I am sooo sorry that the last surgery didn't put your pain at an end as you hoped. You were the first member of the board to send a message to me, and as far as I am concerned, that makes you bloody special!
Helen, you have always been there for me, and I enjoy our ICQ chats very much. There is no humiliation in admitting that the pain is back. The most important thing I have learned from you, and all of our dear friends here is that talking about our pain, discussing our feelings, disappointments, families, fears and humor has done more than any consultation with a doctor who has not experienced the pain and tradgedy which is adhesions personally.
I have sought help this week from a phsychologist at our local health centre and I am so glad that I did. I wanted someone to talk to face to face, I also wanted someone who could perhaps give me some new "tools" to help me come to terms with my pain and help me find the best quality of life possible for me, and for my precious family.
This wonderful lady LISTENED to me for an hour, gave me some great advice, praised my efforts in finding solutions for myself and my positive attitude. I find that my main problem is tiredness, I am able to use meditation and relaxation and other strategies to keep my pain level at a reasonable level, allowing me to live my life. The tiredness creeps up on me when extra "pressure" occurs with family, work etc and I am caught off gaurd and don't "adjust" my meditation & relaxation routines to compensate for the added tension.
This councillor asked me to explain my meditation excersise to her, which I did. She then asked me how long this takes, and how I felt as I finished it. I told her that I feel soothed, relaxed and happy. My new "tool" this week is to take special note of the feeling I have as I finish meditating, then, when I can feel "tension" starting to build, she told me to close my eyes breath deeply and exhale slowly. While I am doing this I have to recall that peaceful, happy feeling I have when I finish meditating. This helps to "disperce" the "tension" and I can regain control my sence of well being and this will help keep my pain in control.
I also told her about our wonderful group on this board, and she was very pleased, and emphisised the theraputic advantages in writing. So to Helen and everyone here on the board, we are helping ourselves while helping others by writing about our feelings, frustrations and experiences here.
I am so pleased Helen that you have started to write here again. I am sending you a very aussie, enthusiastic & warm hug to you. May you find peace and comfort with us here on the board.
All my love, hugs & cheers your mate, Jo :-)
At Wed, 5 Sep 2001, Helen Gibson wrote:
>
>Hi to all....
>
>It's been a while since I've posted anything on the board, but I have been reading and keeping up to date with all the new people that have posting, so welcome.
>
>I would like to say first of all that I've been putting this off for a few months, hoping that it might just go away, but Jo has encouraged me to vent so here I go.
>
>My pain is back, I had 6 months of no adhesion pain at all and I truly thought that I was going to be pain free for the rest of my life, silly me!!!
>When the pain returned I went into denial, I thought if I didn't talk about it, it wasn't real, and I did this for about 4 weeks, but I had to concede that the pain was real and I went to see my GP who was very understanding, and gave me some Tramadol pills to ease the pain, I think you guys in the US call them Ultram, anyway they were awful and I haven't taken them since.
>My GP suggested that I go back to my Gyno which I did about 2 weeks ago, he has referred me on to my surgeon who I see in about 2 weeks, my Gyno did say though that he wouldn't under any circumstances operate on me again, unless I have a bowel obstruction, this came as no surprise, and since I don't have any girl bits left, it really isn't a Gyno problem anymore. We did however go through my last operation notes and they were not good, I had very dense adhesions covering my signold (SP) colon which was attached to my pelvic side wall, bladder and of course the ovaries. He said that my pelvic region was just a "bloody big mess" to put it in his words and he has suggested that I maybe think about pain management for the future.
>I'm hoping that my Surgeon will see things differently, I know where the adhesions are, the pulling pain is in the same region it always was, but I now have other symptoms which maybe you guys might be able to help with.
>I have started to have alot of wind again, very foul smelling, but I also have nausea which I've never experienced with ARD.
>I also had my gallbladder removed in may of this year, and still get pain from that, but also am getting pain on the left hand side after I eat, it's around the rib area, under my breast, any idea's would be great.
>The last 2 weeks since seeing my Gyno have been an emotional rollercoaster, I've been through anger, depression, self denial, I am nervous about seeing my surgeon, I don't know what I'll do if he says to live with it, it's not something that I want to live with.
>So there you have it, sorry to prattle on, I would like to thank Jo also for all her kind words and support, and for making me face up to my fears.
>
>Love
>Helen G (Australia)
-- Positive AffirmationSay this with your hands above your head (victory style) and repeat three times: I'm Alive I'm Alert I'm a LOT of fun!!
That should get you smiling!