Gynae probs

Hello, I think an update is overdue….

The last month has been pretty awful for a number of reasons but I feel I am over the worst now. I had a procedure called Uterine Artery Embolization two weeks ago at Guys. After much umming and ahhh ing and 5 trips to see the docs it was decided that they would try the procedure with a local anaesthetic. If it proved too much it was to be abandoned and then rescheduled for a planned general anaesthetic. Sedation was deemed too risky due to my respiratory problems.

Unfortunately, whilst waiting for the appointment I lost so much blood I had to be admitted locally and given a blood transfusion – I really could have done without that!!! They patched me up and I was put on drugs to get me through to the procedure eithout anymore hiccups.

There were a few hurdles to get over before the op began. Firstly, the interventional radiologist dojng the procedure thought I was having a general – cue mini wave of panic followed by my sternest most assertive tone explaining exactly what had been agreed. I am however glad we persuaded them to let my Mum and my Carer into the pre-op area as I would have felt awfully vulnerable at this stage. After everything was agreed I was wheeled off to theatre and the first job was to find a vein for a cannula. They couldn’t find one and in the end it had to be put in my groin with the aid of ultrasound to locate it.

Then the procedure could begin by inserting a catheter into my femoral artery via a small incision. This did not go well due to ky wonky pelvis, I heard the consultant say something about hitting the pelvic bone and the right side had to be abandoned. I never did ask why they prefer to go up the right side. Change to the left artery and everything went to plan, so clever it was – once the catheter was in place a wire was guided through using a dye and xray to check the right path was being taken and then particles were injected to stop the blood supply to the fibroid. I was disappointed I couldn’t watch it on screen but I was lying to flat to be able to see. The most painful bit of the procedure was when the radiologist had to put pressure on the arteries after the catheters came out but I understood why this was necessary – I did think at one point I might go through the table!!

My ventilator did its job and my breathing remained amazingly calm throughout, was a little bit wobbly when IV tramadol went through but on the whole I felt pretty stable and so glad I had gone for a local anaesthetic. I had to stay in one night and was discharged the following day. The consultant turned out to be brilliant after the initial anaesthetic mix up and came to make sûre I was ok – he has never had a case as complex as mine he said. He certainly had to work hard in the theatre, it was supposed to take an hour and a half but in fact was double that.

I’ve been back two weeks now and am only just beginning to feel like myself but slowly things are on the up. Bit early to say if it’s all been successful but the signs are good. I have learnt a lot about a lot, in terms of what could have been improved in the whole process leading up to the op, what worked really well and also that I have coping strategies I didn’t know I had.

There may be more posts of this ilk as I would like to start a discussion on hospital admissions in the near future. Please ask if anyone has any questions – hope to be a bit more active on the forum now