I had surgery last week and wanted to share my experience here in case anyone else gets is considering the same procedure. And again, posting here since I figured quite a few women may come across this when TTC’ing or during pregnancy.
Since I don’t have any kids and wanted to preserve fertility, my doctor recommend robotic (Da Vinci) myomectomy. I had the procedure done last Thursday at Houston Methodist (Medical Center). My surgeon did an amazing job! I went in Thursday morning for surgery. I was schedule to be out of the hospital by Friday morning but I had a bad reaction to one of the pain meds in the recovery room. I finally got released Saturday. He removed a 6cm submucosal fibroid. I had 4 “ports” on my tummy for surgery.
The fibroid/most of the “work” was done through my navel and the sutures are on the inside so there is 0 scarring around that area. Other than that, I had three 8mm holes. By Friday night (day after surgery), I was already walking around the hospital. By Sunday, my stomach just felt super sore with a bit of tugging around the navel. Monday I was actually able to go to work for 1/2 day. Right now my stomach just feels sore. I’m only taking Tylenol for pain.
Overall a GREAT experience. I can’t say anything about the cost b/c my insurance paid 100%. But if any of you get diagnosed with fibroids OR any other issues where surgery with Da Vinci robot is possible, I highly recommend it!
I’m so glad it went well for you!!! The incisions you described are pretty much what I had for my laproscopy and the LAVH. One tiny incision above my naval, one above the pubic bone, and one on each side of my abs.
My recovery was also like you described…I was driving 3 days later and just had mild cramps.
Don’t worry..my LAVH (laprascopic assisted vaginal hysterectomy) only required an overnight stay in the hospital, and then I was released. I was a little sore and crampy, but was able to drive myself to the followup appt 3 days later.
@ Ali: No, you should not be worried at all. If everything goes as expected, your recovery should be easy.
@ Khatti: Yep, they sound very similar! This was my 1st surgery & I truly am amazed as how fast the recovery is. And my recovery was actually delayed by 24 hours due to a unexpected reaction to pain meds!
BTW, I also wanted to let you ladies know that don’t every try to be “trooper” or tough-it-out when it comes to your health. When I started bleeding unexpectedly about a month or so ago….I downplayed it. There was one day when I bled A LOT but convinced myself it wasn’t “that bad”. I even convinced my husband (who btw happens to be a M.D.) that I was simply tired and we could wait to make an appointment to see my doctor the following week. That same say I passed out, my husband (thank GOD!) caught me in the shower as I fell (I had asked him to help me walk to the shower b/c I was feeling tired/dizzy), had to perform CPR on me, and I ended up being transported to the ER in ambulance. Turned out I lost half my blood volume and ended up transfused with 4 bags of blood. This is when we discovered that I had a fibroid.
I can’t even imagine what would’ve happened if I passed out while driving, or if my husband wasn’t next to me to catch me fall, or even if I was alone in the house when I passed out.
Even after the drama above, I initially scheduled my surgery for end of May b/c there was “stuff” I wanted to take care of prior to surgery. But the meds didn’t stop the bleeding & my surgery last Thursday was scheduled almost at a last minute b/c my doctor said we simply couldn’t wait.
So yea….lesson learned the hard way for me. If your body is doing ANYTHING that’s out of the ordinary, please go get it checked out asap. Don’t convince yourself that it can wait until later. It’s best to be safe than sorry when it comes to your body.
Omg, Paheli, that is soo scary!! Shukar Alhamdullilah for your husband being there.
And I completely agree with you…we tend to shrug things off as “being normal”…I lived with endometriosis for 13 years, with my Ammi and I thinking that I was just unlucky with heavy periods and cramps..it took multiple miscarriages to finally turn the light bulb on my head and make me realize that I had a very serious problem. All those years of going undiagnosed did such a number on me, had we not ignored all the symptoms I probably would not have had to resort to IVF.
This was my 1st surgery & I truly am amazed as how fast the recovery is. And my recovery was actually delayed by 24 hours due to a unexpected reaction to pain meds!
