I wanted to share my lap and dye experience, as this is the sort of information I was looking for before hand!!! Do keep in mind that everyone is different, and my lap was only diagnostic. Might be a bit of a novel so apologies in advance…..
Had been TTC 15 months when saw our specialist (chose to go privately to speed things up – only had to wait 2 weeks vs 6 months, best $160 I’ve spent!), due to having painful bowel motions during AF he wanted to check for endometriosis, so recommended a laparoscopy and dye and put me on wait list. I rang the booking person and asked to be put on the “short notice” list (eg if someone else cancels you can get called up to see if you can fit in instead). I was waiting 2 months including Christmas break and got the phone call to say can you have surgery in one week – yes! So definitely go private for appointments and short notice list if you can…
4 days before hand did pre-op appointment – took 4 hours and met with anaesthetist, surgeon, junior surgeon and a nurse, plus blood tests. Was quite disappointed as surgeon said this was a “diagnostic” lap only which meant he would only remove very mild endo or other issues – if anything more serious than that we would then discuss treatment options and might have to have another lap. Also didn’t realise they intubate you to help you breathe, which scared me a bit!
Nil by mouth from midnight, then to hospital at 8am. Put on the lovely surgical gown, said goodbye to DP, then wheeled up to waiting area for surgery at 9.30am. Got IV put in left hand, and then into surgical room (much smaller than I thought!) and onto the bed, very quickly got given my drugs and everything faded out (no counting from 10 or anything!).
When I begin to remember again it was 11am, I had a very sore throat and dry mouth, plus shoulder pain. Got given painkillers, IV fluids and lovely heat packs on my shoulders. No nausea, just feeling super tired. Got told I had to wait for surgeon to come at 4pm to let me know the results. Encouraged to eat and go to the toilet (more on this later!). Unfortunately at about 3.30pm I made the mistake of getting up to toilet for the second time and thinking while I was up I should get dressed. Umm, a bit much for me, got very dizzy, hot and nauseous and had to lie down for a bit!
Surgeon came at 4pm and told me I had stage 3 endo, particularly around my bowel, bladder and right ovary which was 3x bigger than normal, and showed me some pictures. Discussed where to from here (basically: dye showed tubes good so gave me a 20% chance of conceiving naturally in next 3 months due to the dye flushing them, then if not UTD to decide if surgery to remove endo or straight to IVF, I think he was encouraging IVF). Had a good cry, then got dressed and home for 6pm, with a 1.5hr drive home.
Unfortunately, I was in urinary retention, I did tell the nurse I was only peeing little bits at a time and my abdomen was more swollen than earlier in the day but she didn’t say much. By the time I got home I was getting uncomfortable and needed to pee put couldn’t, rang the registrar on call. Sooo, I ended up back at my smaller local hospital a few hours later getting a catheter put in, man the relief!!!! Drained 1200mls of pee, and catheter actually didn’t hurt like I thought it would. They then sent me home. Oh dear, 3 hours later, same feeling! Rang registrar again, she was mad they had taken the catheter out and sent me back and told them to leave it in. So finally home in bed, 2am with a frigging catheter and leg bag!!!
Day 2 felt very tired, and shoulders still sore (this is from the gas they use to blow up your belly, it irritates your diaphragm and the pain radiates to your shoulders), but no abdo pain and only the odd spot of vaginal bleeding. Stayed in bed most of the day, couldn’t read or watch TV as too much concentration. Stopped taking the codeine. Day 3 feeling a bit better, but shoulders still sore, and only coping with rubbish TV eg Oprah and house decorating shows!
Day 4 back to the main hospital to get the catheter removed. They explained I had retention probably because the surgeon had touched my bladder when checking the endo, and bladders are “shy”! After a few checks over a couple of hours (measuring wee output, and also ultrasound scan), gave me the all clear and off home. Felt a different woman without that catheter!
Day 5 – stopped taking panadol. Able to read a book and do some stuff on the computer, walk around the house, bend over and lie in most positions in bed.
Now Day 6 and feeling good, still tired though and need to make sure I take good break from activity or else I get grumpy!
All in all, it wasn’t as bad as I thought (apart from the urinary retention!), not nearly as painful as I imagined but then I had nothing removed. I was upset about the findings, but it is so good to know what is going on in there now. Fingers crossed for the next 3 months
Here are my tips for dealing with lap and dye:
1. Make sure you have someone with you for the first 48 hours post op
2. Ask your surgeon to send you a copy of his report, as you probably won’t remember everything he told you after the surgery
3. Take your own food to eat when you wake up – they only had yuck egg sandwiches and soup available in hospital. I sent DP out for bananas and yoghurt.
4. Ask for some throat lozenges or something to suck on, or have your own as your throat could be sore from the tube. Also lipbalm before and after op.
5. Make sure you can pee properly before you leave hospital! And a catheter isn’t as bad as you think…
6. Ask if you can take the heat packs home for your shoulders, if not buy some, they are great (mine are 3M Nexcare gel ones).
7. Take some pillows in the car – put one across your stomach before you put on your seatbelt.
8. If you live a while from the hospital, do think about staying closer to the hospital the first night post op so its easier if you have complications. If you are driving a distance, ask about getting some anti nausea drugs for the drive home and take an extra pillow for your head so you can sleep.
9. Have some straws at home as makes drinking much easier when in bed.
10. Have easy to eat, light foods at home like soup and yoghurt. I didn’t want anything sugary or fatty.
11. Also some prunes or other laxatives if you continue to take codeine or are prone to constipation! I had no pain with no 2’s post op thank goodness.
12. Have magazines or easy to watch TV for the first few days, I had a stack of big books and movies that have not touched!
13. Definitely take at least a week off work if you can, I don’t think I will have enough energy or concentration for an 8 hour day even Day 8 post op – but everyone is different and guess it depends on your job.
I also found this website helpful:
http://amberrains.wordpress.com/laparoscopy-checklist/
That’s all I can think of for now, hope someone out there found it helpful, feel free to ask questions if you want! Or add your own experiences/tips too…
Sharing my lap and dye experience!
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I was very scared... lucky my original doctor came in on his day off to operate on me along with 3 other surgeons. After I woke up from the 2nd surgery, it came to light that I had an infection from the endo lap and there was about 300mls of pus in my stomach 
(I am so grateful that my bowel wasn't removed) So basically I had a kind of secondary peritonitis! I'm only 32 yrs old!! I was told I was in the 1% of people that develop such infections so I was just unlucky really!! It's taken me a year to get over the infection as I got other health problems from the surgeries... but good news is that I'm going for IVF in April :-) It still hurts to twist and bend but yoga is helping me :)
not a fan of hospitals!
