My surgery actually was ahead of time (to start) and I was in post-op approx. 2.5 hours later. When I started to come to and was asked about pain (7 out of 10) they gave me Morphine. In hind sight not a good thing. It started to kick in and while the pain was disapating the motion sickness was gearing up. Guess I don't react so well to Morphine.
By the time I was moved to Recovery I couldn't even open my eyes without the world spinning. Great !!! Not only am I slow to wake from anesthesia but now I had to have Gravol to control the nausea which also makes me sleepy. As a result my "awaking" took longer than the average person. This wouldn't have been too bad except my neighbours on either side of me were both loud yakkers, they didn't shut the F(&*( up the entire time!!!
When my doctor came in to see me I was still rather dopey and wobbly. I had a hard time keeping my eyes open while speaking with her and it felt rude to have a discussion with my eyes closed!!! LOL
Results --- great news!!! I am intact. I do not have ovarian cysts. All of my parts are in good shape. The interesting news was that I have severe endometriosis with significant scaring. The mass that the ultrasounds / mri's couldn't decipher whether it was right side, left side, etc., well it seems I have a large mass of scar tissue midline. Also, there is signficant scaring around my left fallopian tube causing it to look like a long thin ballon - inflated in the middle but not at the ends. The scaring has also adhered my left tube to my abdominal wall and as a result the doctor was not able to remove it at this time. PLUS I have wide spread endometriosis (black spots) on my right side on my bowel, stomach and up the abdominal cavity to my intestines. It's never good when a medical professional comments on the severity and is amazed at how well I've been "operating" in such conditions; however, I must say I am relieved at the diagnosis and feel vindicated that for all these years I really wasn't "crying wolf" and there was a medical reason for my chronic and extreme pain. I only wish one of my doctors earlier in my life had suggested this as a cause and had followed up on it. No one did other than to infer I should "get over it", so I did, and I never pushed it further. How many days I have spent being sick and incapacitated each month since I started menstrating ... Average 3 days per month, accounting only for the severe days, for 30 years .... that's a lot of pain and suffering.
So where to now. Well the good news is that the IUD I've had inserted is the first step to reducing the symptoms. Bad news is I have to make it through the first couple of cycles which can be worse, although for me I'm not sure if that's possible. If after a few months things aren't improving there are other treatments for consideration. Also we need to still monitor for ovarian cancer signs as my risk is higher than the norm and the endo will make it somewhat more difficult for screening with ultrasound (can't distinguish between as we've seen).
Once I finally was able to open my eyes for a period of time and sit up I was able to make the required bathroom run ... if you don't urinate you can't leave as the fellow next to me was discovering (his penance for yakking!). I was then allowed to leave. Discharged with my Tylenol #3's I managed to make it home and to the couch for 6pm, still quite wobbly on my legs for the motion sick feeling. As Shana described it "it's like a night of too much drinking where the world is spinning".
A few hours of dozing, some soup and jello, I was starting to feel less dizzy and some slight discomfort now that the morphine was working itself out. That's were the Tylenol #3's come in.
I'm not sure if it's being knocked out by the anesthesia, the dozing, or the discomfort of not being able to sleep on my stomach like I generally do but I woke at 3am. Did the pee run, took another pill but wasn't able to fall back asleep so after an hour of limited tossing I decided to get up ... so here I am.
The dizzy issue is about 90% gone and so far so good. I'm supposed to take it easy, get up and walk every so often - with the snow & ice I'll have to limit it to up & down the stairs - and see how it goes.
Thanks to everyone for their wishes, thoughts, and prayers. Time will only tell now but I am well on my way. This is a great outcome. Until next time ....
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