2009 - Diagnosis Year
So we go onto 2009 and what a year that was. It was both the worst and best year that I had up to that point in my life. Since then I have had better years and sadly worse years. 2009 was the worst year I had for pain but I finally got my diagnosis. The year started out OK I was still getting the pains but was taking Tramadol more and more often or so it seemed. I started to take 'that time of the month' off sick because the Tramadol would knock me out completely. I hated taking Tramadol because of that spaced out feeling but it was better than the pain I was in without it. I really do not know how people become drug addicts as I can not stand the not knowing of time or how hard it is to do the most simple things like standing up. At one stage I ended up sitting with my line manager and we marked in the diary when I was likely to go sick so she could organise extra cover just in case.
Anyway the week that I was due to start my new housekeeping job I was off sick. This pain was really bad and once again we took a trip to Accident and Emergency which I would say was starting to become my second home (well between Frimley Pak Hospital and my Doctors Surgery). Firstly I would go to see my doctor because the pain had got too much and the pain killers were no longer working my doctor would examine me before sending me to Accident and Emergency after telling me off for not going to see her before. The problem was that I was worried about wasting her time as it was still in my head about the first hospital visit where I was told it was just a pulled muscle and then my GP telling me that I was as good as making it all up. I also would think that if I was to go to the doctors every time I was in pain I would never leave there. After all the pain was something that I had lived with for so long now. It is sad to say but the pain was becoming a way of life. Anyway they done tests at the hospital and it turned out that I had a bad urinary tract infection (UTI)/kidney infection. I was put on IV antibiotics overnight and sent home with painkillers and a course of antibiotics. I was also signed off work for 2 weeks. After 2 weeks I went back to work and you guessed it 2 weeks later along came mother nature with my monthly gift, causing me to go off sick again. Once again I found myself sitting in a hospital bed for another overnight stay with yet another UTI/kidney infection receiving IV antibiotics. This cycle seemed to go on for some time each month my periods were getting more and more unbareable. I am so luck that my employers were so understanding. I think that being honest and upfront with them from tday one has helped with that.
On July 2nd 2009 I was admitted to hospital via Accident and Emergency at 9pm. By now a hospital stay did not scare me and I would often go to A&E on my own instead of with my mum or dad. The admission times on a discharge notes are not the times that you get to A&E but the time that they admit you to the ward. This particular time I had abdominal pain for 3 consecutive days. they treated me with Trimethoprim for a UTI (dysuria, frequency) and a positive urine dip. They started me on IV Augmentin and Gentamicin (antibiotics). They done a scan and X-ray and both kidneys were OK, no hydronephrosis (an accumulation of urine in the kidney because of an obstruction in the urethra, renal calculi (stones) or perinephric collection. I always wonder why do doctors have to use such long complicated words and then they shorten them so you have absolutely no idea what they are talking about. I had no free fluid in my pelvis, and my liver, spleen, GB pancreas were all normal. They also yet again checked my appendix which was yet again fine. The next day I was discharged with Augmentin, Paracetamol, Marvelon OCP, Tramadol and was once again signed off work for yet another 2 weeks.
I am sure it was around August 2009 when I had my first ever gynaecologist appointment. I got my mum to wait with me as I was very nervous. They done an internal examination and put a camera inside me to have a look at my ovaries. They told me that everything looked healthy and ok. Another thing that made me even now think that it was all in my head? Am I just a wimp that is making a big fuss over nothing? After all they have done every test under the sun, every scan, X-ray, MRI scan I had ever had all came back clear. And now even the experts were saying everything looked healthy. I know I should have been happy that I was healthy but I was gutted. I had hoped I would finally find out what was wrong with me and yet again according to the tests that they had done I was healthy and by rights I should not be in pain.
Why was I in so much pain all the time? The pain was now 90% of the time and the other 10% it was a constant ache just to let me know that it was still there and was not going to go away.
I was still having these bad UTI’s/Kidney infections. By now I was starting to feel down, drained and fed up. I was always ill.
