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Prolapsed rectum: living with it versus surgery
Digestive Health | Last Active: 3 hours ago | Replies (81)Comment receiving replies
@lisalucier thank you for writing. I had no idea I have a pelvic prolapse. Absolutely no symptoms. I am seeing the surgeon this coming Tuesday. I have been told through email of my doctor that a urogynecologist would do the pelvic surgery and a colorectal surgeon would do the rectal part. To be honest, I have never had surgery and can't imagine the pain involved in that and then my thought is could I stand it if it came out worse than what I deal with everyday, and that answer is, no, I couldn't. So I guess I just need to ask some questions and find out the answers and then ponder it over....the only question I can come up with for him is "how many of these surgeries have you done and how successful have they been." Any questions I should ask would be very helpful. Thank you!
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@cc510 - sitting down and writing your questions for the surgeon ahead of your appointment on your phone or a piece of paper, like you mentioned, is a great idea. I often forget to ask a doctor something I wish I'd asked if I don't have a list or don't refer to it often at the appointment. The questions you mentioned are both important: How many of these surgeries have you done and how successful have they been?
My understanding from going through this surgery personally is that they usually do it when you have symptoms to be addressed. You might ask about this since you mentioned having no symptoms.
But I also got the impression from speaking to the surgeon that some women just choose to ignore their prolapse and use a pessary to hold things up. (I personally didn't care for a pessary, but some women like them).
I will point out that this was major surgery and that the recovery was not a piece of cake. I had the surgery in January and was not fully myself again till early May.
I had to have a partial hysterectomy to have my bladder prolapse repaired. In 2012, very few hospitals did uterine-sparing bladder prolapse repairs, and I think very few do this today. I believe you said you didn't yet know if your bladder is what has prolapsed, along with your rectum? If they have to do a hysterectomy to rebuild the architecture, so to speak, in your pelvic region, are you okay with that?