I've had four laporoscopies so I can hopefully give you a better idea of what it will be like. Waking up is kind of blurry but you shouldn't be in much pain and if you are the nurse with give you something right way for that. Also sometimes you're a little nauseous when you first wake up be they will give you something for that. I first few times you pee afterwards will hurt but each time you go it gets better. Honestly that worse recovery day is the second day because the first day you still have some of the anesthesia in your system, as well as IV pain meds. So my biggest advice is stay on top of your pain meds. The first day you might not feel like you need to take them every 4hrs but do it because that being on that schedule will help the second day be so much better. Please let me know if you have any more questions

It's perfectly normal to be nervous! Obviously it's not the ideal situation we want to experience and go through. So the Laparoscopy starts with you checking into the hospital/surgerycenter and the nurses get you all prepped for surgery. They get you set up in a hospital bed, have you change into a hospital gown, then get everything hooked up. So they get an IV started, blood pressure cuff and monitor and once that's done they go over basic things like allergies and etc. Your doctor and anesthesiologist will come in and go through all they are going to do so you know what to expect. Once the operating room is ready your taken back and laid down on this table where they set up the heart monitors, get you into position and then your anesthesiologist starts the drugs into your IV. First it's a sedative to calm you and your heart rate then he gives you the drug that knocks you totally out. At first you feel this amazing high and then they put the oxygen mask on and the next thing you know your waking up in post op. Laparoscopys have 4 incisions made on your abdomen. 1 through your navel, 1 on your left hip, 1 on your right hip and the last 1 on your pubic bone. It makes a little star shape and the incisions are very small. They then look around for any Endo and if its there they laser it off. It's a pretty quick surgery and you should be fine when you wake up. Obviously you might have pain and discomfort but the nurses are very good about keeping your pain controlled. Some doctors have you stay the night just to keep you comfortable and your pain controlled. After that they want you to start getting up and walking because it helps. So a nurse will help you walk around and go to the bathroom. You'll be discharged not to long after and given instructions on what to do and not to do! The first few days you'll be bed/couch ridden. Then they want you getting up more and walking around. Then you'll have your post op check up where your doctor will check everything and make sure it's looking all good. My advice is to take it slow. Take the meds your prescribed because you don't want your pain getting out of control. Have family or friends help you the first couple days especially if you have to get up because you don't want to fall or risk hurting yourself. Other than that you'll be fine. You have all of us on here to answer your questions and support you! Best of Luck!! :)

Hi @A MyEndometriosisTeam Member ! Depending on how long you've been in pain etc it came as a bit of a relief to me after seven years not knowing any different. I had excision surgery and it took me a good while to recover. The op was nothing what I thought it would be. Your put to sleep, wake up and your like that's it?? Then I slept until the next day. That's when the pain kicked in. It wasn't so bad though. I ended up in hosp 2 days after because the tablets didn't suit me so 3 days after the op I was only taking over the counter solpadine and I didn't feel much pain just sensitive. My main thing would be bowel prep. I didn't do this as my surgeon said he did something to help with that but it clearly didn't work for me. You can't put any pressure on that area, even peeing is tough enough for the first few days. Set yourself up with some good series to watch, adult colouring book, podcasts, whichever you enjoy and make sure there is someone to be around for the first week to keep an eye on you. I was in such a trance after I couldn't handle my own meds but my parents done it all for me. Don't be nervous I honestly wouldn't mind another. The last thing I will say is don't get your hopes up too much. I came out thinking, oh that's fine op done, pain gone. But no, I didn't understand Endo and that there will always be some pain. I always said it would never define me but now Endo is a part of my life that I accept and you handle it much better when you accept you may have to plan trips ahead of time, watch what you eat, need more sleep than a normal person. It's all about listening to your body! Long post woaah sorry :P! Good luck, you will be happy you got it done!

Mentioned Users

A MyEndom...

I had laparoscopy two weeks ago because of an ovarian cyst that had ruptured and was bleeding into my stomach; they found the endometriosis when they were operating...I didn't even know I had it! I had been misdiagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) years ago. The recovery was manageable. I went back to work one week after surgery (half days for two days then back to full time). The worst part of the recovery is when the gas from the surgery is stuck in your chest/shoulders. It was very painful for about 1-2 minutes until it 'escapes' or moves to somewhere else. That only happened to me 4 times and it was within a few hours after surgery. Once I got past the gas pains everything else was pretty smooth sailing. Just take it slow and be sure to have someone stay with you to help you eat/shower/get up and down.

Forgot about that stupid shoulder pain! Good call on that and the stool softeners Maddiehoff. I remember everytime I went to lie down, it hurt like heck until I was fully vertical or fully horizontal. Oh and try not to do any bending, and have someone essentially lift you up if your bed is low to the ground. Good luck ,you can do this!