Having a daVinci Hysterectomy

lady342008
lady342008 Member Posts: 82
edited March 2014 in Ovarian Cancer #1
Hey Everyone, THANK YOU for all the LOVE, PRAYERS, SUPPORT AND HUGS!!! My friend and I are confident in this doctor. He's the best in our area that my family doctor sent me to. He has a website with above average ratings for him and his entire staff. I was SO RELIEVED to see it's a very small office and WHOLE STAFF is SO.......................ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL......!!! He has a main office, but I went to his little office that is close to me.

With all my records and the exam following he suggested something he would tell his MOTHER AND SISTER that needs to be done. He's NOT ABOUT doing unnecessary surgeries and because the conversation started out that way what I "thought" he was going to suggest was a biopsy of my solid mass after totally removing it. But, because I've had ongoing problems since Sept 2006 and it's continuing to get worse and more intense with the Cyst turning into Complex and Solid Masses he doesn't want to mess around. I'm having a Full Hysterectomy and it looks like it'll be the beginning of April sometime. He assured me that MANY TIMES they are benign tumors and he's seen much LARGER ones with many other women that were benign.

It's consistered a Outpatient Surgery, because there isn't a long stay in the hospital. Depending on the time of my surgery I'll either go home that night or the next morning. He said I'll be myself within a few days and can drive in a week or less. Only tylenol would be needed type thing, because it's not invasive.

He said if it looks suspicion during surgery he'll take out more cells and all. We'll have the results of the tumor in a day or so after surgery.

Here's a website for all of us to check out:

www.da VinciSurgery.com


PLEASE.............if any of you have had this done or KNOW SOMEONE that has I would LOVE to hear from you.

Thank you again for all your support and I look forward to staying in touch with you.

Blessings to you all!!!!! :-D

Comments

  • saundra
    saundra Member Posts: 1,370 Member
    Well, that sounds like good news and answered prayers to me. Now you can relax awhile. Thanks for letting us know. My chemo went well today. My RBC was up .06 from last time on the Energizing Iron but he said my RB Cells were much larger. I guess the larger cells were carrying more oxygen therefore I was feeling better. So I am going to continue to take it for awhile. I feel like my prayers were answered for yu...Praises going up. Saundra
  • kris43
    kris43 Member Posts: 275
    I don't know what a DaVinci Hysterectomy is but I'm going to check out the site when I'm done writing. I'm glad you got good news and now you can breathe a sigh of relief for now. I, however, cannot believe you can go home the next day and drive in a week. I've never heard of that before - on any one that I know whose had a hysterectomy. Are they taking your ovaries, uterus, cervix? Sometimes the appendix also gets taken. If that's true I wish I had gone to your doctor. lol

    I am so glad that you got a good impression of your doctor. I felt the same way when I walked in the first time and met the staff - the nurses have all become friends and what a source of support and knowledge. I can call any time and I never feel as if they are rushing me off the phone. Just care and concern.

    Continue to write and be sure to keep us up to date. Take good care. Hugs!

    Kris
  • lady342008
    lady342008 Member Posts: 82
    saundra said:

    Well, that sounds like good news and answered prayers to me. Now you can relax awhile. Thanks for letting us know. My chemo went well today. My RBC was up .06 from last time on the Energizing Iron but he said my RB Cells were much larger. I guess the larger cells were carrying more oxygen therefore I was feeling better. So I am going to continue to take it for awhile. I feel like my prayers were answered for yu...Praises going up. Saundra

    Thank You my friend I TRULY appreciate it. Do you drive yourself to your treatments? If so, how is that for you? How do you feel on the day you receive the treatments for side affects and all? I know everyone is different, but I just wonder how it all is and what the worse part of it all is mostly for everyone. I think if you have a lot of love and support from family and friends that literally walk with you through it that it makes it better. I know my Mom went for 3 treatments and she had some real tough times with the side affects.

    I just wonder...... how many people actually walk around with cancer and don't even know it, but they find out and get treatments and THEN...because the side affects of treatments then they feel bad. It's all so crazy.

    Lately, I've been hearing a lot of stories of people finding out they are FULL of cancer and had no idea and died in a matter of weeks of finding out. How crazy is that!!! My daughter had a customer that just experienced that and he was gone in 2 weeks. It was very hard on my daughter, because he was such an awesome guy.

