Month Nine of Trying to Conceive Baby #2: My Hysteroscopic Polypectomy Surgery
No back story here, so I’ll just get right into it:
5/9, 12:00 A.M. - No more food or water until after surgery.
Yes, you have to fast from the night before. This is for safety reasons, since you have to go under anesthesia. If you’ve never “gone under” before, this keeps stuff out of your digestive tract and prevents choking. In the event that something goes wrong, you won’t be choking on something you ate or drank before surgery. So yes, you should take this seriously. I know, it’s reeeeeally hard not to eat, especially when you know you can’t!
8:30 A.M. - Arrived near the Clinic
There’s a drug store near my fertility clinic. We got there a little earlier than my 9 a.m. check in time so that my husband could get me the Magnesium Citrate I talked about in this blog.
8:50 A.M. - Headed to the Clinic & Checked-in
Took the elevator up to the Clinic and checked in. I gave them my travel reimbursement paper, which they submitted via fax (shocking, it’s still a thing, LOL) to my insurance. They gave me back my hard copy and then sent me to wait in the waiting area. My husband and son were with me. I told my husband, “You can leave if you want…” It was my passive way of trying to get him to leave. He replied with, “No way, we’re staying with you until they call you back.” I felt terrible that all the people in the waiting room (there were quite a bit) were trying for a baby and my feral child was running around like no one’s business. I expressed this to him and he agreed, so they left. A minute or two after they left, I was asked by the receptionists to head to the lab to get my prolactin test redone. NOTE: Chances are you won’t have to do this on the day of your polypectomy. My levels were elevated when I did my initial blood work because I was still breastfeeding at the time. And, they want you to be fasting (sometimes) when you take the test, so it was the perfect opportunity for me.
Around 9:00 A.M. - Called Back for Surgery Prep!
Around 9:00 a.m. they called me into the back where my recovery room was. I was asked to remove my sandals, change into my patient gown and put on a hair net and booties, and then relax/sit on the bed, which I did. Everything I had went into a patient bag that they provided for my belongings, which truth be told, all I had on me was my HMSA form and the clothes I was wearing. A few minutes later, my pre- and post-op nurse came in and took some vitals - temperature and blood pressure. Then, she set me up with an IV. Afterward, I was told to just hang out (it would be a while) and that I could use my phone… I very, unfortunately, did not bring it because the pre-op instructions screamed at me not to bring anything. I should have known phones would be exempt, LOL. So, I didn’t get to take any photos (sorry). I also ended up just resting, taking mini naps, deepening my Pilates practice (I mean what else was I going to do?) for I want to say 40ish minutes, if not more. I asked for magazines or books or something, but there was none of that to be had, so moral of the story? Bring your phone. LOL
Around 10:00 A.M. - Surgery!
I can’t be entirely sure, of course, but my surgery start time was 10:00 A.M., so I assume this is around the time the ball finally started rolling. The anesthesiologist doctor arrived to chat with me about 10 minutes before they were going to bring me back. I’m not sure if he remembered me or not (or if he just looked at the chart), but he said, “I’ve worked with you before, do you remember?” (I didn’t remember, LOL). He asked me questions about allergies to meds, how my recovery was last time, etc. He left then my surgery nurse arrived a few minutes later. She helped me to the bathroom with my IV bag, I “emptied my bladder” (words verbatim), and then she walked me to the operating room (OR).
Once in the OR, I laid down on the bed, got my legs in the stirrups. The anesthesiologist administered the meds that would “relax” me and maybe five minutes later he gave me the meds that would help me “drift off to sleep.” Which I did. Immediately. Haha.
I think my body has PTSD from my birthing experience a couple years ago, but once the speculum went in, I briefly woke up. :D I tease with my friends that I probably jerked awake (I am 99.9% sure I did jerk) and they dialed up the “drift off to sleep” meds, haha.
Time (I have no idea) - Post-op
The experience of waking up from anesthesia is an interesting one. You wake up, but you’re still in a fog so the memories aren’t the best. What I can say is, I remember my pre-/post-op nurse asking if I wanted a snack. I hadn’t eaten for almost 12 hours at this point, so of course I said yes. She went down the entire list of snacks and Pringles, one of the first things she mentioned, was the only thing that piqued my interest, but by the time she got to the end of the list, I’d forgotten about the Pringles - just that I wanted something from the beginning of the list. LOL. I groggily asked if she could repeat the first snacks she’d rattled off, and when she said Pringles, I nodded my head.
I had a couple of those single-serve Pringles and some water, but was in and out during that time. When I finally came to enough to be alert and keep my eyes open, my doctor came in and reviewed the surgery with me. She noted that they were able to cut out three polyps that were at the top of my uterus and that my uterus was now, “baby ready.” (YAY!) She mentioned that it would be a month before we could try the IUIs again. She noted that we would have a follow-up appointment, but that we would likely follow suit with our trajectory from last time, since I got pregnant that way.
A few minutes after she left, I set my follow-up appointment and then my nurse asked if I could get up, walk to and use, the bathroom. I did both just fine. When I got out of the bathroom, they called my husband to pick me up, and I changed out of my patient gown then patiently waited. I got some post-op instructions on a piece of paper, as well as guidelines one when to take pain meds.
When my hubby got there, they took me out and that was it!
11:49 A.M. - Recovery
My husband, God bless his soul, had gotten me a plate of food from our friend’s restaurant (who is the best cook)! My post-op meal was fried rice, steak, and shrimp (YUM). I surprisingly had very little pain, as compared to the first time. So much less that I didn’t even need to use my heating pad (last time I seriously had that thing glued to me for the rest of the day and then some). My uterus felt weird all day and I did experience pain, it was just a lot more manageable than last time.
While I was in my recovery room post-op, I was thinking about donuts and cake and how I wanted to eat one or the other, so on our way home we stopped at a donut shop and got the most delicious donuts (Oreo, Biscoff, and s’mores in case you’re wondering).
Once we got home, I basically laid on the couch all day. I didn’t do too much walking or carrying or anything like that. I also took a nap for a few hours shortly after getting home and that was the day!
5/10 - 5/18: More Recovery
The days following surgery, my mom and dad were on “vacation” with us, so we did some walking around and shopping, but I felt fine! After too much walking, I could definitely feel it in my uterus, so I sat down where I could. My surgery was on Friday, and by the following Monday, I thought I was well enough to do a lighter Pilates class (only 45 minutes and a level 1-2 compared to my usual 2-3). I got through class fine, but afterward my uterus screamed at me for being so dumb. I ended up canceling class for the rest of the week because if I didn’t heal properly after surgery, what was the point of doing surgery at all, right?
If you’re like me and practice Pilates or are a gym girly, it can be hard and make you anxious when you don’t go. I did ask if I could go to Pilates and the general rule of thumb is no strenuous activities for the next 24-48 hours. They recommended I only go 25% in workout classes for the next week, but to listen to your body. While the 45-minute, 1-2 level class was a 25% for me, my uterus did not agree.
I also want to make a note that the first time I did this, I got very backed up (bowel movement-wise) and experienced constipation like I have never experienced it before. (It was terrible!) This time around, I didn’t experience that at all. Likely because I was under for a much shorter amount of time and I credit Pilates for keeping my bowels moving. ☻
And… that’s all she wrote!
I was going to write that was my polypectomy in a nutshell, but frankly, that is the entire polypectomy story. I might be missing a minor detail or two, but overall, that’s how my day went. Now, we wait a month and go from there! Until then…
