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Courtney's Diary Entries Diary Navigation: Choose A Diary Entry -------------------- Latest Entry: 10/21/03 -------------------- 10/11/03 9/20/03 7/30/03 7/12/03 6/24/03 6/15/03 6/7/03 5/17/03 5/5/03 4/25/03 4/6/03 3/30/03 3/10/03 2/26/03 2/15/03 2/10/03 1/26/03 1/18/03 1/12/03 1/4/03 12/15/02 12/6/02 11/27/02 11/16/02 11/6/02 10/28/02 10/24/02 10/22/02 10/6/02 9/28/02 9/15/02 9/11/02 9/3/02 8/26/02 8/11/02 8/5/02 7/15/02 6/18/02 6/6/02 5/17/02 5/15/02 4/26/02 4/5/02 3/29/02 3/17/02 3/9/02 3/1/02 2/17/02 1/5/02 12/23/01 12/3/01 11/26/01 11/19/01 11/2/01 10/20/01 10/14/01 10/2/01 9/23/01 9/13/01 9/10/01 9/1/01 8/23/01 8/14/01 7/30/01 7/21/01 7/15/01 7/7/01 7/1/01 6/27/01 6/25/01 6/21/01 6/4/01 5/28/01 5/17/01 5/8/01 4/27/01 4/20/01 4/13/01 4/6/01 3/31/01 3/24/01 3/15/01 3/1/01 2/22/01 2/15/01 2/7/01 2/1/01 1/31/01 1/30/01 1/27/01 1/23/01 1/19/01 1/16/01 1/14/01 1/10/01 1/1/01 12/26/00 12/12/00 12/5/00 11/28/00 11/21/00 11/15/00 11/9/00 10/30/00 10/24/00 10/18/00 10/10/00 10/2/00 -------------------- Courtney's Introduction

June 4, 2001

Thank you to everyone who has posted on my board and kept me in their thoughts and prayers. I appreciate it all.

To update everyone I had my surgery on June 1, 2001. My recovery is taking much longer than I ever expected, that is why this update is late.

Let's begin with my arrival at the St Thomas General hospital in St Thomas (20 minutes from London). My RE is able to get an OR at this small town hospital much quicker than the large hospitals in London. I got there at 9:45 and was told my surgery would be at 11:45. They asked me a bunch of questions, fitted me with the hospital bands and told me I could go watch tv in the waiting room until they needed me. This was so different than any of my other surgery experiences in the big city hospitals. In the waiting room there were several other people either waiting for their wife who was also having a lap with my RE or waiting for a lap. When my RE appeared to explain findings to the waiting dh's he waived to me. I felt kinda bad as he didn't acknowledge the other woman also waiting for him. She glared at me and I felt a bit uncomfortable. I understand that I may receive "special" treatment due to the circumstances of my visits with the RE (he is writing a paper on my situation and will publish it "when" we get pregnant). The nurse came to get me at 11:30 and I got all ready for the OR. They rolled me away and I was left outside the OR. The anesthesiologist (sp? let's call him Bob for this entry) came and spoke with me and then so did the nurse (she put on a little hat thing over my hair). They wheeled me into the OR before giving me an IV or anything. This I have never experienced. The nurse had me move myself onto the operating table and then proceeded to explain all the monitors she was hooking me up to. I think I started to get a little freaked out while I watched the OR nurse take out all the instruments. I saw my RE enter the room and wave to me. Bob asked me where I wanted the IV and I said I didn't care ... no one has ever asked me before. Once he had that in he told me that my heart rate was high and he was going to give me something to calm me down. That is all I remember until I heard someone calling my name and I awoke in the recovery room. The surgery started at 12:30 and finished at 2:30. The nurses from the outpatient room were there to move me back to outpatient recovery and I hear the OR nurse tell them I had the endo cauterized. I was out again after that and remember coming to with my hubby and his mom standing by my bed. The RE didn't plan on my surgery taking so long so he didn't have time to talk to DH after the surgery. The RE did call the hospital to talk to dh before we headed home. Dh was able to find out that they found moderate to severe endo. I won't know where or what was affected until my post op appointment on June 15th.

Here is how I have been since the surgery. I got home about 5:30pm and watched tv from bed. I didn't sleep more than 4 hours the first night though. I was up at 5am and stayed up all day. I didn't feel well and was in a lot of pain. I watched movies Saturday lying in bed and took my pain meds every 3 hours ... man have they been a blessing. I had such severe shoulder pain on Saturday night I was actually screaming. I assumed the pain they warn you about would be in the muscles. This pain was in my shoulder joint. I was finally able to fall asleep and slept for 8 hours without moving. Sunday I stayed in bed although I was able to move around but not to go up or down stairs. I tried to read email unsuccessfully. Monday I was able to go downstairs although it took a lot out of me. I still couldn't read email as it made me nauseous to be at the computer. Today is Tuesday and this is the first time I have been at the computer. Just to type this email has taken me an hour and a half. I keep having to leave the computer and come back as I get nauseous. My left shoulder is really hurting so I am going to sign off. Oh one more thing. After reading some of the lap experiences from other women I expected to come out of the surgery shaved down there. To my surprise I wasn't. I guess each Dr does things differently.

Please post your recovery time on my board for a lap. I am wondering how long before your tummy swelling went down and how long it took you to O. Will I O on time or late? Thanks guys!

Courtney