***warning graphic female stuff being discussed:

Well, here's the scoop. For several months my menses hasn't really acted right. Very long ones for several weeks, stopping and starting again a week later with black discharge not the normal bright red sort.

I've been having a nagging abdominal discomfort and sex has been well, a turn off.. uncomfortable as well as down-right painful at times.

My doctor schedules me for an Ultrasound (it took nearly a MONTH to get that darn test done! )

Anyway,I got it done Friday and I ask the tech if everything looks "okay". He says it looks "very wrong" and that was it. He said the films will have to go to my primary doc and HE will have to discuss "my options". Like OMG!! I have to go the whole weekend to find out what the Hell is going on!

Well, I have an appointment at 3pm, now.

But this isn't FAIR!! I just had Jaden 8 months ago! Nothing should be showing up this soon! And, DARN I TOLD them to take the Darn uterus during the C-Section, but NOOOOOO they couldn't do that!

I've already had cancer, a huge cyst (football sized) that ended up with a missing ovary and fallopian tube AND then a huge dangling polyp only a couple years ago.

Criminy! I am sick of all of this!

Okay, I am off my band box.

I am so sorry... I hope it's nothing too bad, and that your appointment goes well. Keep us updated!

The technician doesn't sound like they were very professional at all.
I hope all is well, Sher.

Sher, you know I'm with you in spirit...see my post on DP. And you can call if you ever just need a friend to talk with who's been through something similar.

Love, Joni

I'll be thinking about you, Sherasi. That is really an unfair way for the doctors to handle things, it seems to me.

I also felt that it was unprofessional how the tech "broke" the news to me when he shouldn't have said anything at all.

I did go to my doctor and I will be having a D&C this Thursday. In the beginning of next year, when I have some work time accumulated, I will get a hyster done and get it all done with.

Thanks for your support.

Sorry to hear of your health issues.

Yes on the one hand you want to know yet on the other you do not want to know. Techs usually shouldn't say anything, but hey doesn't every single patient ask "So what does it look like?". I know when ever I go in for a picture I pester the poor TEch into telling me what they saw....

Sweetie let me clue you in on the reality of life here on Earth.

Nothing is fair.

It's just the way things are. I know it sucks and I know that we would want things to play out differently. That too is unfair.

Fortunately we are the only species capable of laughing when things go wrong. Of course laughing on your way to the execution is rarely seen as being sane, but hey its not their joke.

In 100 years you will most likely have forgotten about this, if you remember it at all it will be just a dim memory that you may chuckle at.

In other words time will make things better.

You are, of course, in my prayers.

David

Sher, so do you now know the findings that lead the doctor to schedule a D&C? Is it something you can deal with right now and will the D&C take care of the issue?

I've been down that road before as well and I'm here for you. And in case you haven't thought about it, Thursday when you get ready for your procedeure, bring a sanitary pad. When you stand up to go home chances are you are gonna need it.

I'll be sending out positive thoughts for ya!

Well, Georgia, thanks for the info about the protection.. that one didn't occur to me.

My endometrial lining is becoming very thick. I have been bleeding quite heavily for quite a while.

I have no "time" left for my work benefits this year, but in the new year, I am planning a hysterectomy, of which the doctor already approved verbally to me.

I think that this D&C should hold me over for at least 3 months.

Thanks so much for your support. All of you.

My main issue is the light-headedness at work and the abd pain, so I took a couple days off from work.

Sherasi: Yes, I am glad that you intend to get that D&C. However, since you know that whenever possible doctors try to preserve your organs sooner than cut them out, perhaps you should allow doctors to monitor and counsel you instead of rushing to the hysterectomy, although that is what your health history may indicate to you at this stresful time for you. I am asking you to first see whether the pregnancy caused a one time occurrence, dependent on more than one doctor's opinion. With your health history, you should also get another sonogram in another place, although after the D&C, your doctor will likely want you to be monitored with another one anyway. I think that the best thing that you can now do is make a list of intelligent, not emotional, questions for your D&C doctor.

Tsaeb, I have absolutely no biological reason to have this uterus. I only have one ovary and NO Fallopian tubes so it is just sitting there waiting to develop problems.