One time I was in a lot of pain and had not been for a wee for 24 hours even though I had the urge to go. A sign of a UTI with it being a weekend (so the doctor surgery was closed) I made my way up to Frimley Park Hospital Accident and Emergency to catch it early. They asked for me to try and give them a urine sample. I managed to force out a little but could not even fill up half the tube they gave me. They done a bladder scan and said that my bladder was empty. How to this day I do not know as I had been drinking a lot of juice and water and like I said had been unable to go for 24 hours. I think it was the start of a UTI but I cannot remember the result. I had to have some blood taken when I was told this my mum was out of the room. When she came back to her I said I am waiting for the vampire to steel some blood. The problem with this was that I said it just as the sister (or I think she was a sister) came to take my blood. I do not think that she saw the funny side of this comment at all. I did say I am sure she is a nice person but I just like my blood in me. She did not say anything to that. A little tip never call anyone who is about to take some blood from you a vampire, even if you say it as a joke like I did. They do not like it or this particular one did not anyway. She stabbed my arm a bit more harshly and even today I do not know what she done I get random sharp pains in that area as though someone is taking blood. It may not have been her but coincidence that it only started happening after she took my blood.
Another time there was an army doctor on duty in A&E. He came over with my now rather large and full looking folder of notes. He said to me in a short tone “you have been here a lot with this, haven’t you?” and walked off. I remember turning to my mum really worried saying I do not like him, he thinks I am making it up or exaggerating. My mum said that it was just the way he is as some doctors can be like that. It turns out that mum was right we overheard him talking to someone else in that exact same way. I think he was actually a good doctor.
By now my GP was also thinking that it was highly likely that I had Endometriosis and gave me some information sheets about it. I cannot remember if this was before or after my gynaecologist appointment. I remember this was the first time that I took the wording in you may have Endometriosis. It felt good to know what I could be.
Right I think it is time to go to 27th October 2009. I was yet again off work and in pain. I reluctantly had taken a Tramadol tablet that morning and lunchtime. I was starting to really hate taking it now as I was starting to hallucinate (I saw my granddad standing over me as I was about to fall asleep, not so bad until I tell you that he died in August 2002). Another time I woke up with a glass of water next to me in the morning. I told my mum that I must have got up in the night to get a glass of water but did not remember doing so. So you can imagine I was even more shocked when she said that it was about 1.30/2.00am. She was washing up and we chatted for a whole hour and a half. I was not sleep walking I was wide awake. To this day I do not remember this or the conversation that we had. Knowing that this had happened once I do wonder how many other times had I completely blanked out and do not remember what I done or said. I was also starting to get very jumpy over the smallest of things whenever I had to take Tramadol. So like I say I was starting to hate taking the tablets but they done their job the Tramadol eased the pain or made me so out of it I no longer cared about the pain. Either way I was comfortable however this particular day they did not work. The pain had not eased, well it took the edge off but I was still very uncomfortable.
By now whenever I was in pain I could not bring myself to eat I would just feel ill at the thought of food. So I would have my “I am sick” comfort food – Heinz Tomato Soup. I would only eat once a day (at dinner time) and when it was worse I would just not eat at all. (I would have milk or yogurt to line my stomach when I took Tramadol). The result of this was I was obviously losing weight. To counteract this weight loss I would try to get to my height weight of 8 stone during the 3 weeks I was ok, then during that week that I had my period I would go back down to 7 ½ stone. I would struggle to get my weight above the 7 ½ stone and it took a lot to get myself to 8 stone and no matter how hard I tried I could not get any higher. I look at myself now and I looked very skinny I would lay down and you could see my ribs at 7 ½ stone but this was normal to me.
This time I could not bring myself to even have some soup. By 7pm I was suffering from the Tramadol like I had never suffered before. I was itchy all over, hot then just a quick I would go freezing cold. I was sweating whether I was hot or cold. At this stage I decided not to take my next dose of Tramadol as these side effects were not good at all and I was not really getting any pain relief (or so I thought). I said I would go to my GP the following morning and see if she could prescribe me something else. I thought that the itching and hot and cold sweats would ease once the Tramadol was out of my system. Well on top of the other side effects I was now having the shakes. It was horrible, it was as though I was a drug addict going cold turkey. I ached all over and then came the sickness I could not even keep water down. I knew it was just the effects of the Tramadol so I did not go to A&E. I said that I would insist on an emergency appointment at my doctor’s surgery the following morning.
