# lap and dye anyone?



## flossie84 (Jan 17, 2012)

Hey everyone, 

dp and i had our initial appointment at the RFC last week and the dr has referred me for a lap and dye and possible tubal surgery. i have a 5 yo ds born via emergency c section so he said it could be possible that there is some damage from the surgery. he said it would probably take place in the mater hospital, however waiting time in the belfast trust was around 5 months!! i expected to wait a few months, but i was a bit surprised that it would take that length of time. 

have any of you guys ever found this and whats your experience of having a lap and dye in the mater/belfast trust/ni in general? is there someone around after to tell you if anything was found such as dr or nurse? did you have to go for a pre-op before this in the city hospital - as the nurse advised me this might happen. i know its only a day procedure but how long do you spend in hospital? (just so i know how long to send dp away for!) 

i know its a lot of questions, sorry!

thank you in advance!x


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## justone (Sep 10, 2010)

Hi Flossie84
How are you?  In answer to your query re lap 'n' dye, I had one done as part of my pre-tx investigations but mine was done in Altnagelvin. I didn't have to attend for a pre-op as I had it done on the day of the op itself. As it was done under GA, I slept throughout and when I woke up I felt a bit tender and was still tender for a week or so afterwards but it was nowhere near as painful as I'd thought it would be.  The cons I was under came and spoke to me after I woke up from the op and told me what he'd seen during the op. I had my lap 'n' dye done at 2pm and was allowed home at 7pm.    
I had another combi lap 'n' dye with HSG done in Sept last. It was done again in Altnagelvin and all was similar  to the previous one. The major difference was unfortunately that I took a very bad reaction to the anaesthetic and resultingly, (TMI alert) vomited profusely initially when I woke up and then my blood pressure dropped really low so I needed oxygen as well as the 'drip' put up.  I was kept in hospital overnight for observation and discharged the following afternoon. I was sore for about three weeks following the op and had to take things really easy during that time.  
Hope this has helped you and not frightened you too much. Please feel free to ask any more questions.
Every good wish in your quest to become a mum!


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## flossie84 (Jan 17, 2012)

justone 

thank you for the reply, i would assume there isnt much difference between the NI hospitals. I didnt think about having it done in the afternoon, i assumed that with fasting etc it would be done in the morning so thats good to know, especially for oh who will be doing the driving and waiting around, its over a 2 hr round trip so there would probably be little point him going home during that time. i had a hsg done in march and it was another 4 months before my appointment and the results so its good that you got to hear at the same time as the procedure, hopefully this will be the case for me. 

Thats scary and strange about your reaction to the anaesthetic, do you think they give you a reason for it or do something different with the drugs that time if you reacted ok the first time. thank you very much for answering my questions, i feel much better informed. do you remember how long did you have to wait for your referral to have the lap and dye? I know it probably varies between trusts because the consultant said "in this trust the waiting list is 5 months" but just out of interest?
thanks again x


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## duckybun (Feb 14, 2012)

Hi flossie

I ha a lap and dye done in the mater just over 2 months ago. We had to wait 5 mo ths from being put on the list. Dr McManus was my surgeon, on the morning she came around to tell me about what she would do before I went to theatre and after I came found and had recovered in the ward a little she came up to tell me briefly what she had found.

If you have dr McManus she wont do any treatment during your diagnostic lap and if anything is found she will refer you to dr hunter who is fabulous. Although dr McManus came round to speak to me after the surgery, I was very groggy and upset as she had found extensive endo, I wasn't really prepared with questions but she said I could gather my thoughts and ask her everything I wanted to in my review. 

I called the appointments number the next day to be hold there would be a 3 mo th wait for the review so we paid to see her privately the following week. The cost for a private consultation with her is 150 and she referred us to dr hunter there and then. The wait to see him is then a further 3 mo the but again we paid privately to see him (150 again). He is lovely and very supportive, thankfully he wrote to our insurance company and we justified the surgical excision on the basis of quality of life due to my chronic anaemia from heavy bleeding and I had the surgery 2 days ago in the ulster independent. 