    Thank you for writing. I look forward to staying in touch with you. Blessings to you. :-)
  • lady342008
    lady342008 Member Posts: 82
    kris43 said:

    I don't know what a DaVinci Hysterectomy is but I'm going to check out the site when I'm done writing. I'm glad you got good news and now you can breathe a sigh of relief for now. I, however, cannot believe you can go home the next day and drive in a week. I've never heard of that before - on any one that I know whose had a hysterectomy. Are they taking your ovaries, uterus, cervix? Sometimes the appendix also gets taken. If that's true I wish I had gone to your doctor. lol

    I am so glad that you got a good impression of your doctor. I felt the same way when I walked in the first time and met the staff - the nurses have all become friends and what a source of support and knowledge. I can call any time and I never feel as if they are rushing me off the phone. Just care and concern.

    Continue to write and be sure to keep us up to date. Take good care. Hugs!

    Kris

    Thank you Kris and THANK YOU for writing. This is a new procedure they're doing on me and it's not invasive. I have another friend I've met that she had her first oncology appt today as well and found we're BOTH going for this same procedure. She's not having a full hyster though, because she still hopes to have children. They'll only take everything out of her if it's cancer, but we're ALL believing for her that it's not.

    Yes, they are taking EVERYTHING... My uterus, BOTH my ovaries, my tubes and cervix. He said with all the problems I've been having and with the solid mass being the size of a small tangerine and now my left ovary has a complex Cyst as well he'd advise his own Mom and sister to do it this way.

    I'll keep you all posted as to when the surgery will be. I would LOVE to hear from others that have had this kind of hyster done though. :-)
  • Thank you Kris and THANK YOU for writing. This is a new procedure they're doing on me and it's not invasive. I have another friend I've met that she had her first oncology appt today as well and found we're BOTH going for this same procedure. She's not having a full hyster though, because she still hopes to have children. They'll only take everything out of her if it's cancer, but we're ALL believing for her that it's not.

    Yes, they are taking EVERYTHING... My uterus, BOTH my ovaries, my tubes and cervix. He said with all the problems I've been having and with the solid mass being the size of a small tangerine and now my left ovary has a complex Cyst as well he'd advise his own Mom and sister to do it this way.

    I'll keep you all posted as to when the surgery will be. I would LOVE to hear from others that have had this kind of hyster done though. :-)

    This comment has been removed by the Moderator
  • floridajo
    floridajo Member Posts: 480
    Excellent news. Your being so confident with your surgeon is a big plus. My first Onc/Gyn was the same way. A very small office,with a wonderful staff,but he had a huge practice. Good luck and kep us posted as the time gets closer so I can prayer for you on that day. ((hugz)))~~Joanne
  • lady342008
    lady342008 Member Posts: 82
    unknown said:

    This comment has been removed by the Moderator

    THANK YOU Nancy for writing. I just WISH I was getting some feed back from some patients that have had this done. I did VERY LATE lastnight find on the website actual patients experiences that they have videos up for us to listen to of the patients. It just would be nice to hear from some women on these forums too.

    I found out yesterday that one of my friends on another site is having the same surgery, but it's not a full hyster. But, they're using the robot on her too, so we think it's NEAT we've both had our 1st oncology appt the same day and now the same surgery about the same time. :-) BUT, she is already scheduled for hers and I'm waiting approval from my insurance. She mentioned how they close you up with either stitches or STAPLES!!!!!! They told her if she was having a full hyster she would be getting staples!!!! Does that mean I'll be getting STAPLES!!!!???????!!!!!! YIKES. I want to think of all the questions I can and call up and ask. I did do a lot of reading last night on women who had full hyster and if they had staples the staples were removed before they left the hospital. This tells me I can't have staples if I'm going home same day or next morning. What do you think?

    Also, my sister, myself and others have a HARD TIME believing I won't need pain pills, what do you think? I mean I AM having 5-6 PUNCTURE HOLES put in me NOW GIVE ME A BREAK!!!!!!!!!! But, I'm a VERY WISE PERSON and for HIZZZZZZZZZZ information that he DOESN'T KNOW is I already have me some pain med's from my family doctor. LOL Reason being is my pains have intensified in a new way. I haven't even broke the seal on the bottle, but....I have them if needed. I was thinking of giving them a try before surgery to MAKE SURE I don't have a problem with them. Then...I have enough time for her to give me another perscription. This perscription is 30 pills taken every 6 hours for pain.

    It's really NOT a good thing for me to spend all the hours I have on here reading stories, because it just FREAKS ME OUT!!!!!!!!!! There are SO MANY different stories and PROBLEMS that come with having this surgery and it has me SO SCARED!!!!!!!!!
    I've read FREAKY STUFF like some tissue was left in from hyster and Cysts and all started to grow again because new ovaries formed. IT'S CRAZY STUFF I've read I will tell you that!!!!