Since I've already had a history of Cervical cancer, football sized cysts, polyps and thickening endometrial linings, I can safely say that this is NOT an emotional decision, but one designed to prolong my life in case something in the future happens that isn't caught soon enough.

THanks for your input, but the hyster won't be happening for at least 4 to 6 months, so it isn't something I plan to rush into anyway.

I am totally unable to have any more children anyway with almost none of the body parts in place down there anyway.

Having my utereus yanked out at 32 was absolutely the best thing I could have ever done. I wished I hadn't had to go through all the "red tape" to get the hysterectomy but like you Sher, I had the D&C first, had different meds prescribed, plus the doc was fighting to save the utereus. My doc actually thought the D&C would take care of things but it didn't change anything..a week or so later I was right back to the hemorrhaging. What was originally thought to be endometrial related was instead adenomyosis - basically the lining inside the walls of the utereus and not the lining of the utereus. So naturally a D&C would be of no help.

Anyways - if your situation is limited only to the endometriosis, the D&C should tie you over for a few months. A hysterectomy can be performed vaginally and is a piece of cake now a days. Mine was out patient and that was 10 years ago. You'll get through all of this just fine as long as you keep a positive attitude. And the pain is no worse that cramps - I went through both procedures with no pain meds taken afterwards. And yes, def take a pad and a towel to sit on wouldn't be a bad idea either. After resting from the D&C in the recovery room, when I stood up to go home the residual from the aftermath of the surgery literally poured out. And basically there was bleeding for several days afterwards. But that ride home...yep, you're gonna want some heavy duty protection!

Sherasi,
Sorry you have had so much trouble. First: It should never take that long to get an ultrasound. Possibly you needed a pre-authorization, but that should not be a problem.
D&C—Yes, both to check for endometrial hyperplasia or malignancy and to see if the D&C gets out some possible residual placenta products.
What would be the indications for Hysterectomy.
If you had a Carcinoma of the Cervix, I would think that it was an indication for the C-section and also an indication for a Hysterectomy in the future.
Presistent abnormal bleeding and or persistent pain and tenderness (of the uterus, not the vagina) on vaginal exam could also be other indications for a hysterectomy.
Many of the indications are chronic pain and many times if the pathologist looks real close he will find endometriosis. I think when chronic pain is present and there is no supratentorial factors present that it is Endometriosis. ( Adenomyosis is internal endometriosis) The term Endometriosis is used usually to describe external endometriosis that can make a difficult hysterectomy.
Hysterectomy- the new LAVH (Laproscopic Assisted Vaginal Hysterectomy) makes a vaginal hysterectomy more likely to be performed than when I was doing vaginal hysterectomies. .
I would ask how long it takes the surgeon to perform the LAVH. When I was doing Hysterectomies, I had a nurse ask me to do her hysterectomy. I asked her why since I was a general surgeon and didn’t do the LAVH which I thought was the best procedure. I only did the open Hysterectomy. She said because I took only about one hour to do the Hysterectomy and the Gyn Surgeons were taking 6 hours to do the LAVH. She was the director of nurses.
So it should not take a doctor more than 2 hours to do an uncomplicated LAVH if he knows what he is doing. There could be adhesions inside that take a little longer to take down with the laparoscope since you have had previous surgeries, but 2 hrs is all. Be prepared to have signed up for an open hysterectomy if the adhesions are too many since it will be safer than the LAVH in some cases. If there is external endometriosis the condition causes many adhesions as part of the disease and may require an open procedure. (Incision made) Probably a low transverse cosmetic incision if any.
On the point of doing a TAH (Total Abdominal Hysterectomy) at the time of a C-Section, I would not recommend it because the size of the blood vessels make the TAH much higher risk then a routine hysterectomy. I have only done one when I was called by another doctor because the Uterus had ruptured into the Uterine artery, but usually one does not do a C-section Hysterectomy. If you had a tubal ligation at the time of C-section, it may have some bearing on your future. You have indicated by this choice that you do not want anymore children by having that procedure performed. You have already been sterilized and the TAH is therefore not a sterilization procecure since you have already been sterilized.
Hope his helps with your decision.
BTW Georgia 85 always gives good advice.
Joe

SHERASI I JUST SEEN THIS ON HERE AND I HOPE THIS FINDS YOU DOING OK NOW...TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF!