Surgery w conway in 3 weeks, can anyone answer some preop ?

[joeparz]

Hey Everyone,

Hope all of you are getting well.

I am going in for surgery with Dr. Conway in a few weeks and i am terrified. I stay up paranoid about what i will feel like when i wake up.

If anyone has had the TG with conway and could let me know what to expect when i wake up i would be so grateful.

Am i gonna be in shock from the pain ? lol he wants to give me an epidural which has me panicked as well.

Thanks in advance and as always please feel better my friends

Joe

[Patty]

Joe I can't answer your questions but just wanted to wish you luck. If you need any help let me know. If I'm able I'd gladly do what I can.

[stephanies]

Joe,

I think you are saying that you are concerned with the surgical pain from the procedure, not the nerve pain itself. Is that correct?

I had Dr. Filler's TG surgery bilaterally (very small incisions, just over an inch) and just spent one night in the hospital with pain med via pump. The surgery was on a Tuesday afternoon and I flew home across the country on Friday, standing some with pain due to the incisions but nothing horrific. Later, I had a uni-lateral re-do TG at Johns Hopkins with a very large incision (quite similar to Dr. Conway's). I was in the recovery room for a few hours (lights, alarms, etc.) post-op and that night they wanted to move me to a room, but none were available. My options were to stay in the recovery room or go back to the hotel (which the doctor on duty signed off on). I chose to go back to the hotel with family. Once we had gotten to the hotel, it was after mid-night and we realized my pain medication had been forgotten at the hospital. Baltimore is very a busy city and a very confusing place to drive so we decided to forgo the pain meds and head back to the hospital once morning came. Now, I would not recommend not having pain meds the first night out of this surgery and I certainly was in a lot of surgical pain and quite miserable and had difficulty walking back into the hospital the next morning but I made it through never hitting near level 10 pain. I definitely felt a lot better after the first Percocet tho ugh. Right after we left the hospital after getting the pain meds, we drove home and I was able to completely recline for the hours long car ride. From reading on this site, it seems the doctors now have much better ways to manage the pain immediately and even for several days or longer post-op, so I don't think you need to be too concerned about immediate post-op pain.

I had an epidural for a c-section a few years prior to my PN pain beginning and I think I was completely numb for a while then the feeling came back gradually. I had never had any kind of surgery before my c-section, so the incision pain was a new feeling for me, but the pain decreased as the days went by and was mostly gone by 2 weeks post-op.

My best to you,
Stephanies

[Violet M]

Joe, I remember being anxious before I had surgery too because you go in hoping you will be one of the lucky ones who gets better but you can't help but have those little red flags in the back of your head at the same time. I agree with Stephanie that it's best to have some pain medication available. Gel ice packs can be very helpful too. I think with the epidural you should be comfortable but it is just a temporary measure and eventually you will need some additional pain management. Do you have a local pain management doctor who can manage your pain meds for you?

I had the TIR surgery, not the TG, so I can't say exactly what it will be like for you when you wake up. I had increased nerve pain after surgery so it was a little rough at first but eventually that calmed down.

I hope everything goes well for us. Please keep us posted when you can. Will be praying for you from behind the scenes.

Violet

[joeparz]

Joe, I remember being anxious before I had surgery too because you go in hoping you will be one of the lucky ones who gets better but you can't help but have those little red flags in the back of your head at the same time. I agree with Stephanie that it's best to have some pain medication available. Gel ice packs can be very helpful too. I think with the epidural you should be comfortable but it is just a temporary measure and eventually you will need some additional pain management. Do you have a local pain management doctor who can manage your pain meds for you?

I had the TIR surgery, not the TG, so I can't say exactly what it will be like for you when you wake up. I had increased nerve pain after surgery so it was a little rough at first but eventually that calmed down.

I hope everything goes well for us. Please keep us posted when you can. Will be praying for you from behind the scenes.

Violet

I honestly am so scared i think i am gonna skip the epidural and just tough it out. Or try to. The epidural scares me too much lol

Thank you so much for the kind words, i really appreciate it. I have never been more scared in my life. Not just of the surgery, but whats gonna happen after if it doesn't work.....like what to do next when your final resort doesn't work.

