Does it hurt to remove stitches after laparoscopy?
It has been a week! It is time for me to see the doctor and get the three stitches on my tummy removed!
Before it got started, my doctor smiled at me and said it won’t hurt a thing. Firstly, the 3 bandages on my tummy were removed. Then, I saw the doctor stretched out his arm to get a pair of scissor. Argh, I closed my eyes and heard the sound “clark”, “clark” and he said “this would be the last one” and “clark”. At the blink of an eye, it was over!
And yes, my doctor is right , it doesn’t hurt at all!
Filed under Health | Comment (0)What to expect before & after laparoscopy
If you have ovarian cysts, or suspected to have endometriosis, chances are you might be put forward for a laparoscopy, especially if you have been trying very hard to conceive for years.
The thought of going through a surgery often can be very intimidating. Let me tell you that laparoscopy is not that bad. I hope by sharing with you my own experience, you would have a better idea of what is supposed to happen and hopefully it may also offer you some encouragement.
Blood & Urine Test
Before fixing the surgery date, I have to pass the blood and urine test. This is to ensure that I am clear for HIV & Hepatitis B.
Bowel Preparation
I was told to follow instructions for bowel preparation and take medications to clean the colon for consecutive two days before the procedure.The medication made me running to toilet almost every 10 minutes within 30 minutes upon consumption.For my case, the laxative effect lasted for at least 3 hours. If you are working full time, you might want to consider taking half a day off for this.
The day before my operation, I consumed plain watery rice porridge and drank a lot of water to prevent of becoming dehydration. 7 hours before the procedure, I drank only pure rice porridge water. Due to the frequent diarrhea, I drank a lot of clear fluids but stopped drinking 3 hours or so before the procedure.
On the day of the surgery, it took us about 1.5 hours to see doctor, settle some paper work and payment.30 minutes before the scheduled surgery time, I was wheeled into the operating theater after the nurse has taken my blood pressure . A few different nurses came and repeated a few questions before the procedure began. I did not need to wait very long before the anesthetist came to give me an injection and I knocked out soon after that!
After the surgery
The surgery lasted about 1.5 hours. The moment when I woke up, I felt nausea and restless as I experienced some pain. I managed to go back to sleep after the nurse gave me an injection to combat the pain. When I woke up again, I noticed that I had an elasticated binder wearing around my waist. The purpose of it is to eliminate the abdominal pain. Ask for it when you see the doctor before the procedure starts!
Overall, I rested in the hospital for 4.5 hours before I was getting ready to discharge. Before I was released, the nurses need to ensure that I was able to hold down some food and could urinate. The nurse told me that it is okay to eat a little if I didn’t have the appetite. My hubby made me a glass of hot Chocolate before I went to bed and that was all I had for dinner.
Thankfully, I did not suffer any unbearable pain after I got home. I took the advice from the nurse to take the pain killers prescribed by doctor, so that I won’t woke up in pain when the anesthetic effect was gone. I did not need to take any more pain killer after that!
I didn’t have sore throat at all, some people do experience that. For my case, I had some shoulder pain (from the gas the anesthetist used to inflate my belly) but it was bearable. I also felt nausea, no appetite to eat and had some bloody discharged for a few days(ceased on day 8).I also notice that my stool is dark green and my urine a bit oil-like. I would have some minor pain and discomfort whenever sitting up and lying down and they are bearable to me.
To sum up my laparoscopy experience, it is not really that bad after all!
Filed under Health | Comment (0)What happened before the Laparoscopy
Hubby said that he can’t tell if I was worried at all about the laparoscopy that I would undergo in the afternoon. He thought I managed to keep my mind at ease and was pretty impressed with this.
What I did was trying to leave all the horrifying thoughts behind me. Prayed for the surgery, and invited my prayer warriors - dear sisters in Christ from previous & current churches to join me in prayer. Of course I also did a lot of other stuff like surfing net, checking office email to diverse my thoughts or to keep myself occupied.
I also thought I would be able to keep my cool, but no, I failed to do so. The moment the nurses started pushing me to the operating theater, tears suddenly rolled down my cheeks as memories of my first surgery flashed before me. My hubby wanted to wait with me at the entrance of the operating theater but was not allowed to do so. But the nurses there were kind enough, a few of them came forward & spoke to me with words of comfort. They asked me to hold my tears back otherwise I would suffer from nose block after the surgery. Two nurses came and asked me for my doctor’s name, my name, my NRIC and if I have any drug allergy. Another nurse repeated the same questions when I was finally pushed into the operating room.
The room that they used for my operation is painted with girly pink that calmed me down a little. The anaesthetist had a short chat with me before giving me an injection. I think I knocked out within a minute or two…the rest ,as they said is history already.
Filed under Health | Comment (0)A blessing in disguise?
After more than a year of struggle & much deliberation, I finally conquered my fear and agreed with my gynae that I would opt for the laparoscopy. It would be a day surgery to be done in Mt Alvernia Hospital.
Due to unforeseen reasons, I had to bring forward the surgery one week earlier, which happened to be the following Wednesday (6-May) right after my Melbourne trip.
I would have to go through a pre-surgery assessment on Tuesday morning.That left me only 1.5 days to make the necessary arrangements at work with my boss. Thankfully I have a very supportive & understanding boss who has given me the green light almost immediately. As I would be out of action for two weeks, I tried to accomplish as much as I could & set several important milestones for my process group members to meet during the next coming two weeks.Everything needs to be settled within a short period!
I think I must have been exhausted running around with work within these 1.5 days. My hubby said I’ve fallen asleep within minutes on the night before the surgery. This is so not me as I am a light sleeper & usually have trouble sleeping. Well, could I consider this as a ” blessing in disguise”?
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