Endometriosis Surgery #2

January 20, 2022:

Just here to tell you a little about #endometriosis.

Will endometriosis come back after excision and how quickly does it come back?

We know that endometriosis is a chronic condition, unfortunately, it does return. There are many thoughts of how endometriosis forms and how it can return. A patient can have full excision, or removal of the disease and for every person it’s different in how long it will take to return. For me, I had a hysterectomy and endometriosis excision in January of 2020, but I have endometriomas on my ovaries now that need to be removed. The one cyst was so large that there was “little to if any normal ovarian tissue seen on the scan.” This cyst is over 7 cm in diameter. So measure that out and put it next to your hip bone… 😐

I was really hoping 2020 would be my last surgery, but unfortunately it wasn’t the case. THANKFULLY, I have an amazing surgeon now that I can trust - @drvilasagar_endosurgeon. While I am in surgery, she will also check my entire abdomen for new spots and be able to see my scar tissue from my last excision to see how everything healed up. I am not a surgeon, so I don’t know how it all works, but I know I’m in the best hands.

I do not want to have another surgery. I’m literally dreading this appointment tomorrow at @atriumhealth … I am not ready for the downtime, so soon after such amazing trips to Hawaii and Disney World, and I know my emotions are likely to get the best of me tonight and tomorrow…

But for all of you out there - all the #endowarriors - there is hope for a pain free life. Even with these stupid cysts, the pain I have had for the past 8 months has been NOTHING like the debilitating pain before my first excision surgery. Find a doctor you can trust, keep fighting until someone listens to you, and keep your head up. Endometriosis is a shitty disease, but there is hope. 🌺

January 24, 2022
Unfortunately, surgery wasn’t as easy as we originally thought it would be.

The endometrioma (a cyst filled with brown toxic fluid) was the size of a baseball and had adhered itself to my left pelvic sidewall. Dr. V said this area was like cement and difficult to clean up.

After the cyst was removed and this area was cleaned up, she moved on to the rest of my abdomen.

“Due to extensive adhesions and fibrosis, left sided ureterolysis was performed to safely mobilize the ureter away from the area of disease.” That’s the duct that connects the kidney to the bladder. Basically that means #endometriosis had stuck this duct to something else and this was the reason it was incredibly painful every time I had to pee. Yeah, it was not fun. 👎 Do not recommend.

The right ovary was enlarged by what was thought to be a ‘normal cyst’ but it also turned out to be an endometrioma.

“There were brown lesions of endometriosis located on the left pelvic sidewall, right pelvic brim, right pelvic sidewall, right posterior cul de sac, rectal peritoneum, left bladder peritoneum that were excised entirely.”

Lastly, there “was a deep infiltrating endometriotic nodule on the right hemidiaphragm.” My diaphragm was the original spot that caused so much pain starting back in 2018…

This means I’m incredibly special, but not in a good way 😔. Even after excision in 2020, I had created more lesions which is very unusual. Dr. V has seen very few cases like mine in her practice.
Dr. Vilasagar’s advanced recovery protocol kept me pretty comfortable post op.

Processing the return of my endometriosis was difficult. Dealing with the trauma that it returned, especially so quickly after my first surgery was hard to wrap my head around. Honestly for a long time. But here I am, sharing my story, because if I can help one woman get a proper diagnosis - it’s worth it. Keep fighting #endowarriors until you find a specialist that can help you like Dr. V has helped me. There is hope for treatment of this silent disease. 🌺

KitBull and Gus Gus kept me company in recovery.

This may have been the twilight zone, because KitBull does not like to snuggle.

Mavis was my constant companion. She loves a nap.