Many a time when I took Tramadol I would fall asleep on the sofa and wake up the next morning. My parents would just leave me there. Even now if I cannot sleep because of the pain I will make my way to the living room onto the sofa with a blanket and no matter what time of night is was I would a naff film and doze off.
On the morning of 28th October I woke up in complete agony I could hardly move, not because I had slept on the sofa I always found it comfortable. It was because I had had not painkillers in my system at all. What was in there I had vomited up. I was no longer suffering the side effects of the Tramadol that I had the night before. I made my emergency appointment with my GP. I knew that I could not drive the short journey because of the pain. So my mum walked with me the short distance to the doctor’s surgery. What would normally take me 5 minutes (15 if I was with my mum) it took us over 30 minutes to walk.
I remember sitting in the waiting room in my slacks and with my hoodie on looking like crap. I was in so much pain, I had not experienced that amount of pain. My doctor as usual was running late, she was normally about 20 minutes late. When she called my name I struggled to stand up. I could not walk without being crunched up. I managed to make it into her office. I explained about the night before. She asked me to get on the bed so she could have a feel of my stomach. I struggled onto the bed. When I was on there she just needed to tough my stomach with feather weight pressure and my already tense stomach tensed even more and I screamed out because of the pain. She had seen enough. I was not to leave the doctor surgery. I was told to get someone to drive me up to the hospital or if there was no one to be able to do this she would call for an ambulance. Not wanting to waste an ambulance as I thought someone would need it more than me. I said I would call my dad. However he was working in London and could not get away (he is a plumber) he called our neighbour who kindly took me to the hospital. My GP insisted on seeing the person who was to take me to the hospital to insist on how it was important to get me straight there. I was not to sit in A&E I was to go up to the surgical ward. Not realizing how bad I was I told my mum not to come as she would just be sitting with me and I would be ok. I had seen many surgeons when I was in A&E and had never had surgery so why would this be different. To be honest surgery was the last thing on my mind. My doctor had phoned ahead and when I got to the ward I was given a bed. I was told I was to be nil by mouth. I sent my husband to be a text to say I was in hospital again. I did not get a reply but then was not expecting to as he was at work. The surgeon then came round and had a feel on my stomach. I think I was given some Oramorph (oral morphine) so that he could do this. I was told I was to have a procedure called a laparoscopy. I have explained the procedure in How is Endometriosis Diagnosed. He sat and explained the whole procedure to me. When he went I was told the anaesthetist will come and have a chat with me. I signed the consent form. The anaesthetist came and asked me a few questions. He asked if I was asthmatic I said I was but had not had an attack since I was working with animals as it was triggered by hay/straw and certain animal fur. He was happy with this. He said if I had no other questions someone would come and weigh me. It was only after talking to the anaesthetist it dawned on me this was serious. I had sent my husband to be another text to say I was to have a laparoscopy and to phone my mum and she would explain. I then phoned my mum, she asked if I wanted her with me. Even though I was scared I said no as I was next on the list as I was an emergency and she may not get there in time. As soon as I hung up the porter came and took me down to theatre.
By now I was really nervous I had seen a program a few years previously about people that do not wake up from their anaesthetic and of others that had woken up during theatre. One woman on this program was saying how she was able to feel everything they were doing but could not tell them because she was anaesthetised. This program had started to go around my head as we made our way down to the theatre.
I watched everything that was going on and all the monitors. I was fascinated and could not believe that there was all these people about me. They wanted to lay me down but when they tried the pain was too much so they said that they would do it when I was asleep. All the time they were very chatty and asked me normal questions about my life, what I do for a living etc. I told them that I was worried about not waking up. They told me not to worry and reassured me that I would and when I did I would feel much better. I then remember a really calm and relaxing feeling come over me. The last thing I remember thinking was do not shut your eyes until you are asleep or they may think you have gone under when you have not. Looking back that is ridiculous as that is what all the monitors are for.
