'Its Not The Endo The World...'

At the end of last year, I decided I couldn’t wait another 5 months to discuss my latest MRI results in person. I had received a letter saying the adenomyosis was more prominent and for me that was all the confirmation I needed. I wasn’t imagining it, the pain was getting worse and I needed something to be done. I should start by saying I recognise how lucky I am. Not everyone can afford to go private for treatment, especially as a self funding patient. I knew it was going to be pricy but I was at the end of my tether and just needed help. So within a week of enquiring, I was booked in for a consultancy appointment at The Oaks hospital in Colchester knowing I was going to be £180 lighter for a 20 min conversation. Ouch. But hopefully a worthy conversation! Fortunately I was able to see my normal consultant from the NHS privately. However, I was concerned he wouldn’t recognise me or know any of my history, after all he sees hundreds of thousands of women a time, why would he remember me...

Its all becoming a bit real now. Its when you start discussing the consent form whereby stats such as 1 in 10 women will wake up with a temporary colostomy bag after surgery, that things really start to hit home. Its when you've been waiting for this operation for a year and then all of a sudden its less than 2 weeks away and you're sitting in your pre op appointment getting your dietary information and bowel prep, that you start to panic about whats to come over the next few months. Its when its consuming every free minute of your waking day making your mind go over and over the potential risks, that you start wishing it was still a year away and not 2 weeks to go. Yep its definitely becoming all very real now. On Tuesday I had my pre op admission appointment at the hospital. It started off with a chat with my consultant confirming what we were going to be doing as part of the surgery. I was advised I may wake up with a drain coming out of my side in case there is an excessi...

So I had my hospital appointment at 9am this morning to discuss my bowel endometriosis. I sat down with a nurse practitioner who was very attentive and informative. She explained the different options that may occur in my excision surgery at the end of the year. Below I have detailed these with a little help from Endometriosis UK website (thanks!). There are essentially three surgery options for bowel endometriosis, which will be tailored to an individual’s needs: Affected areas or nodules can be “shaved” off the bowel leaving the bowel intact. This option may leave residual endometriosis. For smaller areas of endometriosis, the disc of affected bowel is cut away followed by the closure of the hole in the bowel with stitches. The affected segment or section of bowel is removed and the bowel is re-joined (re-anastomosis). There is a possibility that a temporary colostomy will be needed. However, I was told this is rare and would only be required for 6 weeks. Some complica...