Onto the next! Red flags and all 🚩…
Following the unexpected outcome of my first surgery, I saw the Endometriosis excision specialist at the same hospital, who was confident she could separate my organs. 🚩 Surgeon #2 was dismissive and my appointments felt rushed but I trusted Surgeon #1. Within 2 months, I was back on the operating table. While surgeon #2 was able to successfully remove several endometriomas from my ovaries, she was not able to separate my organs and left a significant amount of disease.
🚩 At my 3 week post op appointment, Surgeon #2 told me she removed my left fallopian tube. Although finding this out 3 weeks after the fact was alarming, this turned out to be the least concerning thing about my appointment…
🚩 Surgeon #2 told me that this was a definite hysterectomy and bowel resection situation. That one could not be done without inflicting damage to the other.
🚩 I was told that there was no cure and that I would need surgery every 1-2 years to clear the Endometriosis out.
🚩 She told me the next step, however, was to “do nothing”.
🚩 She predicted that there would come a time when I would get really sick and that is how I would know it was time to truly deal with the organs that were stuck together. It could be within a few months, in 5 years, or in 20, but it would happen.
🚩 She concluded that a bowel surgeon would need to perform my hysterectomy and that my other symptoms were separate GI issues.
🚩 She told me not to call or schedule an appointment with her unless I started experiencing symptoms again.
Initially, I was so happy to not be rushing into another surgery that all I heard from that appointment was that no further surgery was necessary for the time being. It took me several months to decode the language Surgeon #2 used in my post op appointment and realize she meant she couldn’t help me any further.
The words “do nothing” hung over my head like a dark and stormy raincloud, while I anticipated the unknown duration of time in which it would take me to “get really sick”. The fact that both of my GYN surgery experiences took place at a world class hospital added additional weight to these words and made me feel more misunderstood.
So I decided it was time to take matters into my own hands.
And so my research began…
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Thank you for reading part III of My Story! Wishing you pain free, musical days always! 🎶
Sincerely,