At first I thought it was morning. I was at home in my bed, the last 24 hours forgotten. There we go mum is calling me. Just another five more minutes and I will get up. The second time my name was called however I realised it was not my mums voice. I slowly opened my eyes and realised that I was in the hospital and everything came back to me what had happened. The first thing that I asked the nurse was what was the time was she said that it was 6.20pm. Like I have said before I do not like not knowing what the time is. The next two things I asked was did everything go OK and did they finally find out what was wrong with me. She said everything seemed ok but did not know what was wrong with me as I was in recovery and that later the doctor will come and have a chat with me.
I must have fallen asleep again because the next thing I knew was that I was on the Gynaecology Ward. I think I had missed dinner by the time I got back onto the ward but was given a sandwich. To be honest it was all I fancied I was more sleepy than hungry. I phoned my mum to let her know that I was OK and asked her to let my boyfriend know. Later I found out he went straight to my parents after work when he saw my messages. I must have fallen asleep again because when I woke up my dad and my husband to be were just coming into visit.
Probably because of the anaesthetic I slept really well that night. I did suffer from really bad trapped wind I found it hard to breathe again they done an ECG test and because that came clear they made me drink some Gaviscon before saying that it must be trapped wind. When I woke up in the morning I woke up, had my breakfast and a shower and waited for the doctor to come.
I felt disappointed with her attitude I felt it was as though she was looking down at me (It may just be where I was still had the anaesthetic in my system but who knows). She said that they had found Endometriosis and my left fallopian tube was extremely swollen. Some thing was mentioned about a tube attached to my bowel. I also had something called Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID).
PID I later found out is an infection of the female upper genital tract, including the womb, fallopian tubes and ovaries. A woman can contract it as a side effect from an untreated sexually transmitted disease. They had taken swabs from me to find out which one. I was mortified to say the least at this as I knew that both my husband and myself had never slept around whilst we had been together. There was no way that it could have been a sexually transmitted disease. Later the results came back negative which I knew they would, I had not contracted PID through a sexually transmitted disease. The doctor then said that I must have contracted it as a secondary thing caused by the Endometriosis. If you remember that year I kept getting UTI/Kidney infections. It was at this point that she said that I may have difficulty having a baby as I had a lot of scarring in my pelvis. There was no way of knowing the extent of this until I started trying for a family. Then I would have to wait for a year before they could look into it. This seemed ok and did not really affect me that much because we were not even considering on having kids for a long time yet I was only 23 and not ready to be a mum yet. And even if I did have difficulty a year is not a long time is it?
My pelvis was washed out and treated with IV and oral antibiotics. Later that day on the 29th October 2009 I was discharged. I was to have a follow up appointment with the gynaecologist in 4 weeks’ time. I was given Paracetamol, Diclofenac, Metronidazole, Cefradine, and Doxycycline. I was signed off work for 2 weeks.
At the end of the 2 weeks I was still getting tired easily and my GP said that I was suffering from post-op fatigue. The anaesthetic was taking its time to get out of my body.
During the first week I had got a throat irritation after the tube they put in when you are under anaesthetic. My dad spoke to the pharmacist and she gave a numbing spray. By the second week I was feeling much better able to move around a bit more easily, but I was still getting very tired. The third week I was almost there and managed to do my Christmas shopping, the earliest I have ever done it.
I went back to work for a couple of weeks when I was told I had to take the rest of my holiday (or I would lose it) by the end of the year. I still had about 3 weeks of holiday left because I had had so much time off sick I had not been able to fit holiday time in as well. So therefore I was off until the New Year.
I had my follow up appointment on 24th November 2009 although I was still getting some pain it had dramatically declined and was definitely more bearable. I was to continue with the combined pill which I was to take continuously for the Endometriosis. Only to have a period every 3-4 months. We also reviewed the results of my laparoscopy which showed one healthy tube and a left hydrosalpinx with some scarring to the bowel. I was told that this might me secondary to Endometriosis and that I can minimise any further scarring by continuing to take the pill. I was told that in relation to my fertility I do have 1 healthy tube (and 1 can be just as good as 2) and the other may become less inflamed as the infection settled. I was then discharged from gynaecology.
The taking of the combined pill seemed to work really well over the next few years. I was so relieved to finally have an end to it all. During my periods every 3-4 months I still had pains but I could control them easily.
Just knowing what was wrong with me and knowing that I was not a wimp seemed to take a lot of the pressure off me. At this point I still did not accept that I had a disease it was just something not quite right and would occasionally get in my way now and then.
