Surgery Aftermath

It feels like a long time since I wrote last. I didn't get a chance to blog at all while I was in California for surgery as there was too much to do, then I was consumed with healing and getting home as fast as I could.

Rewinding back to last week...

As I mentioned in my last post, I went for my pre-op on Tuesday around noon. Thank god I ate breakfast because to my surprise I was to be on liquids the rest of the day in preparation for the next day's surgery. Not only that, I was to drink two 10 oz. bottles of wretched magnesium sulfate to clean my bowels, followed by an enema. Why? Apparently a sigmoidoscopy is part of the protocol when doing a lap with Dr. Persian. Oy.

So I yacked down the stuff, canceled both lunch and dinner dates, and spent the day in the "loo". They scheduled my surgery first thing in the morning (he had three laps to do on Wednesday morning) and we arrived at the crack of dawn. My very good friend "J" came with me as my advocate to ensure that I had blankets, attentive nurses, and every question answered.

I thought that I was getting the "Da Vinci" variety of robotic surgery that this surgeon is famous for, but they didn't feel that I needed it (who knows how this determination was made?).

So...3 hours after they administered the gas I woke up. I was alert rather quick, as is my way, and was coherent enough to remember when Dr. Persian came by with 8x10" glossies of my procedure. He was kind enough to go over each photo and make notes for me as to what was found in each.

In a nutshell, they did the following:

• Removed my appendix (I have a family history of them "going bad" so he agreed to remove it - my post-op report says that they found adhesions on it, but who knows if this was true?)
  
• Removed endometriosis throughout my pelvis, on my bowel, and god knows where else
  
• Removed type II endometriomas on both ovaries (type I is a pocket of endometriosis that invades the ovary while a type II is where a functional cyst is taken over by endometriosis). The capsules were completely removed and ovarian tissue was conserved.
  
• Removed extensive adhesions throughout my abdominal cavity
  
• Freed my ovaries from being stuck to my bowel and uterus (adhesions, again)

The determination:

• I didn't have ANY fibroids. They are, instead, pockets of diffuse adenomyosis
  
• The 3 x 1.5cm area in my uterus that was found on the pelvic MRI was a pocket of adenomyosis. I have what is called "diffuse adenomyosis", which means that my uterus has essentially been destroyed from adenomyosis - he suggested that I might wish to have a hysterectomy at some point in the next 5 years
  
• I have stage 4 endometriosis, all of which was removed
  
• My ovaries are in otherwise excellent condition for my age

I didn't bother to ask any other questions until my post-operative meeting two days later. I walked in with a page full of questions. The most important being:

Should I bother to try another IVF cycle and put them into my own uterus, or would I be better served with a surrogate?

His answer: I should have seen him much sooner and, yes, I should turn to a surrogate

So, one door closes, and (hopefully) opens. I asked him if I could hug him, and he said yes. I tried to not cry but I couldn't hold back the tears. It was a horribly bittersweet moment to finally know what the problem has been all these years. To know I have to give up on trying this on my own. I have old eggs, and I do know this like no one else knows, but the problem has mostly been my uterus all this time and having this proof at last was the very thin silver lining.

I entirely forgot to ask him why my right ovary seemed to have shut down. How I could have forgotten to ask this most crucial question, I have no idea. But I will be speaking to him again later this week and will make a point of talking to him then.

There's so much more on my mind, but I'll save these rants for another day.

I'm healing well and was out to dinner with day after surgery with my ex. I ate lightly (soup and a few bites of pasta) but it was remarkable that I was mobile just 24 hours after being on the table. I truly believe that my surgeon made all the difference this time. I just wish I'd seen him sooner so that I would have known years ago that surrogacy was a "must".