Cutting off a toe to save a foot

Several members of my family have experienced the difficult decision of giving up a part of themselves to save themselves. For some, it involved an amputation resulting from diabetic neuropathy and one member of my family required radical surgery for breast cancer.

What does all of that mean in terms of this site?

How are you feeling after your Abdominal Myomectomy? (part 4)

Incredible! It’s up to Part 4.

I’ll just leave the Abdominal Myomectomy links for those who want more information and you can take from there.

How are you feeling after your Abdominal Myomectomy? (part 3)

This is Part 3. You know what to do. I’ll just leave the Abdominal Myomectomy links for those who want more information and you can take from there.

Muffin Top after abdominal surgery? What’s a muffin top and how do I just make it go away?

Noticing some talk on the post-Abdominal Myomectomy recovery forum about the “muffin top” phenomenon. Actually, I’ve heard women who’ve had C-sections can also get muffin tops so perhaps we’ll get non-AM visitors as well.

I’m going to include a link to the New York Daily News – Daily Dish & Gossip page plus a quote from their story:

Tell me about Lupron, Synarel, and Zoladex (gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonists)

One upon a time (months ago), I wrote a post on gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonists but I don’t think anyone really saw it. I guess it’s the name. Gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist does sound kind of strange.

How about Lupron, Synarel, and Zoladex? Yeah, still a little funny sounding but better. Lupron, Synarel, and Zoladex all belong to the class of drugs known as (everybody chime in)… gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonists (GnRH agonists).

How are you feeling after your Abdominal Myomectomy? (part 2)

The original post-AM recovery forum became so full of comments (640!) that I decided to create a new thread to make it easier for future visits. Please see the original “How are you feeling after your Abdominal Myomectomy?” for more experiences.

[Edited to add: I thanked Country Girl (1/16) in the original forum but forgot to say something here. Thanks for the great suggestion of starting post-AM (part 2)! ]

I’ll base this post on a tremendous comment left by a frequent visitor here:

fibroid free: Abdominal Myomectomy Surgery and Recovery

(hope this title makes for a good “goggle hit” to the site LOL

Its informative, silly and humorous (I think so) …Once upon a time in fibroid land……

How are you feeling after your Abdominal Hysterectomy?

One of my visitors here has a concern. I’m hoping this post will generate good responses so we all can learn more about the abdominal hysterectomy procedure and the recovery. (Click the link to view the whole comment.)

Sanfly: More than likely I will be having abdominal hysterectomy. Anyone has had this procedure?. I would like to hear your experience with the surgery & if it has changed your life for the better or worst.

For more information:
Uterine Fibroids Guide for Hysterectomy (Mayo Clinic)

If you have an abdominal hysterectomy experience, question, concern, or thought – please post your comment here.

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Related Posts:
Does anyone have a hysterectomy experience to share?
How are you feeling after your Laparoscopic Hysterectomy?

How are you feeling after your Hysteroscopic Myomectomy?

Thought I should finally start a “How are you feeling after…” post about my first fibroid procedure. From FibroidSecondOpinion.com:

Hysteroscopic myomectomy is a technique that can be performed only if the fibroids causing the symptoms are within or bulging into the uterine cavity (submucosal). This procedure is performed as outpatient surgery without any incisions. Anesthesia is needed because the surgery may take one to two hours and would otherwise be uncomfortable. A small telescope, the hysteroscope, is passed through the cervix, and the internal uterine cavity is seen. A small camera is attached to the telescope, and the view is projected on a video monitor. This magnifies the picture and also allows your physician to perform the surgery while sitting in a comfortable position. The surgery can then proceed more rapidly.

For more information:
Hysteroscopic Myomectomy (FibroidSecondOpinion.com)
Hysteroscopy (WebMD)
Myomectomy (Wikipedia)

My Hysteroscopic Myomectomy was outpatient, under general anesthesia, and caused very little pain. Since I had never gone through surgery before, I was freaking out some over the idea of general anesthesia but it all worked out well. Of course, I don’t remember any details from the procedure itself but the recovery was not that bad. The nausea from the drugs bothered me more than any pain or bleeding. You can follow my story in excruciating detail through the Related Posts at the end.

If you have a Hysteroscopic Myomectomy experience, thoughts, or questions, please leave a comment here.

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Related Posts:
Is there such a thing as minor fibroid surgery?
No longer freaking out over my fibroid surgery tomorrow
Memories before my myomectomy
Memories directly after my myomectomy
Does anyone have a hysteroscopy experience to share?

How are you feeling after your Laparoscopic Hysterectomy?

One of the visitors here is having her surgery very soon. I’m hoping this post will generate a good response so we all can learn more about this procedure and the recovery. (Click the link to view the whole comment.)

Bonnie: …I am having a total laproscopic hysterectomy on Monday (October 30th) …I can’t find much information about the surgery online, mostly abdominal or vaginal assisted ones.

Best wishes Bonnie.

For more information:
Uterine Fibroids Guide for Hysterectomy (Mayo Clinic)
Laparoscopic Supracervical Hysterectomy (OR-Live video)

If you have a laparoscopic hysterectomy experience, question, concern, or thought – please post your comment here.

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Related Post:
Does anyone have a hysterectomy experience to share?

Is anyone having fertility issues because of uterine fibroid tumors?

After seeing some discussion on this site about uterine fibroids and fertility, I wanted to create a separate thread. Viewed a PBS program Monday on the history of IVF research in the United States so this post is quite timely. I’ll post a few links you can visit for more information and then open the discussion.

From MayoClinic.com:

Fibroids usually don’t interfere with conception and pregnancy, but they can occasionally affect fertility. They may distort or block your fallopian tubes, or interfere with the passage of sperm from your cervix to your fallopian tubes.

