His and Her Health

Hi everyone,
Well it's day two since my Vestibulectomy and I'm doing good. I'm in a
little pain, (pain meds help with that) but all in all it has not been
bad. I'm so glad that it's over and now the healing process has
begun. I even got to talk to my husband for 2 hours from Iraq, which
made me feel better in itself.

It's too early to tell if the operation was a success, but if any of
you are thinking of going through this surgery, feel free to ask me any
questions you might have. Like I said, it's a little soon for me to
talk about recovery, but I'd be glad to talk to you about the journey.

Thinking of and praying for you all!
Susan in Alaska

Best of luck to you. I hope things only continue to get better for you! =)

Susan, was there a lot of bleeding after? Do you have to wear a pad?

I just had a partial vestibulectomy yesterday and so far it's a lot less painful than I would have thought. It was an outpatient procedure and I had to drive two hours (well, I was driven) after the procedure to get home--it went fine. Overall, I can walk around gingerly and I'm doing okay. I didn't even fill my prescription for Vicadin (sp?)--I just take 600 mg of ibuprofen when I need it (about every 10-12 hours).

Susan, it's now been a couple of months since you had yours--how has the recovery been? How long before you could return to work (if you work) and has it worked to eliminate the pain (especially during sex)? I'm hoping this will be my solution.

I am curious as well as to how the procedures went since I am scheduled to undergo surgery and hav not spoke to many people! please let me know of your recovery and success!!

I'm almost four months post-op and feel completely normal (I have since about a month post-op, but after about two weeks from the surgery, I was mostly normal). Sex is still painful, though I think this is from me not being stretched out. My doctor did not send me home with dilators, so we're doing this on our own. I know I'm tense too, anticipating pain, so I try to relax... Besides all else, I think we still just don't know what we're doing in that arena, so it's complicated. Nonetheless, the surgery went fine. I'm not positive it has solved my problem, but it was a small inconvenience and price to pay for the attempt at a resolution.

I am scheduled to have vestibulectomy/perineoplasty next month. I am curious if anyone had any problems with their health ins or short term disability ins. paying after their surgery? Also curious how soon afterwards they were back to "normal" activities. I am scheduled to be off of work for 4 weeks, but just wondering how soon I can reasonably expect to take care of my 1 yr old son by myself.

I had my vestibulectomy in Jan 2003. I was on total bed rest for a week after, and limited mobility for the next two weeks. I returned to work after 3.5 weeks, but I wasn't really comfortable sitting until 4 weeks after the surgery. I don't know how to anticipate what it is like to care for a one-year-old, but I was definitely mobile and feeling fine by the second week. I had percocet for the pain, and the pain was never bad. My recovery was free of complications. The thing that drove me nuts the most was the itching as the surgery healed. I took frequent warm baths in shallow water, used ice packs, and occasionally spread a thin layer of vaseline or Neosporin inside my vulva, which helped. My biggest suggestion to anyone having this surgery is to ask your doctor for a prescription for Miralax, which is a stool softener. You add it to water. It doesn't give the water much of a taste, but I typically would gulp down my 8 ounces in one big swallow -- that way I only had one shot of aftertaste. I drank a glass in the morning, and one at night. Trust me, you DO NOT want to get constipated or have to strain to poop while you are recovering from your vesibulectomy. Stay in bed for the first week -- don't try to get out of bed and move around. Once your doctor gives you the go-ahead, start using your dilators as instructed. (Be warned -- I found the dilators to be fairly expensive. I have a set of 8 or 10 or so, and I think they cost me about $400 total. My sizes run the gamut from very narrow, to 1.5 inches in diameter.) Regarding insurance and what-have-you... I was out of work for 3.5 weeks, covered by my company's short-term disability. That just means that I continued to get a paycheck, even though I was not at work. I had to wrangle with my insurance company to get them to pay the surgeon's fee. (They paid the hospital fees without any problem.) It had something to do with the way the surgeon coded the surgery. In the insurance company's books, that code was for a procedure that should have cost only around $300, and instead the surgery alone (not counting the hospital fees) was $3,500. (All together, counting the surgery and the hospital fees, the procedure ran around $12,000. I think that I wound up paying about $1,500, after all the reimbursements.) I wound up getting my company's HR person involved, and we bombarded the insurance company with a ton of information, describing my surgery in minute detail. Ultimately, they did reimburse me for 80% of the surgery (as the surgeon was out-of-network), but it did take a while.

