Thursday, April 09, 2009

Hydrothermal Ablation....yes please!

Disclaimer
This is a lady parts post...proceed with caution.

Monday afternoon I began the process toward getting my hydrothermal ablation (HTA).
I began taking 600 mg of Ibuprofen every six hours starting at noon on Monday. Then Monday night I took some medication that would dilate my cervix.

Tuesday morning I expected to feel weird, but woke up feeling fine.
I went over to my sister-in-law's house with all the kids because she was going to watch them during my procedure AND then pick me up afterwards since I wasn't allowed to drive myself home.
I went over there a couple hours early, and I'm glad I did because on the way there I started to get a horrible crampy feeling. Stupid cervix dilation!

After awhile I was dropped off at the doctor's office. In my purse I had the rest of my medication: One valium and twelve vicodins.

At the nurses cue, I took the valium and two vicodins. This was to relax me for the procedure (a jump ahead....I was still really freaking nervous the whole time).

An hour later, and now fully looped from vicodin (how does Dr. House do it??) they took me back to the procedure room.

I'll spare the horrible gory details here, since you can read about it all here. I was surprised that they actually fill your uterus with the hot water AND that you can watch your insides boil away on a little television as they put a scope in there too.
Fun.

So I'm laying there with bionic vagina watching my uterus be boiled.
Surreal.

The vicodins started to make me dizzy, which started to sort of give me a panic attack and then I was glad for the valium.
The whole thing, including all the prep work on my lady parts, took about an hour. Amy came and picked me up and took me home.
I cried part of the way, I think just from pent-up tension. I wasn't sad, or really even in that much pain at that point.

I got home and was made to lay down on the couch with a heating pad and medicine. Amy stayed with me for awhile then whisked all my children away! Yay!

So I laid on the couch pretty much until the next morning. Taking vicodins and ibuprofens and alternating the heat settings on my heating pad all while drifting in and out of consciousness.

But by Wednesday morning, I was feeling fine. Amy brought all the kids home Wednesday afternoon, which is when, of course, I started getting crampy. But I think that was just the stress that these horrible children cause me. With their whining and fighting and wanting to be fed. Bleh.

But that was that. I'm all OK now and on my own with all the kids!
Here's hoping the HTA takes. I don't know if I could do it again. It was very bizarre.

13 comments:

Tigerlilly said...

Glad to hear your ok now. That sounds crazy wierd ... at least I got an 8 inch scar to show off for all my troubles! LOL Seriously, I hope it works out well for you. I know I enjoy the option of white pants!!

SusieGoodness said...

wowzers. boiling you away.. sounds scary. Although I don't think I like my scar LOL.. boiling might have been more fun.. oh and the whole hormone replacement therapy drama.. i could do with out that too! LOL... What is the liklihood that this will take and you will be problem free?

Jessica said...

Ouchie. I just looked it up. Ouchie.

Glad you're better now.

Kenna said...

I'm glad your doing well:)

Jessica said...

Kenna saw me alive today and knows I'm at least PARTIALLY alive! ;)

The likelihood of the HTA success is, according to my pre-op papers, 30-50 percent total cessation of menstruation. and that 95 percent see a decrease in the monthly flow.

These are great odds as far as I am concerned.

Also, if my HTA doesn't take my insurance will cover a second procedure three months after my first.....


so...yeah...

Jessica said...

PS, Chris...I have a big old C-section scar too, so I'm double blessed. And double PS Dr. Tindall says HI!

Melissa Gephart said...

Boiling insides. Something else for me to fear now. I'm glad it went well and you had some help with the kids - can you imagine dealing with 3 crazy kids with boiled up insides? Get some rest this weekend!

Jessica said...

I told my husband. He just looked confused. Then he said, "That sounds medieval."

Anonymous said...

So its been a few months since your HTA procedure? Did your periods stop or just get lighter? I ask because I'm scheduled to have this procedure next month.

Jessica said...

Mine have just gotten lighter and shorter...but they say every woman responds differently to the procedure.

I'm actually considering a second round, since a) my insurance supports it and b) my goal was to be period free.

If you have any questions about the HTA procedure feel free to email me at crochetfuntime@gmail.com

Unknown said...

well I had the procedure done and it was nothing like that and I experienced not pain just some mild cramping that went away in a few hours.

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

I had my HTA done on 1/14/2010. The procedure was a piece of cake! Took all those good meds before, got 2 shots in the behind before the procedure. All went well even watching it on the TV. Went home & about 1-2 hours after "let the cramping begin"!!! They gave me Percocet for the pain, which it didn't even touch! Percocet keeps me awake, so I didn't get much sleep until about 12 hours after the procedure, then it was for about 4 hours. Then about 4 hours of more milder cramping ... now all is good. Still passing the sloughing, brown with a pink tinge... Hopefully it stops it. If not at least lessens it. I was having 3-3.5 weeks of period a month which caused BV because of all the moisture. BV is gone and so is the heavy bleeding!! So far I am saying this is the best thing I have done. If it doesn't work, then the Dr. said a hystorectomy in 3-6 months... Positive thoughts - it will work! :-) Would do it again if necessary!