This is a repost from an old, now dead blog.
It’s been about four years since I got the Mirena put in, and according to my surgeon. That is about the limit of its lifetime when the hormones are fighting endometriosis/adenomyosis.
As pain continued to increase, bleeding occurred more often, the doctors decided to send me in for another investigative laparoscopy. This will remove any endometriosis that had regrown, replace the Mirena, clear out adhesions and check the growth of the adenomyosis.
The ultrasound showed a few adenomyoma cysts in the uterine wall, which means it has grown a little (or technology has improved). There wasn’t much else to indicate that the adenomyosis or the endometriosis was worsening. They couldn’t see any obvious adhesions or scar tissue.
Prepping for an endometriosis laparoscopy
The bowel clean out, using Fleet, was as pleasant as usual. I think the lemon and ginger ‘flavouring’ had been intensified, but still couldn’t cover the vileness of the liquid.
Still, I got through it, and rocked up at the hospital craving a cup of tea and something to eat.
As usual, I think I counted to one number before I fell asleep – general anesthetics knock me out immediately.
They must have kept me warm, as I wasn’t blue when I woke up. I had a rather surreal conversation in the recovery room with a couple of nurses and another patient about black and white cockatoos. I wish I could remember it now!
The nurse was intrigued when I asked what family of medications fentanyl belonged to, so she looked it up. Seems fentanyl is off by itself and is a fast acting pain medication with a very short lifespan. It did help to calm the involuntary shivers which are apparently common during recovery.
No new endo, but adeno has grown
My surgeon dropped by before I left for the ward, and mentioned there was absolutely no endometriosis. Yay!
He was really pleased with how well the Mirena had prevented the endometriosis from growing back.
Unfortunately, the adenomyosis had grown. He will put me back on Zoladex to try to shrink it when I see him next year. He was quite surprised that the Mirena didn’t seem to do much to halt the growth of the adenomyosis, but worked extremely well against the endo.
I’m always backwards.
Edit – the endo had grown significantly by the time I had operation #6 (a hysterectomy) in 2015, and has probably grown into/through the bowel wall.
Now for the recovery
I stayed in overnight – I recover better than if I go home immediately – car rides right after surgery are pretty nasty.
As they didn’t find any endo, I only had two belly cuts (not four), but am still awfully bloated with the gas. My neck and shoulders are going to hurt for days, until the gas has been absorbed and expelled through my diaphragm/lungs.