad as yours sounds. The things we have to go through eh?

I’ve been on iron tablets 3X a day for over 10 years! WTH have I had to suffer for so long?
I’m phoning them tomorrow and hassling them about my date

Smiling 3 weeks of full time help sound fantastic. When you said he couldn’t take much time off I thought you meant he was planning just a few days

So I just got off the phone from the hospital. Due to winter pressures they have been cancelling operations and my waiting list has gone up from 12 months to 14 months. I started sobbing on the phone, I can’t believe I have to wait at least another 2 months

Oh Stripes that is beyond shit, I’m so sorry Smiling that sounds horrendous, you poor thing. Yes it is indeed shit being a woman at times Macaroon

Aw Stripes that’s just shite. Really sorry to hear that.

stripes that's awful I'm so sorry.

Thank you.

Its made worse by the fact an awful period is imminent and I was hoping it would be the last one......looks like I will have at least 3 more.

Bringbackthestripes that sucks. I hope it goes as easily as it can.

I am officially joining those of you on the waiting bench. I had my hysteroscopy today and the missing mirena is finally out.

It was actually ok as a procedure. The coil being fitted was far worse, probably because they tried to ram it past the tennis ball sized fibroid that is completely taking up the uterine cavity.

I have multiple fibroids. The biggest ones are also putting pressure on my bowel and bladder. Those with the Adenomyosis mean hysterectomy is my only real option so they have put me straight on the list. I am so relieved. I have been in severe pain and bleeding to death for 3 years now. The mirena made it a trickle rather than a flood but I have been on since May and it did nothing to reduce the pain.

I hope those of you out the other side are feeling ok still and those of you still waiting are surviving.

A week today is my hysterectomy. Not going to lie. Absolutley shitting myself. Any tips for what to pack etc? Going to scooch through the thread later.

I’ve been done! Last night, all seems to have gone well. At the risk of sounding desperately shallow, my stomach is so flat! (I had a melon-sized fibroid)

I’m on a lot of morohine but it already feels significantly less painful than it did when I came to.

Imacliche I know exactly how you feel. I was a bit of a wreck yesterday. Just keep yourself busy, would be my advice.

How’s everyone else?

Macaroonmayhem glad it all seems to have gone well. How was it done if you dont mind me asking? you may have mentioned upthread just havent had chance to read fully. Im in a great deal of pain day to day anyway with my issues so i figure the op will be almost instant relief.

Full abdominal incision - it was too big for any other option.

Congratulations Macaroonmayhem, I’m glad it seems to have gone well for you.
I hope your recovery goes well too.

After my hysteroscopy on the 6th I now have a date for my pre-op, 4th March. That seems really quick considering I don’t have an operation date yet. I assume the pre-op will remain valid until I do? I will also find out too which method I can have. I have asked for laparoscopic but it depends on the size of my uterus. At the moment they are saying 12-14 weeks.

Imacliche the hysterectomy association has a good list of what to pack. Have a look here: www.hysterectomy-association.org.uk/faq/hysterectomy-hospital-bag-your-suggesting-packing-list-for-hospital/

Good luck, the wait is nearly over.

Meganchips glad the mirena was located and removed. Things are certainly moving quickly for you. I was told a pre op lasted 6 weeks before it needed doing again (does this vary from trust to trust?) so sounds like you won’t be long before your op.

Imacliche this time next week you will be home in your comfy bed and it will all be over, hope it all goes smoothly.

Macaroonmayhem congrats! Hope they have the pain well under control for you and you are back home soon.

I received a letter asking me if I still wanted treatment under Gynae ffs

Oh Stripes whatever are they playing at? Numpties!

So I managed to get up earlier, took a couple of attempts and some extra morphine but I got there in the end. More of the same tomorrow and I may even venture out of my room - exciting times!

If i have to be in hospital at 7.30 and they have stated on the letter i need to be hydrated and to drink a pint of water between 6am and 6.30am can i assume i will be a morning op? This week is going very quickly. My nerves are in tatters. Currently doing my pre hospital house clean. Less work for the dp. We have 3 kids, and the youngest is autistic. Hes going to have a hard time with me not there so trying to make everything easy as possible.

Imacliche I had to go in at 3.30, large drink of water at 3 and my op was at 5 so it does sound like they are planning a morning op for you. That’s good I think - I did not enjoy the hanging around all day.

That’s great you’re through it Macaroonmayhem. I don’t think having flat stomach sounds at all shallow afte4 having so,ethi g the size of a melon to endure previously!That’s one way of them reducing the list Stripes, really not great.

Agree that sounds like a morning one Imacliche

Meganchips, fingers crossed that laparoscopic an option. I had MRI last week and see Consultant next week. Am hoping he says fucker fibroid has shrunk enough to maybe consider laparoscopic. I think my uterus might have shrunk a little bit having had a prod of my stomach.

A wee update from me, I’m home and in good form. What a treat to sleep in my own bed! I had a slight dip in the hospital before I got out, suddenly got sick a lot, couldn’t keep anything - even water - down and ended up back on a drip. And then as quickly as it started it stopped. So I got home (and oh, the car journey was worse than I expected - bloody potholes!) and am feeling pretty good actually. I’m just on paracetamol and ibuprofen. Staples out on Monday, which is 7 days post-op. Oh and I’m 9lbs lighter .

Really glad to hear you’re home and doing well, that bit in hospital sounds really rough though. Remember potholes after my caesarean! I could very definitely do with 9lbs off, is that normal?! Must be a big relief to be over.

My fibroid was the size of a football and ‘very dense’ according to the consultant (ewwww!). I reckon that plus a couple of days not eating accounts for the weight loss.

The puking was weird. They’d given me a really strong painkiller that morning which made me feel totally spaced out and weird, so I wonder if it was linked to that.