If you can't get covered through your insurance the wait on the Nhs is 5 to 6 months, so if you can afford it I would definitely recommend paying for your review privately and then your consultation with your surgeon as this will fast track you 6 months! 

The mater are fabulous and the nurses were all lovely, after my diagnostic lap I was knackered from the anaesthetic but that was really the worst of it, after a week I was grand.

All the best hun, if you have any questions fire away x

X
Ducky


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## flossie84 (Jan 17, 2012)

Hi duckybun

we saw Dr Tang at the RFC, he said that he would try to fix anything he found in the lap and dye, but if it is more severe he wont do anything. i would definately consider paying for the private appointment but im new to all this, do you know if all the consultants work privately as well as for the NHS or is it only a few of them? I havent even a clue how you would go about getting a private consultation, but to me £150 is worth it for the sake of my mental health, im an impatient person as it is!

Was your lap and dye done in the morning and did you have to go for a pre-op before? do you remember how long was it from your appointment before they sent for you to get your lap and dye done? I asked if i would need to take time off work and the Dr said a few days,  although i might just take the week off.
im sure it was difficult for you to take in what Dr McManus was telling you after coming round from a general anaesthetic and with the whole thing being such a rollercoaster of emotions. i would rather my dp was with me so he can remember what is being said and also for back up, i can get get quite emotional with all this, he can hear it in my voice when im talking  and takes over for me until i compose myself again!

So it really is a 5 month wait my goodness i though he might be adding on a month or two just incase they are behind. As yet we are still unexplained, so I guess all we can do is just keep trying and keep our fingers crossed in the hope of getting our miracle before the letter comes through the door!

how did was your surgery at the ulster independent? how are you feeling now that its over? I hope its not too personal to ask you, hope your feeling ok. 
thank you so much for taking the time to read and for replying.

flossie.x


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## duckybun (Feb 14, 2012)

Hiya flossie,

I haven't met dr tang, although I am on his list for ivf at the rfc when we reach the top. He took over dr traub's list when he retired earlier on this year so I don't know much about him.

If he is going to treat your endo please make sure you ask him if he is going to use laser ablation, diathermy or excision. This is the most I important question you can ask. Laser burns the top layer of the endo away as does diathermy whereas excision cuts it out at a deeper level. The rates of recurrence for endo after laser and diathermy are much higher than excision, so I would insist on excision if I were you. If he doesn't offer to do it or isn't experienced then ask him not to treat your endo if he finds any during your lap, but ask to be referred to dr hunter for excision. Read up as much as you can before the next time you see him Hun as its really important to understand your treatment. When dr hunter did my excision he said there were areas that where it had infiltrated 2cm deep into my tissue, and if it had only been lasered up to 90 % of the disease would have still been left!

As for paying for private consultations, most of the consultants work privately, you can get the numbers for their private secretaries from the receptionist at the rfc.

My lap was in the morning. When you get your appointment letter it will tell you to either come in for the morning or the afternoon ands then its just a case of seeing where you are on the list when you get there. The mater sent my dp away after a while as they don't like visitors to be hanging about the ward when ladies are coming up form theatre in delicate states. He just went into town and I called him when I was back up. However this meant he missed dr McManus coming up to speak to me after the surgery, and I really could have done with him there. So it might be an idea to get your dp to stay in the mater and just read a paper and get the nurses to call him when you come back up to the ward.

I feel ok after Monday, it was a much more complicated surgery than the diagnostic lap in the mater so I'm much more tired and banged up! The diagnostic is pretty quick to get over if they don't do anything other than have a look, but on Monday dr hunter was working on me for over 2 hours and had to cut away a lot of disease. I went back to work the day after my diagnostic ( only for a couple of hours mind you for a meeting) but I've taken the next 6 weeks of the recuperate from Monday!

Keep asking questions Hun, the best way to make sure you get the right treatment is to ask the right questions and the only way to do that is to know and understand your options. You should have a read of the endometriosis board, there are some great threads over there for info. I started one before my consultation with dr mc manus called, questions to ask before my consultation ( or something like that!) there's a really extensive list of questions on there.

Happy hunting!

Xx
Ducky


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