Hi all! I have to write and tell you what I, with a little help from my
obgyn, have done to myself. I am frustrated, ashamed, and a little
depressed. My mistake in all this was trusting my doctor. He has the
best reputation in this area for obgyn surgery. He is a perfectionist
and all the nurses I have talked do say he does clean surgery. Sounds
like what we are supposed to look for right? What he has done to me is
taken me piece by piece, and not listened to me or communicated with my
GI doctor. Heres a quick run down of the proceedures I have had him do:
!. Oct "98- Lap to diagnose left side abdominal pain. He found a
corpus luteum cyst on right ovary, and adhesions to my bladder. Pain
returned 3 days after surgery, though it was less intense.
2. May 99- Open abdominal hysterectomy. I told him to remove anything
that looked like it would cause trouble in the future. I told him I did
not have a problem loosing my ovaries. At this time no adhesions were
mentioned.
3. March 2000-lap to remove ovaries due to severe pain. I could not
even work (teacher) due to the pain for 2 weeks prior to surgery. He
said I was a mess inside. He had trouble locating ovaries due to
adhesions and had "great difficulty" removing them. He said that he
almost had to open me up but was able to get 90% of adhesions. He feels
that they will almost certainly come back. 3 days after surgery, the
pain returns. Since I had a failed attempt at a colonoscopy and the GI
doctor diagnosed "tortured colon-probable adhesions cause" in 1998, I
feel it's the adhesions on the colon causing the problem. My obgyn
wrote in his report on the ovary removal that "If this patient requires
further exploratory surgery it is recommended that it be an open
abdominal proceedure with the use of an adhesion barrier.
Why did I let this man open me up so many times? Why did I not demand
that he remove my ovaries when he took my uterus? The only excuse I can
think of is that he is very arrogant and hates to be questioned. When I
begin to ask questions or state facts he shuts down. That's still no
excuse for me. Through this forum I knew better than he did what needs
to be done. You can bet I will begin interviewing surgeons today for
the future! Before the pain gets so bad that I would let a monkey with a
can opener do the surgery!! I'm going to wait as long as before the next
surgery.
Thanks for letting me vent and for always being there and understanding.
Any hints on choosing a surgeon would be appreciated! Here's to a pain
free day for all.