Surgery and Recovery

PC: Josie Lana Photography

The week before surgery, time to prep and make sure everything is ready to go. I had my covid test done that Monday, got my negative results the next day. Never did I think that the new normal is having a covid test done before any surgery. The Wednesday before surgery they called me with all the instructions to prep for the big day. It was starting to hit me that this is really happening.

Thursday April 22nd, the day before surgery. I had to keep myself busy that day, otherwise I knew my nerves would get the best of me. I did some meal prepping for the next couple of days. Cleaned up the house as I knew I would be laid up for the next week. We went to bed early that night, since we would be getting up early to get to Green Bay.

April 23rd, 4am hits, the alarms go off. Kory and I both jumped up, I am pretty sure we both got scared from the loud alarms and it took us a second to realize what was going on. We were on the road by 5am to get to Green Bay by 6:45. The drive was peaceful, there was the most beautiful sunrise. We didn’t do a lot of talking, we had lavender oil in the car diffuser and just focused on trying to stay calm.

We arrived at Bellin Hospital in Green Bay. Got checked in with the front desk, and we were escorted up to the surgery prep area by this sweet older man who volunteers at the hospital. The nurse came out and took me back while Kory waited in the waiting area. Funny story, we were getting checked in and putting on my hospital bands, and the nurse goes, “So you are here for a knee surgery?”. I was like, “Umm no, I am having uterine surgery and TAC placed.”. She was like wait, “Who are you?”. The girl she was supposed to take back from the waiting area happened to be in the bathroom and I was the only one she saw, so she just assumed I was the other girl. Back to the waiting area I went for another 10 minutes until a new nurse came out to get me.

Surgery prep was pretty simple. Got changed into the hospital gown, and they told me they had heated blankets ready if I wanted them. If you know me, you know my anxiety keeps me super warm, so no heated blankets were needed. I knew the IV was coming, I tried to keep squeezing my hand so my veins would be easy to find. They always tell me that I have small veins and it’s hard to find them. The nurse got the vein right away, she took some blood to send off to be tested as well. The prep was complete and they let Kory come back to sit with me then.

Around 8:15am a different nurse came up and told me she was moving me to a different floor of the hospital. We were headed to the area that they do the robotic surgeries. The breeze on the way there helped to calm my nerves. They also plugged in this blanket that blew cold air on me when we were waiting again. The waiting seemed like forever. Dr Coussons came in to check on us and ask if we had any questions before surgery. I had told him no, but just that I was nervous. He told me, “We have a rule up here, nobody can be nervous unless I say I’m nervous.”. After he left, Kory and I just sat there in silence. I think we both we had a case of the nerves. I grabbed onto Korys hand and silently prayed to God to watch over me, and the doctor. I talked to Beau and asked him to keep watch over his mommy.

It’s surgery time. They came to get me around 9am to take me back. The nurse put something in my IV to calm my nerves as we were headed back to the operating room. I remember getting into the OR and I had some tears, there was no stopping my emotions. It brought back so many flashbacks. The last time that I was being wheeled into an OR, I was being put under to have Beau. I moved myself to the other bed that they were doing the surgery on. The anesthesiologist came in and I remember hearing them say, okay lets do this. I saw the blue mask, and it was put over my mouth and they told me take a couple deep breaths, and I was fast asleep.

Surgery lasted around an hour and a half. As soon as the surgery was over. Dr Coussons went out to talk to Kory and tell him about the surgery. He told Kory that everything was a success. He was able to locate and remove the septum in my uterus. The balloon filled with saline attached to a catheter was inserted in to my uterus. This was to make sure the uterus stayed open and didn’t stick together while it was healing. He also successfully placed the trans abdominal cerclage right at the top of my cervix, right below the uterus. He told Kory that my cervix was very short, and definitely incompetent. It was a great decision to have the cerclage placed. With that cerclage, we are hopeful that we will now be able to hold a future pregnancy to full term. The doctor checked my right tube with fluid and could see that it was still open and my ovary looked good. He did notice that they almost looked twisted or pushed back. He moved my right fallopian tube and ovary forward. He mentioned to Kory, that could be helpful when trying to get pregnant. Kory got to see all the pictures that the doctor took as well. Kory was then taken back to the original waiting area, and had to wait for me to wake up from surgery.