My life went on as good as normal and when I had bad pains I would take a Co-Codamol (varying in strengths depending on how painful it was) before using the Co-Codamol I would see if the pain would go with just Nurofen. If the Co-Codamol would not work then I would take Dihydrocodeine. But this would knock me out so I would only take it if nothing else had worked.
Anyway the week that I was due to start my new housekeeping job I was off sick. This pain was really bad and once again we took a trip to Accident and Emergency which I would say was starting to become my second home (well between Frimley Pak Hospital and my Doctors Surgery). Firstly I would go to see my doctor because the pain had got too much and the pain killers were no longer working my doctor would examine me before sending me to Accident and Emergency after telling me off for not going to see her before. The problem was that I was worried about wasting her time as it was still in my head about the first hospital visit where I was told it was just a pulled muscle and then my GP telling me that I was as good as making it all up. I also would think that if I was to go to the doctors every time I was in pain I would never leave there. After all the pain was something that I had lived with for so long now. It is sad to say but the pain was becoming a way of life. Anyway they done tests at the hospital and it turned out that I had a bad urinary tract infection (UTI)/kidney infection. I was put on IV antibiotics overnight and sent home with painkillers and a course of antibiotics. I was also signed off work for 2 weeks. After 2 weeks I went back to work and you guessed it 2 weeks later along came mother nature with my monthly gift, causing me to go off sick again. Once again I found myself sitting in a hospital bed for another overnight stay with yet another UTI/kidney infection receiving IV antibiotics. This cycle seemed to go on for some time each month my periods were getting more and more unbareable. I am so luck that my employers were so understanding. I think that being honest and upfront with them from tday one has helped with that.
On July 2nd 2009 I was admitted to hospital via Accident and Emergency at 9pm. By now a hospital stay did not scare me and I would often go to A&E on my own instead of with my mum or dad. The admission times on a discharge notes are not the times that you get to A&E but the time that they admit you to the ward. This particular time I had abdominal pain for 3 consecutive days. they treated me with Trimethoprim for a UTI (dysuria, frequency) and a positive urine dip. They started me on IV Augmentin and Gentamicin (antibiotics). They done a scan and X-ray and both kidneys were OK, no hydronephrosis (an accumulation of urine in the kidney because of an obstruction in the urethra, renal calculi (stones) or perinephric collection. I always wonder why do doctors have to use such long complicated words and then they shorten them so you have absolutely no idea what they are talking about. I had no free fluid in my pelvis, and my liver, spleen, GB pancreas were all normal. They also yet again checked my appendix which was yet again fine. The next day I was discharged with Augmentin, Paracetamol, Marvelon OCP, Tramadol and was once again signed off work for yet another 2 weeks.
I am sure it was around August 2009 when I had my first ever gynaecologist appointment. I got my mum to wait with me as I was very nervous. They done an internal examination and put a camera inside me to have a look at my ovaries. They told me that everything looked healthy and ok. Another thing that made me even now think that it was all in my head? Am I just a wimp that is making a big fuss over nothing? After all they have done every test under the sun, every scan, X-ray, MRI scan I had ever had all came back clear. And now even the experts were saying everything looked healthy. I know I should have been happy that I was healthy but I was gutted. I had hoped I would finally find out what was wrong with me and yet again according to the tests that they had done I was healthy and by rights I should not be in pain.
Why was I in so much pain all the time? The pain was now 90% of the time and the other 10% it was a constant ache just to let me know that it was still there and was not going to go away.
I was still having these bad UTI’s/Kidney infections. By now I was starting to feel down, drained and fed up. I was always ill.
