Post Surgery Day 1 -UPDATED

I did it!

Surgery seemed to go really well. I'll start at the top.

I left my phone at work on Sunday so went and got it in the morning and came in to the hospital early at around 9.30am (they asked me to come at 10am for surgery at 12pm).

Shortly afterwards, I was taken through to have my blood pressure checked and to have a pregnancy test. Then back to the waiting room.
Mr Big split his time between work, looking after me and checking on Gingin at home.

At 12.30 they called me through to gown me up Mr Big managed to get back in time to say goodbye and wish me well before I was lead into..... my next waiting room! But only for a little while. The anaesthetist greeted me there, went through my medical history and allergies, lifestyle etc and explained the process of anaesethic really clearly and thoroughly.

My surgeon, Dr. Kristian Locke, came in next. I mentioned I had some questions (I had written them down but forgot to take my list out of my bag when they took it for me).

Which technique to remove cysts? Dr. Locke said she would be "peeling" them off so that there is less chance of damage to the ovaries.

Will they take a biopsy for testing? Yes. They'll also test the different kinds of cysts and tissue removed. Everything will be checked under a microscope.

Does Mirena increase cyst development? Yes, but only the development of normal cysts that come and go in the body, not endometriotic cysts. I also think she may have said that if the Mirena stops the menstrual cycle then the cysts stop developing as well but don't quote me on that- I'm still rather drugged up!
Can the insertion of Mirena damage the cervix? Nope.

Dr. Locke went over the details of the surgery and the Mirena really thoroughly and clearly as well. Both women were lovely and completely calmed my nerves. When I was taken into the surgery room (around 1pm) the team greeted me and were calm, relaxed and charming. They again checked my blood pressure and put a drip in my hand, undid the back of my gown and put those little sticky things on my chest and my back. I was appreciative of their attitude, they made so comfortable.

I don't remember being given the anaesthetic. I don't think I counted backwards this time. I was already pretty tired and probably fell asleep straight away.

I woke up around 3pm back the final waiting area I had been before with a nurse at my side. I reminded myself not to say anything ridiculous under the medication- but I think I may have said this out loud...
Dr. Locke came to see me briefly (asking first if I could handle a conversation yet). She seemed really pleased and said that she had removed cysts from both ovaries. When I was involved in a good conversation with two of the nurses they decided I was awake enough to be taken to my ward.

I'm in a private ward, hooked up to a tramadol drip with a button to press whenever I need more pain relief. The nurses check my blood pressure, heart rate and temperature ever 4-5 hours. The pain is quite bad so I stayed here over night but the tramadol is keeping it mostly at bay. I also have oxygen hooked up to my nose. OH! And they made me a vegan tofu curry for dinner!!!

I feel really blessed to be in New Zealand and have such a high standard of free health care. Everything seemed to go great and I have been looked after so well.

I'm still quite sore and the tramadol is making me so itchy (histamines) and I can't get out of bed yet. My tummy doesn’t look too swollen. I was able to eat and drink. Last night I got a bit feverish but not for very long and it was the only time I needed something for nausea. No throat pain from the tube as yet, no shoulder pain from the gas yet either.

Dr Locke will come to see me a few hours or so to discuss the operation in more detail.

UPDATE: Dr Locke just came to see me. She said that my left side was actually much worse than my right even though that's where the most pain has been and the only place they could see the cysts when they did the scan. She said I definitely have endometrisis cysts but I don't have the chocolate endometrioma cysts that they were expecting. I have some narly photos that I will scan and put up via a link so you do't have to look if you don't want to!