Finally diagnosed - having surgery. Your tales and experience please!

In My Humble Opinion
1

So, I’ve got to go in for surgery. Getting to this point has been a long, drawn-out process. I’d been to 5 doctors before my current vascular surgeon worked out what was wrong.

In high school I was into cross-country running and trained every morning at school. When I was 16 or 17 I started running at the beginning of the year as usual but every time I began running I developed a severe pain in my stomach. It happened every time I ran, so I stopped running. I went to the doctor and he gave me some glucose powder. That didn’t work, but by that stage I was so disenchanted with running (because of the pain) I just stopped.

A year or two later I decided to try proper running again. The pain came back straight away, so this time I decided to find out once and for all what was wrong. I went to my GP (a different one from the first one; we’d moved cities). He didn’t know what was wrong, so he referred me to a vascular surgeon. I didn’t have health insurance, so I had to wait almost a year before he could get me in. Anyway, he couldn’t find anything, so he sent me to a gastroenterologist. I was pretty sure it wasn’t a gastro problem, but I went anyway. Six months later, and I had my appointment. Nope, wasn’t that either. BTW, that doctor told me to “just give up”. Yeah. Wonderful. I’m 20 years old and he wants me never to run again? :rolleyes:

So, I went back to my GP. He got me to have another scan, a gyno one. Which also turned up nothing. Also more blood tests. Nothing. In the words of my doc “You are disgustingly healthy”. But, we were both convinced it was a vascular problem, so he referred me to a private vascular surgeon.

Two scans later, still nothing. But this doc wasn’t about to give up on me, so he sent me for another scan. $650 later (for one scan!), finally a possible problem (solution).

Turns out when I breathe in, a ligament pulls up and partially closes off one of the arteries that supplies my gut (that sort of area) with blood. (BTW, that scan was so amazing. The clarity is breathtaking. I thought, woah, you can see every part of me! I feel naked! It looked like this, only much clearer.)

Anyway, he thought it needed operating on, because there is a possibility it will close off completely one day. He wants to disconnect the ligament and reconnect it where it won’t affect the artery (AFAIRemember). But, he said, he was going to a surgeons’ conference at the end of the month and wanted me to be a case study. (!) He also said he would need help doing the surgery because he wasn’t experienced with this sort of problem (very rare, he said). So, he was going to “get a team together”. (!) He wants to do it laparoscopic-ally because I’m so young he doesn’t want me having a huge scar. (He says, tracing his finger all the way across his body. :eek:) (Also, the recovery time is much shorter for laparoscopic surgery.)

So, this is where I am now. He’s back from his conference; the surgery is going to go ahead. He’s got to “get a team together”. Meanwhile, I’m chock full of questions. Which is (hopefully) where you guys come in. I’m after anecdotes, experiences, doctors’ perspectives, the lot. I realise my doc will have the answers but he’s going to contact me when he’s ready, and I wanna know now, dammit! Stamps foot

I’m having laparoscopic (keyhole) surgery. Has anyone else had it? What were your experiences like? Out of action for long? What were the pre-op and post-op procedures? I hate being in the dark about what’s going to happen to me.

Doctors, what do you think the recovery time would be for a stitched ligament? I’m a gymnastics coach, how long do I need to take off work?

Thanks everyone who slogged through this! :slight_smile: One last word: please no virtual hugs or sympathy, if anyone was thinking such a thing! I’m not worried, just itching.

Oh, and if anyone has any interesting surgery or hospital stories, letterrip!

2

:smack: The reason it hurts after running is because after I have breathed deeply (i.e. puffed) for extended periods of time, the stomach area has a shortage of oxygen.

3

Well, ask your Dr. about most of these, I’m sure you’ll get all the info you need. But here is my experience with Laproscopic surgery:

I went in on the 5th of August to have my stomach repaired laproscopically. It was a second op, the first was a horrible experience (and was NOT done laproscopically.)

I was up and walking on the 6th will minimal pain.

I was out on the 7th. I was back to work on the 15th.

I still am not allowed to lift anything more than 10 lbs, but I expect that restriction to be removed this coming tuesday (woulda been last tuesday, but they didn’t have any open appointments.)