One time I was in a lot of pain and had not been for a wee for 24 hours even though I had the urge to go. A sign of a UTI with it being a weekend (so the doctor surgery was closed) I made my way up to Frimley Park Hospital Accident and Emergency to catch it early. They asked for me to try and give them a urine sample. I managed to force out a little but could not even fill up half the tube they gave me. They done a bladder scan and said that my bladder was empty. How to this day I do not know as I had been drinking a lot of juice and water and like I said had been unable to go for 24 hours. I think it was the start of a UTI but I cannot remember the result. I had to have some blood taken when I was told this my mum was out of the room. When she came back to her I said I am waiting for the vampire to steel some blood. The problem with this was that I said it just as the sister (or I think she was a sister) came to take my blood. I do not think that she saw the funny side of this comment at all. I did say I am sure she is a nice person but I just like my blood in me. She did not say anything to that. A little tip never call anyone who is about to take some blood from you a vampire, even if you say it as a joke like I did. They do not like it or this particular one did not anyway. She stabbed my arm a bit more harshly and even today I do not know what she done I get random sharp pains in that area as though someone is taking blood. It may not have been her but coincidence that it only started happening after she took my blood.
Another time there was an army doctor on duty in A&E. He came over with my now rather large and full looking folder of notes. He said to me in a short tone “you have been here a lot with this, haven’t you?” and walked off. I remember turning to my mum really worried saying I do not like him, he thinks I am making it up or exaggerating. My mum said that it was just the way he is as some doctors can be like that. It turns out that mum was right we overheard him talking to someone else in that exact same way. I think he was actually a good doctor.
By now my GP was also thinking that it was highly likely that I had Endometriosis and gave me some information sheets about it. I cannot remember if this was before or after my gynaecologist appointment. I remember this was the first time that I took the wording in you may have Endometriosis. It felt good to know what I could be.
Right I think it is time to go to 27th October 2009. I was yet again off work and in pain. I reluctantly had taken a Tramadol tablet that morning and lunchtime. I was starting to really hate taking it now as I was starting to hallucinate (I saw my granddad standing over me as I was about to fall asleep, not so bad until I tell you that he died in August 2002). Another time I woke up with a glass of water next to me in the morning. I told my mum that I must have got up in the night to get a glass of water but did not remember doing so. So you can imagine I was even more shocked when she said that it was about 1.30/2.00am. She was washing up and we chatted for a whole hour and a half. I was not sleep walking I was wide awake. To this day I do not remember this or the conversation that we had. Knowing that this had happened once I do wonder how many other times had I completely blanked out and do not remember what I done or said. I was also starting to get very jumpy over the smallest of things whenever I had to take Tramadol. So like I say I was starting to hate taking the tablets but they done their job the Tramadol eased the pain or made me so out of it I no longer cared about the pain. Either way I was comfortable however this particular day they did not work. The pain had not eased, well it took the edge off but I was still very uncomfortable.
By now whenever I was in pain I could not bring myself to eat I would just feel ill at the thought of food. So I would have my “I am sick” comfort food – Heinz Tomato Soup. I would only eat once a day (at dinner time) and when it was worse I would just not eat at all. (I would have milk or yogurt to line my stomach when I took Tramadol). The result of this was I was obviously losing weight. To counteract this weight loss I would try to get to my height weight of 8 stone during the 3 weeks I was ok, then during that week that I had my period I would go back down to 7 ½ stone. I would struggle to get my weight above the 7 ½ stone and it took a lot to get myself to 8 stone and no matter how hard I tried I could not get any higher. I look at myself now and I looked very skinny I would lay down and you could see my ribs at 7 ½ stone but this was normal to me.
This time I could not bring myself to even have some soup. By 7pm I was suffering from the Tramadol like I had never suffered before. I was itchy all over, hot then just a quick I would go freezing cold. I was sweating whether I was hot or cold. At this stage I decided not to take my next dose of Tramadol as these side effects were not good at all and I was not really getting any pain relief (or so I thought). I said I would go to my GP the following morning and see if she could prescribe me something else. I thought that the itching and hot and cold sweats would ease once the Tramadol was out of my system. Well on top of the other side effects I was now having the shakes. It was horrible, it was as though I was a drug addict going cold turkey. I ached all over and then came the sickness I could not even keep water down. I knew it was just the effects of the Tramadol so I did not go to A&E. I said that I would insist on an emergency appointment at my doctor’s surgery the following morning.
Many a time when I took Tramadol I would fall asleep on the sofa and wake up the next morning. My parents would just leave me there. Even now if I cannot sleep because of the pain I will make my way to the living room onto the sofa with a blanket and no matter what time of night is was I would a naff film and doze off.