    Well......I gotta get away from this thing, before I go NUTS.

    I LOVE YOU ALL FOR ALL YOUR LOVE AND SUPPORT I REALLY DO................... :-D

    Have a VERY BLESSED DAY MY FRIEND. :-)
  • lady342008
    lady342008 Member Posts: 82
    floridajo said:

    Excellent news. Your being so confident with your surgeon is a big plus. My first Onc/Gyn was the same way. A very small office,with a wonderful staff,but he had a huge practice. Good luck and kep us posted as the time gets closer so I can prayer for you on that day. ((hugz)))~~Joanne

    THANK YOU.................Joanne. :-D I'm suppose to know the date by next week. I found out from a friend on a forum that is having the robot surgery as well just not the full hyster that she has to drink some awful stuff to clean out her system for surgery. All I got yesterday was an order to get the prep blood work done prior to surgery. He's not doing the CA-125 blood test I guess because he's taking everything out and if it's cancer we'll go from there then. I did ask if the solid mass was contained in the ovary and he said yes. Also, when he takes it out you can know by site right away if it's cancer and then of course they still do a biopsy if it doesn't look like cancer. I'll know in 1-2 days after surgery. Part of me is playing around with thoughts like, "should I have asked for other alternatives to surgery?" BUT... what KEEPS coming to mind is the simple fact that this has in fact been going on since Sept 2006. It's all continued to get worse and change into worse things from regular cysts to complex and now I have a tangerine size solid mass as well. My left ovary is acting up with the complex mass now too. My uternus is a MESS. Plus, he said he'd advise his Mom or Sister to do this if my case was theirs. All this time I was thinking about my ovaries not even realizing there is also cancer of the uterus. Yikes!!! Time will tell as it always does.

    THANK YOU FOR WRITING MY FRIEND and for your Love and Support. :-)
  • mopar
    mopar Member Posts: 1,972 Member
    Well, I'm so happy for you that you are confident in your doctor and ESPECIALLY that he is going to be aggressive and take care of all of this now. I must say I was so worried before my hysterectomy, having seen my sister go through it many years before. Thank God things have improved, and I have such a great doctor. Mine was the bikini incision, I only used pain meds the day of the surgery. After that, I was up and around, taking a shower, walking (which really helps the healing process), so I don't know if my high tolerance to pain is what got me through that. I did stay in the hospital for 8 days, but I had the ENG tube, and a catheter. I wasn't allowed to eat or drink anything for 5 days after surgery. My doctor's premise - he did a lot of poking and moving around of my organs, etc., and wanted to give my digestive system a rest. So, that's my experience, and I hope yours is as good if not better (I'll take a look at the DaVinci info also!).

    I don't know if you wanted to have any more children, so I hope this isn't distressing you too much. But I think you will feel much better knowing that your situation has finally gotten the attention you deserve and that you can get your life back on line again and start living - PAIN FREE!

    Something to think about - no one told me about all the 'side affects' so-to-speak of a hysterectomy. The biggest for me is issues regarding intimacy, atrophy, etc. I CANNOT take ANY estrogen products whatsoever. That includes topical creams, hormone replacement therapy, etc. So when the time is right you may want to ask for info regarding how your menopause will be handled. This will also mean you'll need to boost your calcium/magnesium/Vit D intake even more to prevent bone loss.

    Didn't want to overwhelm you, but I know you like to have an idea of what types of questions to ask. In the meantime, take care and let us know how you are doing. I'm so grateful that you have a good health care practioner, and that there's a light at the end of the tunnel!

    Luv & Hugs!
    Monika
  • lady342008
    lady342008 Member Posts: 82
    mopar said:

    Well, I'm so happy for you that you are confident in your doctor and ESPECIALLY that he is going to be aggressive and take care of all of this now. I must say I was so worried before my hysterectomy, having seen my sister go through it many years before. Thank God things have improved, and I have such a great doctor. Mine was the bikini incision, I only used pain meds the day of the surgery. After that, I was up and around, taking a shower, walking (which really helps the healing process), so I don't know if my high tolerance to pain is what got me through that. I did stay in the hospital for 8 days, but I had the ENG tube, and a catheter. I wasn't allowed to eat or drink anything for 5 days after surgery. My doctor's premise - he did a lot of poking and moving around of my organs, etc., and wanted to give my digestive system a rest. So, that's my experience, and I hope yours is as good if not better (I'll take a look at the DaVinci info also!).