I have so many concerns and questions of what to expect when i wake up from the surgery.

I already feel like my pain levels are at a 10 because i use no medication i just deal with this naturally. Not too much pain upon waking, but within an hour or two i feel like someone stuck a railroad spike into my coccyx.

So I am so scared of waking up and feeling 100X worse than i already do with dozens of new symptoms which terrifies me because i am already hurting so much i can't even imagine taking any more pain. And i have a VERY high pain tolerance.

I also get paranoid that this is fibromyalgia or pelvic floor dysfunction and i am going through surgery for nothing But i am pretty sure that isn't the case and i am just having anxiety/cold feet. Every time i do physical therapy for 3-5 months my pelvic floor gets totally relaxed but i still can't sit and still have pain so it can't be that.

And i have never heard of fibro doing this to someone.....



Thanks again for the kind words from all 3 three of you (Patty, Stephanie, and Violet)

P.S. I know this is totally random but i absolutely love the name Violet. Me and my Fiance have that as one of the names we like for our future daughter. If i can ever have one!!

[janetm2]

Hi Joe,
Just wanted to wish you well. Try not to panic too much especially after the surgery because you will need the strength and patience. Maybe you can look forward to the lovely daughter of the future to get you through!
Janet

[Violet M]

Hi Joe,

Well, I went through some similar anxiety before my surgery and right afterwards too because my initial pain levels post-op were somewhat higher than prior to surgery. So don't panic if things are a little rough at first. I think Doreen's recent post about following the activity restrictions carefully is really important. I was pretty careful too for the first couple of years. I guess I am still careful but there are lots of things I can do now.

What is the date of your surgery? Will say some extra prayers for you then.

Those little purple violets that come out in the spring in the woods are my favorite flowers. I hope you will be blessed with a little "Violet" someday.

All the best,

Violet

[joeparz]

Hi Joe,

Well, I went through some similar anxiety before my surgery and right afterwards too because my initial pain levels post-op were somewhat higher than prior to surgery. So don't panic if things are a little rough at first. I think Doreen's recent post about following the activity restrictions carefully is really important. I was pretty careful too for the first couple of years. I guess I am still careful but there are lots of things I can do now.

What is the date of your surgery? Will say some extra prayers for you then.

Those little purple violets that come out in the spring in the woods are my favorite flowers. I hope you will be blessed with a little "Violet" someday.

All the best,

Violet

Thanks Violet

Yeah i was really happy she posted. It was good timing for my surgery. I sent her an email to see if i can get the gist of what i am in for to maybe calm myself down and go into this with the knowledge of what i can expect.

It's nice to see that surgery CAN make a difference. When i first signed up here surgery wasn't even an option for me because i felt it was too risky, and almost no one posted positive stories on here. But after a couple years of excruciating pain, and seeing some other peoples experiences with surgery, my surgery is now booked for next week

I just hope surgery will work and all of this really is my pudendal nerve. I have chased down so many avenues of conditions that i thought i was totally sure i had only to find out it wasn't the source of my pain. I don't know if i could take the heartbreak of Conway opening me up only to say he couldn't find anything wrong with my nerve lol

Well, hopefully the next time i pop on here will be a few weeks or days after surgery saying how i can't believe how easy surgery was.........

Thanks again everyone for always hearing me out and helping.

[April]

Best of luck, Joe!! It sounds like surgery made a lot of sense in your case. Hope you can post a positive report in the coming weeks or months.

April

[joeparz]

Thanks for the kind words everyone.

A friend of mine, another member of this site, just had surgery with Conway yesterday.

I spoke with him today and he seems to be doing very well. I won't give too many details as it''s not my place to.

But it was reassuring to hear from him a day after surgery and tell me he is doing well and the surgery found the issue(Hopefully)

He also did NOT have the epidural so now our experiences are even closer, making me feel even better and confident about mine on tuesday.

I am so happy the surgery went well for him, this condition is horrible.

I am also happy because insurance finally said they will cover the surgery, and they over turned their decision giving me 2 nights in the hospital as opposed to just 1. And they are now covering the EMG that is done during surgery as well.