[MSCherokee]

This has been a wild rollercoaster ride for me. I had two uterine fibroids, one the size of a grapefruit and the other the size of a baby's head! While hysterectomy is one of the options for fibroids, I was not ready to do something so drastic. Because my fibroids were located on the outside of my uterus I did not have any abnormal bleeding, just pressure, constant urination and a stomach that made me look preggers. I was a candidate for the robotic assisted myomectomy.

I did all the pre-surgery testing and passed with flying colors until it came to the renal scan - my right kidney had a partial obstruction and the doc no longer felt comfortable doing the surgery robotically. He felt that an open myomectomy was the way to go. The fibroid was causing the kidney obstruction. I was so disappointed because in addition to a bigger incision and more pain, it meant 4-6 weeks off work instead of 2 weeks.

When I went back for my pre-surgery appointment on July 28, he examined me again, had another doctor examine me, then changed his mind again. LOL The other doctor's opinion was to start out robotically then he could always switch to open if needed, so that became the plan. I would not know which type of surgery I had until I woke up in recovery.

So, on August 2 I started my colon prep with GoLytely - by far the worst part of this whole procedure! I had to be at the hospital at 9 a.m. on August 3 and by 12:30 p.m. they were wheeling me into OR. The procedure took longer than normal because of the size of my fibroids. About 6 p.m. the doctor gave my husband the good news - they did it robotically and I was in recovery.

I was on a morphine drip while in the hospital and was released around 3:30 p.m. on August 4. I've been taking Percocet, although the gas pain is by far the worst part of this whole thing. I have five very small incisions (about 1/2 inch). They were even able to use an existing appendectomy scar as one of the incisions. I don't have sutures, they've closed the incisions with Durabond.

If anyone has fibroids and wants a less invasive procedure, I would wholeheartedly recommend asking if you are a candidate for the robotic assisted myomectomy.

[Jasmin42]

Hi MSCherokee,

How are you doing after your robotic myo?

I'm scheduled for the same procedure in February.

How do the incisions look?

Do you still look preggers?

What about symptoms? Are they gone?

I have 6 fibroids. The largest is 5cm and issues with pressure, heavy heavy bleeding, dissented abdomen,etc.....

I had an MRgFUS in August 2009;but, they weren't able to target all 6 of the fibroids. Just 3 given the 4 hour time limit for the machine. So I decided to have the robotic myo.

Thanks for sharing your story.

BeWell.

Jaz