You Are Doing What To My Insides?

As mentioned yesterday, I had an appointment with a prolapse specialist on the 27th. That was one of the most interesting appointments I've had in a while. Interesting is really not the right word but I am not really sure how to describe it otherwise. I've been to a few "lovely lady parts" doctor appointments in my time and with one miscarriage and two beautiful boys that number just shoots right up there but none have been quite like this one. So now that you have an idea of what a prolapse is and where I am at with mine this is kind of how the appointment went...

Visual exam at first, just trying to get an idea of what she's working with, an idea of how I'm laid out, where the episiotomies were cut, how long/deep they were and how well they were repaired, etc. Then she used the speculum to find my cervix, luckily she had read my chart well and listened to me when I told her what my doctor told me to tell people when trying to find my cervix and she found it quickly. She had me bare down, cough and pretend sneeze, etc. which, unfortunately, made me start to laugh. She was checking the strength of my vaginal walls and how everything moved during these activities. She then took the speculum apart, used one half of the duck bill looking part to help her take measurements. She took measurements while I was relaxed, while I was baring down, while I was coughing, etc. Rattling off numbers to her assistant and my nervous tic to laugh kicked in again. Not the appropriate time to laugh but I felt like I was at an auction or something. After all the measurements were taken, which let me say, was not that bad. No pain and she was extremely proficient. She is definitely the person to see. If you need the name of a good doctor, email me privately and I will pass on her information.

Side note: I decided not to name my doctors on the blog only because I have not asked them for their permission to do so. I have an amazing doctor and if you are in this area looking for a good doctor please call or email me.

Back to the exam, so by this time I've been in the stirrups longer than a normal exam, which I expected, but the not so fun part came next. I am assuming she used the piece of the speculum, but I can't confirm that for sure, along with her fingers to literally push my cervix and uterus back up to where it should be. This is when I decided that she was actually a professional at torturing people and the doctors office was just a ruse. Why do you ask did she do this? Well, what she was wanting to find out is if, when all is said and done, I would have bladder problems. Sometimes, the uterus, cervix and even the prolapse will hold the bladder in place. Once you remove said uterus and fix the prolapse this can, at times, create problems with the bladder. So, with my parts uncomfortably shoved back into place with whatever torture device she had, her fingers holding whatever they were holding, I had to then bare down, cough (hard!), and whatever else she made me do to see if I would leak urine. OKAY, to be fair, it never really hurt, it was definitely uncomfortable, not pleasant at all and extremely odd but it never hurt. So please don't let my experience scare you away from doing what you need to do!! Good news is that I never leaked urine no matter what she did or how she shifted and shoved my internal organs. Woohoo! My exam ended with a quick rectal exam to check the strength of those muscle and to make sure that everything in that area was working and where it should be. All good there too.

So in the end, my prolapse, according to her, can be easily repaired. They will leave ligaments that are already in my uterus/vaginal walls, pull things up and tight and connect those to my pelvic bones...or at least I think those were the bones that she said they would connect them to. Technically, my cervix will be gone but they still want to pull up the vaginal walls. My bladder looks to be in great shape and will need no additional surgery or help.The appointment, although not fun, was not that bad. I was a little crampy and achy for the rest of the day but a little bit of Advil helped with that. Unless you have some questions or think I left something out, I am done talking about my cervix and prolapse...high five!!