For more information:
Hysterosalpingography (Wikipedia)
Fertility Tests (Mayo Clinic)
In vitro fertilization (Jones Institute)
Reproductive Endocrinology (Wikipedia)

Ladies, talk to me about an RE, an HSG, IVF, and any other letters of the alphabet that come to mind. If you have an experience, thoughts, or questions on uterine fibroids and fertility, please post a comment.

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Related Posts:
PBS American Experience – Test Tube Babies (story of IVF research in the US)
How are you feeling after your Abdominal Myomectomy?

How are you feeling after your Endometrial Ablation?

Second post based on the great comment left describing a personal experience with endometrial ablation and laparoscopic myomectomy. Since I added the full comment in the previous post, I’ll just include an excerpt here:

Mary: I just had a laparoscopic myomectomy and hysteroscopy/endometrial ablation two days ago.

Pre-surgical issues and diagnosis: I had a huge, slow growing external fibroid that was about 9 * 10 cm at its peak, plus several smaller internal fibroids that were the cause of my long, heavy, painful periods. My gynecologist referred me to a surgeon who is head of Ob-Gyn at a local hospital and teaches at a major Canadian medical school. (Very relaxed guy, easy to talk to, and well-respected.) He checked me out and declared that the internal fibroids could be taken care of with hysteroscopy and ea.

You know I must leave the obligatory links for more information:

Endometrial Ablation (The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists)
Endometrial Ablation (Mayo Clinic)
Endometrial Ablation (OBGYN.net)
Endometrial Ablation (WebMD)

If you have an experience, questions, or thoughts on endometrial ablation, leave a comment.

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Related Post:
How are you feeling after your Laparoscopic Myomectomy?

How are you feeling after your Laparoscopic Myomectomy?

A contributor here left a detailed comment on her experience with laparoscopic myomectomy and hysteroscopy/endometrial ablation so I’ll create two separate posts to start the discussion.

Mary: I just had a laparoscopic myomectomy and hysteroscopy/endometrial ablation two days ago.

Pre-surgical issues and diagnosis: I had a huge, slow growing external fibroid that was about 9 * 10 cm at its peak, plus several smaller internal fibroids that were the cause of my long, heavy, painful periods. My gynecologist referred me to a surgeon who is head of Ob-Gyn at a local hospital and teaches at a major Canadian medical school. (Very relaxed guy, easy to talk to, and well-respected.) He checked me out and declared that the internal fibroids could be taken care of with hysteroscopy and ea. He’s done over a hundred of these procedures and is probably the go-to guy in my city for this procedure. He also said that it looked as if the external fibroid was on a stalk and could be at risk of twisting, although he also said I wasn’t showing any of the signs of being at risk — no feeling of movement — so it was up to me whether I wanted to just leave that one alone or remove it as well. I decided to go for the laparoscopy because of the twisting risk (my sister went through the horror of an ovary getting twisted and i didn’t want to go through anything similar) and because it would be nice not to look five months pregnant.

Surgery: It was supposed to be about 2 hours, but turned into three as it turned out the external fibroid wasn’t on a stalk, but was embedded in the external wall. I asked my doctor after surgery about the risk of adhesions given that such a relatively large surface had been excavated, but he says that I should be all right.

Recovery: I was in the recovery room for an hour after surgery, then moved to my hospital room, where I was told I was staying overnight just to be cautious, given the extended work required for the external fibroid (we had originally discussed the option of going home the same day). The nurses had me up and peeing within a couple of hours. The first time out of bed was a doozie, and my bladder was tight, sore, reluctant and overfull the first time, so I didn’t get rid of two cups of urine until my second attempt. After that, I was up and down several more times throughout the day, alternately reading, napping, chatting with my husband, or having my vitals checked. By 8 PM, I was adept at getting myself out of bed on my own, unplugging the IV from the wall, and going off to have a pee. (They dumped a few liters of saline in me, so I was peeing like a racehorse all day.) By 11 PM, I got out of bed and wandered the halls with my IV because I was bored and wanted to move. The pre-surgical anti-inflammatory suppository took care of most pain except what I felt when I got out of bed and the gas pains in my shoulders.

They let me have jello, broth, juice and a few crackers for supper the first day, and a real breakfast of egg, bun and cream of wheat the next morning. I was discharged by 8:30 and home by 9:30, where I caught up with some clients for a few hours (self-employment isn’t all it’s cracked up to be sometimes) but I was sore by supper time and took off the rest of the day. Gas-X, naproxen and stool softeners were my friends, and even though I have percocet, I haven’t taken any yet. I did take some cough syrup to suppress coughing, which hurt yesterday, although much less today.

First bowel movement was late yesterday (first evening after surgery day), and there was no pain, although reaching to wipe was a little awkward. At my worst, my whole abdomen felt taut, swollen and sorte, with occasional gas pains on top. Today, I got up feeling significantly better, and my belly is less taut and numb.

I’d love to know how long it’s going to take all this swelling to go down. My face and eyes were very swollen the first day, I still couldn’t wear my watch and rings yesterday, although I can today, but my waist and belly are larger than they were than when I went in. (Gas? Fluid? Swollen tissues?) I have no idea how long it will take for those to shrink, as I would think that removing something 4 inches in diameter would make things smaller in circumference.

I’ll report back with anything else of interest.

Thanks Mary. Nothing more I can add except a couple of links for more information:

Laparoscopic Myomectomy (FibroidSecondOpinion.com)
Laparoscopic Myomectomy (Mayo Clinic)

Please post your experiences, thoughts, or questions.

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Related Post:
How are you feeling after your Endometrial Ablation?