I was woken up by this very friendly male nurse. I do not remember what his name was, but I am sure I asked him a couple times. He was feeding me ice chips, and I kept falling back asleep, then would come too again. Then I would hear him say, “More ice chips?”. I am still giggling thinking about it. I remember him telling me to stop itching my eyes, and that everything went well with surgery. The conversations that I was having with him, must have been all over the place. I do remember him asking me what my favorite style of dance is. Of course I said tap (for those that don’t know, I am a dance teacher). So we must have been talking about what I do. Then I would ask him what time it was, and if I could go see my husband yet. I am sure I asked him every couple of minutes the same questions. What a fun job that would be to work with patients coming out of anesthesia, I am sure they hear so many funny things. The next thing I knew he asked me what I wanted to eat. I must have said toast with butter and ginger ale. I was being wheeled back into the area I was in for pre surgery prep. The nurse said, “Oh look theres a familiar face you have been waiting to see.”. Sure was, there was Korys smiling face as my bed was pushed right next to him. Oh and my toast was waiting for me and the ginger ale.

By this time it was a little after noon. The nurses wanted me to eat something so they could give me some pain meds. I was then asked to use the bathroom before I could leave the hospital. I remember being so scared, as I had the catheter in me. It was not a catheter in my bladder, so I could still go to the bathroom on my own. It took me a little bit, but was finally able to go and then almost threw up after. I think walking around and the anesthesia wearing off, just made my stomach turn a little. We hung out a little while longer, letting everything calm down before they felt it was safe for us to leave. Kory helped me get dressed back into my regular clothes. Then a nice woman who volunteers at the hospital came with a wheelchair to take us downstairs and out to our car. I curled myself up into a ball and we were off. We stopped and picked up our antibiotic on the way out of the hospital. We were on our way back home around 1;45pm. Pretty sure I slept 90% of that car ride back.

Time to rest, heal, and recover. The day of surgery, I slept a lot that day once we were back home. Kory and I camped out in the living room the first night, just to make it easier if I needed to get up. Lots of puppy snuggles from a very concerned golden who is obsessed with his mama. Tucker was very confused why I was not getting off the couch and couldn’t play with him. The cramping kicked in, I actually only took ibuprofen for pain. I am really not a big fan of taking strong pain medicine. I was so paranoid that the balloon and catheter were going to come out. It made for a very long week. I was also struggling with the gas pains from the laparoscopic surgery. Trapped gas that was in my shoulders and neck. It was even causing me to have some weird heart palpitations. (Thank goodness for nurse friends who stopped over to make sure that everything was okay, thank you Leah.) I made sure to get up and walk around to try and break up some of the trapped gas. We think that it also might have been a mix of anxiety as well.

We were counting down the days until we got to go back to see Dr. Coussons and have the balloon removed. Thursday April 29th was finally here!! Kory and I headed to Green Bay again for our post op appointment. It felt a little like Christmas morning, I was SO excited. We got there around 11am and got checked in. Dr. Coussons came in and took a look at my incisions and was ready to take out the balloon. He used a syringe to take the fluid out of the balloon and then he pulled it right out. I asked him if I was crazy for being nervous about the balloon coming out. He told me no, because it is possible. I am so thankful that it stayed in and we had no complications. I mentioned to him that I had thought I was going to be put on estrogen to help strengthen my uterus and build the lining back up. He said that I was going to start that today. Then the curve ball, he said I was being put on a high dose birth control pill for 1-2 months. My heart sank a little. During our pre op appointment he mentioned that we could start trying to get pregnant right away. Well that has now changed. It is a little bump in our journey, but we know it is for the best. We want my uterus to be completely healed and ready for future pregnancies. We got to see all the images from the surgery. Dr Coussons said he will be sending some of the images to me as well. It was pretty amazing to see such clear pictures of everything. The cerclage almost reminded me of elastic. It had a thicker look to it, but you can tell that it is not going anywhere. He mentioned that there was also a little bit of endo by my left ovary and a little in other places. Kory and I thanked him for everything he has done for us so far. Dr. C said don’t thank me yet, not until we have success. We will go back to Green Bay on June 21st to have an ultrasound and check how everything has healed.

We are back to waiting. We waited 5.5 years before getting pregnant with Beau, then lost our tiny miracle 8 days later. We have waited almost another 2 years of trying, what is another 2 months. It almost seems backwards for somebody who wants to have babies to be put on birth control. We know that it is for the best, and we trust the doctor. We are praying the next 2 months go by quickly, and smoothly. Gods plan is greater then ours. We have faith that this will lead to miracles greater then we can imagine.

Thank you for all the continued prayers and support. We honestly are so thankful for each and everyone of you.

All our love,

Haylee and Kory