I am 37 years old and have 3 children (18,15,7) and have been dealing with heavy, clotty periods since my third child. (I stopped birth control since my husband had a vasectomy when I was 8 months pregnant with my last child). I assumed the heavy periods were from not taking any hormones for birth control. I finally couldn't take the periods anymore. I work 12 hour shifts in the ER and just cant stop to change tampons and pads every hour.
So I decided on the endometrial ablation and discussed with my OB/GYN the options. He performs the Novasure and Thermachoice and recommended the Thermachoice since it covers more area than the Novasure and the Thermachoice has been used for over 5 years and has a better outcome than the Novasure.
Since this was going to be a Hysteroscopy and D&C and the ablation, we did the surgery as an Outpatient in the hospital I work at. I was VERY nervous since I had never been under anesthesia before and never had an epidural with any of my babies. It was under General Anesthesia and was scheduled for 9am Wednesday morning. Of course to top it all off I started my period the day prior to surgery! And since you can't take any meds the day prior to surgery, I was in pain from my cramps from the period already.
We arrived at the hospital (fasting since midnight) and the Dr had complications with the first patient of the day so when they took me back into the Pre-Op area it was about 11 am! The got me changed and settled into my bed and started my IV and gave me some meds to calm me down. My Husband and Mother were with me and allowed to come sit with me until they took me into the operating room. They gave me meds for the cramping too and that helped alot. About 1:45pm they came to take me to the OR. Once on the table the nurses were very nice and talked to me the few minutes until the anesthesiologist came in. She asked how I was doing and I told her I was freaking out. She gave me something in my IV and then I saw the mask coming over my nose and took 3 breaths and next thing I was in recovery. My Husband said I was in recovery for about 1 1/2 hours before the nurse came to get him and my mother. I didn't have any pain after I woke up, although I didn't come out of the anesthesia very well, I just wanted to sleep. They kept me a little while longer and my nurse said I needed to be able to drink and keep it down without vomiting. She brought me some Gatorade and I sipped 3 small sips from the cup. I then became very nauseated and apparently pale. The anesthesiologist just happened to be walking by my bed and saw me and stopped, I heard her say "She doesn't look so good." She asked the nurse what meds I was given and told her to give me Decadron to help bring me out of it and help with the nausea. I got the meds and it made me so tired I slept another hour or so. I woke and had to urinate (which is another requirement to leave) the nurse had to walk me to the bathroom and I got sick in the bathroom but there was no blood in the toilet. Got back to the bed and felt better and we went home. Still no pain, just tired and small amount of cramping. Got home around 630pm and slept until 830pm. Ate some soup and slept the entire night. Next day no blood, minor cramping and just took the Motrin 800 he gave me. I am currently on day 10 post surgery and have had NO BLEEDING. Alot of water discharge since the surgery, but after day 4 I had no cramps. I use and recommend the Always Infinity Flex Foam pads!!! I hate wearing pads but these are super absorbant and you can barely feel them there. I heard many stories about chunky charred flesh discharge, but have not seen anything....yet. This person had the Novasure NOT the Thermachoice also, which are totally different ablation procedures. I was told I could return to work the next day after the surgery, but I took off 20 days just in case and I'm glad I did. (Just for the watery discharge inconvienence) The only restrictions I was given was NOTHING inside the vagina for 3 weeks. No sex,tampons, douches...NOTHING. I was given Lorcet, Motrin 800 and Bactrim DX (antibiotic). I know I'm writing ALOT, but I couldn't find anything online about the process and the recovery that was anymore recent thatn 2002. I'm hoping that this will help with any questions about what to expect and will post as I recover. I am scheduled for my 3 week Post Op appointment in 9 more days. I don't know if the no bleeding had to do with my just starting my period and then the Dr doing the D&C or not. I will ask at my appointment. The Dr. did tell my Husband after the surgery that he found Polyps in my uterus that were the cause of the heavy periods. He removed them and sent off for biopsy and I haven't heard anything which is good. I am keeping a log of my daily "recovery" on my My Period app on my phone. This allows me to print out the notes I take and give them to the Dr. so he can see whats been going on. I am so hoping that I am one of the 90% that either have No period or super light periods. They say you can't tell until after about 3-4 monthly cycles...Mine is due in 21 days.