    I don't know if you wanted to have any more children, so I hope this isn't distressing you too much. But I think you will feel much better knowing that your situation has finally gotten the attention you deserve and that you can get your life back on line again and start living - PAIN FREE!

    Something to think about - no one told me about all the 'side affects' so-to-speak of a hysterectomy. The biggest for me is issues regarding intimacy, atrophy, etc. I CANNOT take ANY estrogen products whatsoever. That includes topical creams, hormone replacement therapy, etc. So when the time is right you may want to ask for info regarding how your menopause will be handled. This will also mean you'll need to boost your calcium/magnesium/Vit D intake even more to prevent bone loss.

    Didn't want to overwhelm you, but I know you like to have an idea of what types of questions to ask. In the meantime, take care and let us know how you are doing. I'm so grateful that you have a good health care practioner, and that there's a light at the end of the tunnel!

    Luv & Hugs!
    Monika

    THANK YOU SOOOOOOOOO MUCH MONIKA!!!!!! :-D

    I've been living at this computer, but I have one more thing to post, because my surgery is scheduled...... :-)

    Blessings to you my lady friend. :-D
  • saundra
    saundra Member Posts: 1,370 Member

    Thank You my friend I TRULY appreciate it. Do you drive yourself to your treatments? If so, how is that for you? How do you feel on the day you receive the treatments for side affects and all? I know everyone is different, but I just wonder how it all is and what the worse part of it all is mostly for everyone. I think if you have a lot of love and support from family and friends that literally walk with you through it that it makes it better. I know my Mom went for 3 treatments and she had some real tough times with the side affects.

    I just wonder...... how many people actually walk around with cancer and don't even know it, but they find out and get treatments and THEN...because the side affects of treatments then they feel bad. It's all so crazy.

    Lately, I've been hearing a lot of stories of people finding out they are FULL of cancer and had no idea and died in a matter of weeks of finding out. How crazy is that!!! My daughter had a customer that just experienced that and he was gone in 2 weeks. It was very hard on my daughter, because he was such an awesome guy.

    Thank you for writing. I look forward to staying in touch with you. Blessings to you. :-)

    I do drive myself to treatment and home. It is about 10 mins. from my house Taxol and Carboplatin do not hit us for 48 to 72 hours afterward so I feel good the first couple of days. I do think that the Talol alone hits me faster that the duel doses I took for the first 9. The worst part of treatment with chemicals is the fatigue, which goes on and on. This morning I just feel drowsy and lazy. I am taking my anti-nausea meds and flushing out the system with lots of water.
  • mopar said:

    Well, I'm so happy for you that you are confident in your doctor and ESPECIALLY that he is going to be aggressive and take care of all of this now. I must say I was so worried before my hysterectomy, having seen my sister go through it many years before. Thank God things have improved, and I have such a great doctor. Mine was the bikini incision, I only used pain meds the day of the surgery. After that, I was up and around, taking a shower, walking (which really helps the healing process), so I don't know if my high tolerance to pain is what got me through that. I did stay in the hospital for 8 days, but I had the ENG tube, and a catheter. I wasn't allowed to eat or drink anything for 5 days after surgery. My doctor's premise - he did a lot of poking and moving around of my organs, etc., and wanted to give my digestive system a rest. So, that's my experience, and I hope yours is as good if not better (I'll take a look at the DaVinci info also!).

    I don't know if you wanted to have any more children, so I hope this isn't distressing you too much. But I think you will feel much better knowing that your situation has finally gotten the attention you deserve and that you can get your life back on line again and start living - PAIN FREE!

    Something to think about - no one told me about all the 'side affects' so-to-speak of a hysterectomy. The biggest for me is issues regarding intimacy, atrophy, etc. I CANNOT take ANY estrogen products whatsoever. That includes topical creams, hormone replacement therapy, etc. So when the time is right you may want to ask for info regarding how your menopause will be handled. This will also mean you'll need to boost your calcium/magnesium/Vit D intake even more to prevent bone loss.

    Didn't want to overwhelm you, but I know you like to have an idea of what types of questions to ask. In the meantime, take care and let us know how you are doing. I'm so grateful that you have a good health care practioner, and that there's a light at the end of the tunnel!

    Luv & Hugs!
    Monika

    This comment has been removed by the Moderator
  • lady342008
    lady342008 Member Posts: 82
    unknown said:

    This comment has been removed by the Moderator

    Hey Nancy, Did you have the daVinci Hysterectomy? It's the least invasive approach and they expect me to go home same day or by next morning more definately.
    Keeping everything short, I've been real sick. Take Care.