Hi newbie, hysterectomy,now semi-invalid

[Dolo1]

Hello,
My name is Dolores and I live in Ireland, I had a vaginal hysterectomy 6 and a half years ago, a piece of cottonwool was left inside me and I got a dreadful infection 2 days after the surgery which would not clear up, then 4 weeks later the cottonwool came out of my vagina,it had been rotten away inside me for the 4 weeks, it did a lot of damage, I ended up with a very bad prolaspe which was coming out out of me, I felf I had gone in a woman and came out looking like a man with this thing coming out which did not look or feel normal, I was in in such pain all the time that I went to see another doctor and he tried to repair the prolaspe, which did not work, when that doctor decided that he could not help me he sent me to see another doctor that did not want to know, as my own family doctor had told me to go and take a legal action against the hospatil that did the damage in the first place, all during this time I still had a infection and was in chronic pain all the time.
I had to go to England for a legal report and the doctor I went to see for that said I was so bad that he only knew of one doctor that could help me, to cut a long story short I went over to England to have the big operation done, he repaired my bladder, but my bowel up with mesh and he reconstructed the outside of me, I feel a little more like a woman now, but I am full of scar tissue inside and out, all in the vagina area, I have had another few surgeries done to remove scar tissue and a lot of my insides had fused together.
After all that and monthly infections, I am now semi-invalid, I find it hard and hurtful to walk,standing, sitting is a problem as there is never a time I don,t feel pain or hurt, my life has changed so much and I find it very hard to accept the life I have to live now,I can only go out of my house for a hour or so at a time, and I only get to do that about 4 times a week, the rest of the time I am housebound.
I found the hyster sister site and I am delighted and it was there that someone told me about this site, by reading the threads I can see for myself that I am 100% sure that I have IC, I was talking to my family doctor yesterday and said it to him, he has never heard of it, but asked me to give him the web site address, as he is very interested in finding out more, I am sure he might have a few people going to him thinking that they have a bladder or kidney infection and most times it does not show up in the test, maybe this site will help him too.
I know this is all very long, but over 6 years of chronic is a long time, there is so much that I cannot do any more, and I miss the old me, I feel as I am not the same person anymore,I suffer a lot from cabin fever from been stuck in the house all day, I have a great hubby, and when this was done to me it also changed his life so much, I am very angry and upset that I could be left to live like this, I find it very hard to keep going from day to day,
I am so glad I found this site as it answers a lot of my questions, I have started on the diet, so hope it helps,
My Best Wishes to all of you Dolo1:hi:

[ICNDonna]

:welcome: I'm very glad you found us. I hope that one day soon you will feel better.

Sending gentle hugs,
Donna

[Dolo1]

Hi Donna,
Thank you so much for your welcome reply, I am so happy to have found this site, and hope my Doctor is too, I have learned a lot from it
Thank you again,
Dolo1

[dancemomof2]

:welcome: So glad you found us.

[GriffsMommy]

:welcome: you'll find alot of support here.

[SharonA]

:welcome: Delores...I am so sorry that all of this has happened to you. I do hope that you start to feel better now that you are on the IC Diet. It can be so much help. I also hope the your doctor does come here and learns what IC is and how to treat it so he can be of help to you.

[Dolo1]

HI dancemomof2 and Griffsmommy, plus SharonA
Thank you for your replies, and your welcome, and I am very glad to have found the site, I have already ordered and recieved the pelvic floor cushion, bit softer on the underneath bit,
Thank you again ,
Dolo1

[SandyRN]

Hi Dolores,

We're glad to have you here. You have had a terrible run of things over the last 6 years haven't you? You sound like a very strong woman!!

If you haven't already done so, check out the patient handbook link at the top of this page. It's full of information and diet tips that might help you out.

I'm glad that you have a supportive husband. That is so important when someone has chronic pain and a chronic illness.

I hope you are able to get some relief soon.

Again, welcome to the board...I look forward to getting to know you.

Sandy

[Dolo1]

Hi all, and thanks for the replies, Question, I am a teaholic, and I am finding it very hard to go without it, if I don,t have my fix of tea I get a terrible headache, can you have decaffeinated or is it all black teas,
Thanks,
Dolo1

[SandyRN]

I drink Celestial Seasonings Madasgar Vanilla Red tea. It's rooibos tea and doesn't bother my bladder at all. I add a little sugar and a little half and half and it's really tasty!

[Dolo1]

Hi SandyRN,
Thanks for the advice, I have wrote the names down and I will ask my sister to get them for me, will have to go off the black tea slowly, as I get terrible headaches if I go to long without it, but I wiil do it
thanks again
Dolores

[Dolo1]

Hi sandy RN
Thanks again for telling me about the tea, I got Rooibos tea to day and it is the nearist thing to black tea that I have ever tasted, will be able to drink that, I don,t like a lot of herbel teas, they can be bitter, but I will stick with the Rooibos fromm now on, thanks
Dolores

[clouddrifter]

Hi Dolores,

I am new here too and I think this site is just wonderful! Thanks for sharing your story. I wish I could wave a magic wand and take everybody's pain away! But the most we can do is pray for strength every day, load our noggins with all the information we can, and be here for each other!