On the morning of 28th October I woke up in complete agony I could hardly move, not because I had slept on the sofa I always found it comfortable. It was because I had had not painkillers in my system at all. What was in there I had vomited up. I was no longer suffering the side effects of the Tramadol that I had the night before. I made my emergency appointment with my GP. I knew that I could not drive the short journey because of the pain. So my mum walked with me the short distance to the doctor’s surgery. What would normally take me 5 minutes (15 if I was with my mum) it took us over 30 minutes to walk.
I remember sitting in the waiting room in my slacks and with my hoodie on looking like crap. I was in so much pain, I had not experienced that amount of pain. My doctor as usual was running late, she was normally about 20 minutes late. When she called my name I struggled to stand up. I could not walk without being crunched up. I managed to make it into her office. I explained about the night before. She asked me to get on the bed so she could have a feel of my stomach. I struggled onto the bed. When I was on there she just needed to tough my stomach with feather weight pressure and my already tense stomach tensed even more and I screamed out because of the pain. She had seen enough. I was not to leave the doctor surgery. I was told to get someone to drive me up to the hospital or if there was no one to be able to do this she would call for an ambulance. Not wanting to waste an ambulance as I thought someone would need it more than me. I said I would call my dad. However he was working in London and could not get away (he is a plumber) he called our neighbour who kindly took me to the hospital. My GP insisted on seeing the person who was to take me to the hospital to insist on how it was important to get me straight there. I was not to sit in A&E I was to go up to the surgical ward. Not realizing how bad I was I told my mum not to come as she would just be sitting with me and I would be ok. I had seen many surgeons when I was in A&E and had never had surgery so why would this be different. To be honest surgery was the last thing on my mind. My doctor had phoned ahead and when I got to the ward I was given a bed. I was told I was to be nil by mouth. I sent my husband to be a text to say I was in hospital again. I did not get a reply but then was not expecting to as he was at work. The surgeon then came round and had a feel on my stomach. I think I was given some Oramorph (oral morphine) so that he could do this. I was told I was to have a procedure called a laparoscopy. I have explained the procedure in How is Endometriosis Diagnosed. He sat and explained the whole procedure to me. When he went I was told the anaesthetist will come and have a chat with me. I signed the consent form. The anaesthetist came and asked me a few questions. He asked if I was asthmatic I said I was but had not had an attack since I was working with animals as it was triggered by hay/straw and certain animal fur. He was happy with this. He said if I had no other questions someone would come and weigh me. It was only after talking to the anaesthetist it dawned on me this was serious. I had sent my husband to be another text to say I was to have a laparoscopy and to phone my mum and she would explain. I then phoned my mum, she asked if I wanted her with me. Even though I was scared I said no as I was next on the list as I was an emergency and she may not get there in time. As soon as I hung up the porter came and took me down to theatre.
By now I was really nervous I had seen a program a few years previously about people that do not wake up from their anaesthetic and of others that had woken up during theatre. One woman on this program was saying how she was able to feel everything they were doing but could not tell them because she was anaesthetised. This program had started to go around my head as we made our way down to the theatre.
I watched everything that was going on and all the monitors. I was fascinated and could not believe that there was all these people about me. They wanted to lay me down but when they tried the pain was too much so they said that they would do it when I was asleep. All the time they were very chatty and asked me normal questions about my life, what I do for a living etc. I told them that I was worried about not waking up. They told me not to worry and reassured me that I would and when I did I would feel much better. I then remember a really calm and relaxing feeling come over me. The last thing I remember thinking was do not shut your eyes until you are asleep or they may think you have gone under when you have not. Looking back that is ridiculous as that is what all the monitors are for.
At first I thought it was morning. I was at home in my bed, the last 24 hours forgotten. There we go mum is calling me. Just another five more minutes and I will get up. The second time my name was called however I realised it was not my mums voice. I slowly opened my eyes and realised that I was in the hospital and everything came back to me what had happened. The first thing that I asked the nurse was what was the time was she said that it was 6.20pm. Like I have said before I do not like not knowing what the time is. The next two things I asked was did everything go OK and did they finally find out what was wrong with me. She said everything seemed ok but did not know what was wrong with me as I was in recovery and that later the doctor will come and have a chat with me.