Glad they found the problem, good luck!

4

I had laproscopic surgery when I had my gallbladder removed. I have four very small (1/2" long) scars. I had my surgery Wednesday morning, was released Thursday at around noon, and was back to work on Monday. There is pressure from the gas they pump into you, but no real severe pain unless you overdo it by trying to lift something too heavy, or moving too quickly. Just do what the doctor tells you, take your meds, and you’ll be great!

5

Ditto on the laproscopic surgery being much easier to cope with. You have the normal recovery from anaesthesia, which BTW is much better these days than it used to be. My experience is about a day or so of varying discomfort.

I am guessing that you are still a relatively young person, and since your health otherwise has been declared excellent, you’ll probably have a very quick recovery.

Before the surgery, the hospital will probably schedule you for some routine pre-admissions tests and procedures.

Pre-op, which your doctors should detail for you in as much depth as you want, usually involves not eating for a specified time such as 8 or 12 hours. Morning of the surgery, you garb up in the lovely hospital “gown.” Get a sedative of some sort to help you relax. Wheel into op room. Intravenous set up. Count backwards from ten. “Ten, n…” Bye bye. Next thing you know you’re in another room waking up. Somebody talking to you to determine when you’re OK. When they’re sure all is well, wheel back to regular room.

Post-op will depend on so many different factors you will just have to ask your MD to advise. There will most likely be restrictions on various activities until your innards are healed up. These days they try to get people out of bed, eating and walking around as soon as possible, and home soon after that. Recall that just recently our ex-president went home less than a week after open-heart surgery! Yours will be far less traumatic.

Laproscopic surgery normally leaves minimal scars. Barely noticeable.

6

My husband had lapro surgery for his gallbladder, but didn’t make out as well as Gingy. He was down for about a week or so, but the doc told me that the stone inside it was the size of a golf ball and really pushed the limits of lapro. Ugh.

Did you get a second opinion for your surgery? That’s the first thing I’d do before going under the knife for anything.

7

I don’t have any interesting surgery stories (yet) but I do have a similar story in that I’ve had pain chronic pain during exercising that the doctors couldn’t diagnose.

When I row, my forearms (particularly the right one) swell and get really hard. And they hurt so much I’ve actually had to bring down the pressure despite still having energy left in my legs. Plus my hands go a little numb and I have trouble flexing my wrists. (I just did a race yesteray and I could barely move my right hand after)

All the doctors kept blowing me off and saying tendonitis and giving me strengthening exercises. If you’ve ever met me, you’ll see I have really muscular arms and really don’t need stengthening. Finally, this one really cool doctor suggesting meeting me on the docks to see my arms (it’s very difficult for me to reproduce my symptoms on land). He determined I have compartment sydrome, a pretty rare thing (more common in legs) where the muscles swell so much during exercises that they are compressed by the fascia (which doesn’t expand).

The only real treatment is a fasciotomy (or -ectomy, I forget the terminology) where they can slice open the fascia to relieve the pressure. Everything I’ve seen on the web says it’s pretty effective. I’m really leery about surgery but I’m so tired of dealing with this limitation that when the season ends (mid Novmber), I seriously thinking about getting it. The really big downside is that they can’t do the surgry under the skin so you’re left with long scar down th inside of the forearms which won’t be attractive at all. :frowning:

So, good luck! It sure is a relief when the doctors finally figure out what your complaint really is, isn’t it?

8

Thanks everyone for your replies so far! Sounds like recovery is pretty quick – except seems I won’t be able to work for a little while. (A lot of my work consists of picking kids up and throwing them around, or catching them!)

Shame on you all for not managing to produce any gory stories though! :wink:

I didn’t, but my doc did – he took my case to New Zealand to his surgeons’ conference. If a bunch of experts aren’t right, who would be?!

Hell yes! It is so embarrassing when you are seen as a fit person, but you have to sit out after 5-10 minutes of running or playing netball. I just feel like crying, because I love sports, and I pride myself on being tough. And I could’ve punched that doctor who told me to just give up. Grrr…

I went through the whole “Maybe it’s just in my head?” thing too, because no one could figure it out. I’m so glad this doc didn’t give up on me!