[CarolinTexas]

Hi Dolo! I know you from the hysterectomy site! Glad you came and hope you find tons of tips that will help. There are an unbelievable amount of tips to reduce pain here. As well as various treatments and meds.

Welcome - and check out the PFD stuff as well as the Success Stories.

Have you tried anything new lately to reduce pain? Hows that pillow working for you? What other treatments/meds have you tried?

I forgot
Carol

[leelee88]

Hello and :welcome:
Glad you found us.. geesh you sure have been through alot((((((hugs)))))))) Hope you find this site helpful..

[Agape]

Hi Delores: I am a HysterSister too. I have also been dx with IC and sort of understand what you have gone through. I had three surgeries for prolapse and now I have IC. It just keeps getting better and better doesn't it LOL. I just pray for all of us that one day this will be just a terrible memory and we will have our lives back again. Until then, I wish you the best and hope you find better health soon.

[Dolo1]

Hi Carol,
I have been doing some homework, I went on goggle to find out about some of the medications you have over there in relation to whay we have here, a few would not be suitable, others of no use, I looked up,AZO,Elmiron,Oxycodone,Hydrocodone,Atarax,Lidcaine Patches, and the only ones that might give a little relief are the Elmiron and the Lidocaine Patches, went into the PFD section and will go in again when I am not sitting here with a great big pain in my putt?
Don,t do too much in the next month or 2, after all, whats the hurry, I cannot do any kind of excerise or or even walk very far, couole of hundred yards and that me done in for the rest of the day,had a (I could bang my head off the wall day, to-day) got angrt and I did not even want to get a dinner, could have thrown it out the window, but women been women I did,nt, I worked as a cook for a very wealthy family for 17 years, cooked for the elite of Ireland, but I had to give it up over a year ago it was stupid to keep going for as long as I did, anyway look after yourself, and keep up the good work on the body,
Dolores:cussing:

[mylilegirls2]

Glad you made it here. Hope you find some relief and comfort.. everyone here is understanding and very nice... Welcome to the IC family

[Dolo1]

HI agape
Hi again over here, we will have to stop meeting like, anyway, how are you, I think 3 operations and all the other bits are enough for us to have had done, I for one am not having any more, I thought the last one would get rid of the pain, instead its just more and more tablets and not any of them work, all you get is side effects, so am going to stick with the IC diet and see how it goes, taking the supplements as well, once I found out what the name of them over here, but will have to ask the doctor about the Elmiron,
noce to hear from you
Dolores

[mylilegirls2]

I had a hysto done in 2005. I kept having severe abdomial pain and my gyno did an exploritory surgery to see if there was anything wrong with my female parts.. Well she found nothing. But the pain jsut kept getting worse and with my periods it would be even worse. I could not get out of bed. So Nov of 2005 she desided to do a hysto. I had my children vag. and they say when you have your kids that way you can have a hysto that way.. well she cut my tummy from hip to hip.. This was all done in Illinois.. Then in March of 2006 I moved back home to Washington and went to see the doc that delivered my daughters. She looked at me and say "why did you have a hysto.. you did not need it I am almost positive you have IC" she sent me to a uro and indeed I did.. So I can no longer have kids but I also no longer have periods. I am just glad I have the two daughters I have. But I wish could have avoided such a major surgery.. Sorry to hear about all the problems you had with your surgery. I hope you find relief soon..

[Dolo1]

Hi myliligirls2
Hi, I amglad I found the site too, I see you have a few of the things I have, BP, High Coloesterol, 7.5 at the moment, and of the depression, I don,t take anything for the depression they make me feel sick, so with all the pain I have I don,t need that on top of it, how did you get the IC under control, glad of any advice,
look after the body,
Dolores
Ans thanks for the welcome,

[mylilegirls2]

I have multiple health issues I deal with on a daily basis. and I take a med each day for pretty much everything. I finally however have gotten to stop taking my IC meds. If you want to hear about how I got relief from the clutches of the IC monster you can read the whole story under "NEW LIFE.. NEW TREATMENT.. NEW DOCTOR." that is my post it will give you most of the answers. I seem to be having problems answering peoples questions and so they keep trying to get my stuff closed down but I try. So maybe you will find some kind of help there. Good luck with everything. and if you need someone to talk to I also have yahoo messanger you could message me there..:welcome:

[Dolo1]

Hi mylilegirls2
I read your threads New Doc, New Treatment, New Life, and all I can say that it makes a lot of sense, if it worked for you what more can I say, because I know that when my pain is very very bad I would try anything, and I am so glad you found something that worked, I would have a very open mind about it, if it stopped the pain you were in that has to be a good thing, If I was living over there I would get to that Doc as fast as I could, you cant knock it, if you have,nt tried it,
I have been down nearly all the differant paths to try and find some relief from this life I have to live now,but nothing has worked, so I am glad something worked for, and long may it last,Life is too short to have to live it in pain.
Dolores