I must have fallen asleep again because the next thing I knew was that I was on the Gynaecology Ward. I think I had missed dinner by the time I got back onto the ward but was given a sandwich. To be honest it was all I fancied I was more sleepy than hungry. I phoned my mum to let her know that I was OK and asked her to let my boyfriend know. Later I found out he went straight to my parents after work when he saw my messages. I must have fallen asleep again because when I woke up my dad and my husband to be were just coming into visit.
Probably because of the anaesthetic I slept really well that night. I did suffer from really bad trapped wind I found it hard to breathe again they done an ECG test and because that came clear they made me drink some Gaviscon before saying that it must be trapped wind. When I woke up in the morning I woke up, had my breakfast and a shower and waited for the doctor to come.
I felt disappointed with her attitude I felt it was as though she was looking down at me (It may just be where I was still had the anaesthetic in my system but who knows). She said that they had found Endometriosis and my left fallopian tube was extremely swollen. Some thing was mentioned about a tube attached to my bowel. I also had something called Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID).
PID I later found out is an infection of the female upper genital tract, including the womb, fallopian tubes and ovaries. A woman can contract it as a side effect from an untreated sexually transmitted disease. They had taken swabs from me to find out which one. I was mortified to say the least at this as I knew that both my husband and myself had never slept around whilst we had been together. There was no way that it could have been a sexually transmitted disease. Later the results came back negative which I knew they would, I had not contracted PID through a sexually transmitted disease. The doctor then said that I must have contracted it as a secondary thing caused by the Endometriosis. If you remember that year I kept getting UTI/Kidney infections. It was at this point that she said that I may have difficulty having a baby as I had a lot of scarring in my pelvis. There was no way of knowing the extent of this until I started trying for a family. Then I would have to wait for a year before they could look into it. This seemed ok and did not really affect me that much because we were not even considering on having kids for a long time yet I was only 23 and not ready to be a mum yet. And even if I did have difficulty a year is not a long time is it?
My pelvis was washed out and treated with IV and oral antibiotics. Later that day on the 29th October 2009 I was discharged. I was to have a follow up appointment with the gynaecologist in 4 weeks’ time. I was given Paracetamol, Diclofenac, Metronidazole, Cefradine, and Doxycycline. I was signed off work for 2 weeks.
At the end of the 2 weeks I was still getting tired easily and my GP said that I was suffering from post-op fatigue. The anaesthetic was taking its time to get out of my body.
During the first week I had got a throat irritation after the tube they put in when you are under anaesthetic. My dad spoke to the pharmacist and she gave a numbing spray. By the second week I was feeling much better able to move around a bit more easily, but I was still getting very tired. The third week I was almost there and managed to do my Christmas shopping, the earliest I have ever done it.
I went back to work for a couple of weeks when I was told I had to take the rest of my holiday (or I would lose it) by the end of the year. I still had about 3 weeks of holiday left because I had had so much time off sick I had not been able to fit holiday time in as well. So therefore I was off until the New Year.
I had my follow up appointment on 24th November 2009 although I was still getting some pain it had dramatically declined and was definitely more bearable. I was to continue with the combined pill which I was to take continuously for the Endometriosis. Only to have a period every 3-4 months. We also reviewed the results of my laparoscopy which showed one healthy tube and a left hydrosalpinx with some scarring to the bowel. I was told that this might me secondary to Endometriosis and that I can minimise any further scarring by continuing to take the pill. I was told that in relation to my fertility I do have 1 healthy tube (and 1 can be just as good as 2) and the other may become less inflamed as the infection settled. I was then discharged from gynaecology.
The taking of the combined pill seemed to work really well over the next few years. I was so relieved to finally have an end to it all. During my periods every 3-4 months I still had pains but I could control them easily.
Just knowing what was wrong with me and knowing that I was not a wimp seemed to take a lot of the pressure off me. At this point I still did not accept that I had a disease it was just something not quite right and would occasionally get in my way now and then.
My life went on as good as normal and when I had bad pains I would take a Co-Codamol (varying in strengths depending on how painful it was) before using the Co-Codamol I would see if the pain would go with just Nurofen. If the Co-Codamol would not work then I would take Dihydrocodeine. But this would knock me out so I would only take it if nothing else had worked.