So I decided on the endometrial ablation and discussed with my OB/GYN the options. He performs the Novasure and Thermachoice and recommended the Thermachoice since it covers more area than the Novasure and the Thermachoice has been used for over 5 years and has a better outcome than the Novasure.
Since this was going to be a Hysteroscopy and D&C and the ablation, we did the surgery as an Outpatient in the hospital I work at. I was VERY nervous since I had never been under anesthesia before and never had an epidural with any of my babies. It was under General Anesthesia and was scheduled for 9am Wednesday morning. Of course to top it all off I started my period the day prior to surgery! And since you can't take any meds the day prior to surgery, I was in pain from my cramps from the period already.
We arrived at the hospital (fasting since midnight) and the Dr had complications with the first patient of the day so when they took me back into the Pre-Op area it was about 11 am! The got me changed and settled into my bed and started my IV and gave me some meds to calm me down. My Husband and Mother were with me and allowed to come sit with me until they took me into the operating room. They gave me meds for the cramping too and that helped alot. About 1:45pm they came to take me to the OR. Once on the table the nurses were very nice and talked to me the few minutes until the anesthesiologist came in. She asked how I was doing and I told her I was freaking out. She gave me something in my IV and then I saw the mask coming over my nose and took 3 breaths and next thing I was in recovery. My Husband said I was in recovery for about 1 1/2 hours before the nurse came to get him and my mother. I didn't have any pain after I woke up, although I didn't come out of the anesthesia very well, I just wanted to sleep. They kept me a little while longer and my nurse said I needed to be able to drink and keep it down without vomiting. She brought me some Gatorade and I sipped 3 small sips from the cup. I then became very nauseated and apparently pale. The anesthesiologist just happened to be walking by my bed and saw me and stopped, I heard her say "She doesn't look so good." She asked the nurse what meds I was given and told her to give me Decadron to help bring me out of it and help with the nausea. I got the meds and it made me so tired I slept another hour or so. I woke and had to urinate (which is another requirement to leave) the nurse had to walk me to the bathroom and I got sick in the bathroom but there was no blood in the toilet. Got back to the bed and felt better and we went home. Still no pain, just tired and small amount of cramping. Got home around 630pm and slept until 830pm. Ate some soup and slept the entire night. Next day no blood, minor cramping and just took the Motrin 800 he gave me. I am currently on day 10 post surgery and have had NO BLEEDING. Alot of water discharge since the surgery, but after day 4 I had no cramps. I use and recommend the Always Infinity Flex Foam pads!!! I hate wearing pads but these are super absorbant and you can barely feel them there. I heard many stories about chunky charred flesh discharge, but have not seen anything....yet. This person had the Novasure NOT the Thermachoice also, which are totally different ablation procedures. I was told I could return to work the next day after the surgery, but I took off 20 days just in case and I'm glad I did. (Just for the watery discharge inconvienence) The only restrictions I was given was NOTHING inside the vagina for 3 weeks. No sex,tampons, douches...NOTHING. I was given Lorcet, Motrin 800 and Bactrim DX (antibiotic). I know I'm writing ALOT, but I couldn't find anything online about the process and the recovery that was anymore recent thatn 2002. I'm hoping that this will help with any questions about what to expect and will post as I recover. I am scheduled for my 3 week Post Op appointment in 9 more days. I don't know if the no bleeding had to do with my just starting my period and then the Dr doing the D&C or not. I will ask at my appointment. The Dr. did tell my Husband after the surgery that he found Polyps in my uterus that were the cause of the heavy periods. He removed them and sent off for biopsy and I haven't heard anything which is good. I am keeping a log of my daily "recovery" on my My Period app on my phone. This allows me to print out the notes I take and give them to the Dr. so he can see whats been going on. I am so hoping that I am one of the 90% that either have No period or super light periods. They say you can't tell until after about 3-4 monthly cycles...Mine is due in 21 days.
