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Having problems post Bladder Prolapse Surgery: What helps?
Kidney & Bladder | Last Active: Aug 31 4:02pm | Replies (31)Comment receiving replies
@luftmensh1
I have posted quite a bit about my experience with having my prolapse surgery and if you do a search for my posts by my user name (@baxtersmom) you should be able to find them. But I had the mesh which I was afraid of at first but my doctor showed me the old mesh that you hear about on TV with all the lawsuits vs. the new mesh they use now. The mesh they use now is not the same and the mesh that they had all the lawsuits with is no longer used. The mesh is necessary in a lot of cases because it prevents you from having to go back in a few years and have the surgery all over again. Just stitching up the ligaments usually does not hold and so using the mesh is a better long term solution. My surgery was called a sacrocolpopexy and was recommended by two different urogyneclogists. You want to go to someone who does these surgeries all the time and not someone who only does them every so often. Mine was
done laproscopically with the DaVinci robot and I really have had no issues since having the surgery in Oct. 2017. I had been trying the pessary for a long time and dealing with bleeding and rubbing and never could get it out to clean it (I was always going to the doctor for her to take it out). It was just not sustainable. Please try to do a search from some of the posts here (mine and others) and I think you will see that there is not a lot to be worried about. I said after the surgery that I wished I had done it a couple of years earlier as my prolapse was a level 4 and very hard to live with. It only gets worse with time and I tried doing the exercises but I think mine was so far along by that point that it did no good. After you read more of my posts, let me know if you have any questions. I was surprised to find how many women deal with this even though it isn't talked about much. Best to you.
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Gail, I appreciate your taking the time to write. The pessary has worked for me, and I am able to insert and remove it, which I was told to do twice a week and use an estrogen cream while the pessary is out overnight. I have had problems with irritation and bleeding, and it was suggested that I take vacations from using the pessary, which I did for a week recently. This was very uncomfortable. When I put it back in, it kept coming out whenever I tried to go for a walk. Finally, I tried a different technique: pushing the prolapsed organ up all the way while lying down just before inserting the pessary, and this worked. I am 82, and I may not always have the dexterity to insert and remove the pessary. A urogynecologist told me that the bulge is actually the vaginal wall, which reassured me that I wasn't in danger of having my uterus or bladder fall out of my body. Sacrocolpopexy was recommended. It sounded like it was closing the vaginal opening at the top and can be done partially (if one is sexually active, but my husband is significantly disabled) or fully with a hysterectomy, which would be called sacrohysteropexy. The latter has a higher rate of success, apparently. Because of bleeding, I had to have an ultrasound, which was followed by a hysteroscopy in Jan. 2020, which showed I did not have cancer of the uterus. At the time of my hysteroscopy, they were just beginning to ask people at the hospital whether they had recently traveled to China. Then the pandemic arrived, and I have not been going anywhere, except for a few medical appointments and to get the oil changed on my car. I am not anxious to have any surgery while the pandemic is here and is so virulent. I am able to go for walks, which I really enjoy. It's late now and my husband is calling for help, so I have to sign off. Thanks again.