Good news and bad news! The good news is that I survived the severe injuries sustained by the horrible Essure devices inside my Fallopian tubes, my radical hysterectomy was a monumental success, and I’m in the least amount of pain I’ve ever been in my entire life. Literally!!!! I have not felt this amazing since I was maybe 10 years old, and definitely not since my first period 15 years ago with the onset of my debilitating Endometriosis symptoms. That’s over 17 years of just living with horrible, unmanageable Endometriosis symptoms.
The bad news is that during the surgery, they discovered that my uterus was fused to my bladder with endometriosis. This was most likely due to the two placental abruptions I sustained during pregnancy, but it could also be due to the fact that my endometriosis has not responded well to any of the treatments I’ve attempted since being diagnosed. Either way, it was a totally unforeseen complication that left me with a catheter for 2 weeks. IT WAS HORRIBLE.
I was prepared for so much! I was even prepared for a possible bowel resection from the endometriosis, but I was NOT prepared for the catheter, or that I’d be sent home on strict bed rest with it for 2 long weeks. It was honestly really horrible, painful, and all around irritating.
However, I got really lucky and they took it out on March 29th! Not only that, but my surgeon was so proactive in my treatments and furthering the knowledge and education on Endometriosis that she filmed most of my surgery on her personal cell phone so that she could show me early at the catheter removal. It was originally supposed to be done by a nurse, but because of my situation, my surgeon ended up removing it herself so that she could show BJ and I the videos and discuss how my recovery was going.
In other amazing news, I HAVE CLEARANCE FOR EXTERNAL VULVA STIMULATION in approximately one week! Possibly longer, but that is strictly up to how I’m feeling and how well my body is recovering. There’s still no penetration whatsoever until the 8 week mark after my final post-op appointment and suture removal, but I am in no rush at all for that. Penetration has always historically been painful for me, so when the time comes, we’ll be taking things VERY SLOW to give my body a chance to heal from so many years of trauma, pain, and damage.
As for the surgery itself, here’s what happened (besides my uterus being separated from my bladder): my surgeon removed every endometrial adhesion she could find, my cervix was removed, about a third of my vagina was taken out and reconstructed, my Fallopian tubes and Essure were taken out, my bladder was reconstructed, and my ovaries were stitched up to help prevent any further spread of Endometriosis.
My vagina had to be reconstructed because the surgeon who implanted the Essure devices injured it and lied about it. Because no treatment or help was given at the time, because we did not know what happened, this caused aggressive Endometriosis to grow there and spread. This caused a very painful scar that would effectively “bite” BJ every time we attempted to have penetrative sex. It was so bad that it caused sex to become painful for him as well, and left him with permanent scarring.
The Essure, my Fallopian tubes, and uterus were all taken out as one whole piece through my vagina, with no other incisions made, to prevent contamination from the Essure coils. My surgeon was able to avoid all external stitches to prevent any further endometrial growths, and to hopefully prevent and slow any future growths. While there is no cure for Endometriosis and this surgery has not cured me, it should make my quality of life immensely better and give me a future I never dreamed of previously. We are prepared that my Endometriosis will grow back, but we are very optimistic that any future growths will be significantly reduced due to the careful techniques used during surgery, my now lack of a menstrual cycle, and my surgeon’s ability to excise all visible endometrial growths, scar tissues, and adhesions.
I still have another 6 weeks of mostly bed rest, but with the catheter gone, I’m now able to move about more and take care of myself in very small ways. My surgeon still wants me to gain another 5 to 10 pounds to get me back to a healthy weight and replace what was dropped drastically before surgery due to the Essure complications, but I am optimistic that fans and submissives will pitch in to make acquiring the foods needed easier, and to alleviate my stress load as I recover. I was able to prepare enough work ahead of time that I should be able to stay on my regular posting schedule with no need to film for at least a few more weeks, leaving me completely free to rest in bed and give my body all of the time it needs to heal. I most look forward to being able to dance again!!! That will probably not be possible until well after summer, but I’m patient and nothing in life has ever stopped me before. This is all just a pause on the road to a healthier life for me with potentially far less pain than I’ve ever experienced before. 🙂