I'm glad I had the surgery. While I still have not had sex since the surgery, due to divorce and other circumstances, I am able to use vibrators without pain, so I do feel that when I do have sex again, it'll be pain-free. Sometimes I feel this pinching pain inside my vagina -- not necessarily during sex -- but it is mild. I wouldn't even call it painful. I take penetration very slow at first -- very slow! -- and I use lots of lubrication inside and out, and everything seems to do fine.

Good luck to everyone who is considering having the vestibulectomy.

I am having a lot of trouble finding a doctor to even diagnose my condition. I started off only having pain with intercourse, and after a chronic yeast infection, the pain is now pretty much everywhere. I am tired of trying all of the alternative treatments and want to talk to a specialist about surgery. I was wondering how everyone found their surgeon, and went about initiating the surgery process.

I am so happy to have finally found this kind of support. I am 20 and diagnosed with vulvar vestibulitis. I feel I have tried everything and this month I will have my consultation for a vestibulectomy. I knew little about this procedure but finding this site has at least taught me more than I knew before. Thank you to everyone who is informing and good luck to everyone.

For those of you who had the vestibulectomy, ( I just did 3 weeks ago), how long did it take for the pain or burning of healing to subside? When were you able to sit straight in a chair without leaning to one side and about how many weeks after was the doctor able to do the "q-tip" test without pain but maybe some discomfort? WHat is the normal healing time?

I went to a 3 week checkup and am very discouraged because my doc said that things were healing very nice and there was no infection or inflamation to be concerned about and then he said he was going to do the "qtip" test and stated that hopefully I would not feel the same kind of pain but some discomfort or tenderness. I was not able to tell any difference at all and felt pain where he was touching and tensed up. I was not able to tell any difference whether it was VV pain or surgery pain, it was just pain.

Is it too soon to feel a difference or do some people take longer? I have another appointment in 3 more weeks and I am hoping to feel some difference by then...what are your thoughts?? I am discouraged and was very down yesterday but my doc said that maybe I need a little more healing time to feel less pain. I know it will take time but I was hoping for a slight difference by now. Thanks

Schontis,

I had my vestibulectomy 4 weeks ago and still have pain and burning and discomfort when sitting. I was told that the surgical site doesn't heal until 6-8 weeks. So while I know it is frustrating I think that we are both still healing. In fact, my first post-op isn't until 6 weeks after surgery. It is still too early to jump to any conclusions. Hang in there! I know I am getting so impatient and bored but hopefully in the end it'll be worth it! Either way at least we tried!

Thanks Winnie for sharing, it makes me feel much better knowing we are in the same boat and I should not feel hopeless! i would love to share stories and go through this recovery together if you are up for it! I have a link above my post with my email on it so please feel free to contact me and we can talk! I would really appreciate it! Stacy

Hi Ladies! I am new to this site and had a vestibulectomy, perionoplasy and hemmoroidectomy on June 14th. There were alot of complications and I have had to be cauterized on six different occasions. I just stopped bleeding yesterday and still have to go tomorrow to have stitches removed tomorrow (they were supposed to be dissolving, but have not). I am also diabetic. One Tuesday the surgeon cut one of the stitches without using any xylocaine and it really hurt. I am still in alot of pain. Anyone else having this trouble?

Schontis,

I had a vestibulectomy December 13. I recall being able to sit pretty normally about two weeks after the surgery. Occasionally I would sit funny and it would hurt, but by three weeks, I had returned to work and no one was the wiser. I went to the doctor two weeks after and he said everything looked good, but I haven't been back since. I didn't fully stop bleeding until the 13th day after.

I tried the Q-tip test on myself after the six weeks and didn't have any noticable pain, but I still experience pain during sex, so I'm not sure what the deal is--I switched insurance, so I can't go back to the same doctor and I've been too busy to schedule something with another.

At any rate, it will get better and you can't expect full healing for at least 6-8 weeks, so hang in there. Good luck, and stay patient. I'm sure things will work out fine for you.