His and Her Health

Hi! I am new to the forums. I want to excuse myself in advance, because English is not my first langage. I have come here, because I learned a lot reading the posts in this forum and found no equivalent forums in French.

I have had a vestobulectomy 2 weeks ago. The first and second days were the most painful, then the pain started going down. Then, about five days post-op, the pain had come back with a vengeance. Even the narcotics pain med (I had Empracet-30) weren't helping. My mom took me to the emergency, and they said my surgery site had become infected. At the hospital where I had surgery, they had not told me to do sitz bath, so even if I was taking great care not to get the would dirty (if you know what I mean) by going to the shower after each stool, maybe it wasn't enough to prevent infection. I am currently finishing a 10 day course of clindamycin 450 mg 4 times daily + ciprofloxacin 500 mg 2 times daily. As expected, about 2-3 days into the antibiotics, the pain was almost completely gone. I could say the following days were almost pain free. I could sit on soft surfaces in any position I wanted without any tearing or cutting pain.

But... yesterday evening, I started feeling a new pain. I would say that, from my point of vue, it's at about 3-4 o'clock. It becomes worse when I walk or if I've been sitting for a while. I'm a little afraid, because the last time pain came back, it was an infection. With the antibiotics I am taking (they cover pretty much every bacteria that could cause the infection), I doubt it could be a new infection. I remember that, a few days post-op, my boyfriend had told me that a spot in that area was more red than the rest, and the doctor at the emergency told me I had granulation tissue at that spot. I don't know if that could be related? There is no overt bleeding. I tried to look, but it's hard to "understand" my vagina right now (there are a lot of bumps and I don't see my vaginal opening) and I couldn't see the actual spot that is hurting. My boyfriend took a look, but he says that he doesn't see anything.

My post-op appointment is in a few days, on January 4th. I had primary vestibulistis (which means the pain has been there since my first sexual relations). I've been with my boyfriend for 6 1/2 years and haven't had a penetration during pretty much all that time (we tried a few times at the beginning of our relashionship, but it was so painful we stopped trying - he couldn't bear seeing my hurt that much). I have so much hope in this surgery... Just being able to have a sexual relation without too much pain would be a great improvement for me. I hope someone else has felt a similar pain after experiencing pain relief and that it doesn't mean my surgery isn't recovering as it should.

I'm sorry for the long post...

Rinoa,use the search engine at the top of this page amd type in vestibulectomy, then highlight All open Forums and click search. That will bring up a list of posts from women who are dealing with the same problem . Hope that gives you some help. Also go to our website at www.ourgyn.com for more informative articles.

Thank you, but as I said I have already read pretty much all what there was to read on the subject of vestibulectomy in this forum. Nothing answered the question I have, that is, if it's normal when the pain comes back after it had resolved during vestibulectomy recovery. :confused: This is why I posted, to see if anyone experienced the same situation.

Let us know how your post-op goes. I know I got REALLY sore the few days before my 2-week appointment when the stitches were removed. Maybe there is an area that is simply tender/irritated from the stitches. Are you having stitches out tomorrow? I have read a couple others who had granulation tissue - did you try a search on that term? I don't remember under what topic that was, though.

Here is the thread about granulation tissue.
http://www.hisandherhealth.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?/topic/2/701.html#000000

PJ3002: I read the whole "granulation" thread, but it didn't help me. The person was asking a precise question to Dr Goldstein, but he said he couldn't answer.

I went to my appointment today, but my Dr told me it was too soon to take an appointment (!). He says the wound is coming along nicely, even if I still have granulation tissue and some inflamation (which would explain the pain). He says the granulation tissue will take care of itself and that the inflammation can come and go and that it's normal. He says to keep doing the sitz baths at least once day.

When I came back from the hospital, I noticed a yellowish discharge in my underwear. I don't think it can be an infection, I just finished (wednesday) a 10 day course of strong antibiotics... Did anyone else observe that?

Your discharge was when you came out of the hospital after surgery or after Friday's appointment? I started getting a thick discharge (think vanilla pudding) right about 2 weeks post-op, and I thought I had an infection, but my doctor said that comes from the stitches dissolving. I found the more I soaked it, the more discharge I got, but then I felt like that was OK to help the stitches dissolve. I honestly had to remove the stuff with a q-tip because it was so thick. Yes - I would say keep soaking it (the sitz didn't work for me, but a plastic tub about 4 inches tall by 20 inches wide worked GREAT in the tub). Also, keep spritzing it after urinating. When I did that, I just squatted over a towel & let the water drip off & just patted dry, but I spritzed A LOT after urinating. I apologize about the granulation tissue thing - I know I had come across it, but didn't realize it wasn't a thorough answer.

So are they not going to take your stitches out? Are they just going to let them dissolve?

I guess that's the plan, but maybe he'll take them out when I see him during the last week of February (unless it's too late then)?

About the discharge, I was talking about my last appointment, on Friday. It has been 18 days since my surgery. My discharge is not as thick as the one you described me.

I wasn't spritzing water anymore, but I think I'll start using it again. I'm not sure the "sitz baths" I'm taking about are the same you think. My doctor basically told me to sit in the bath (no water in the bath) and to "wash" my wound my the handheld shower head for 10-15 min. So I'm not actually sitting in water.

I noticed the pain is worst when I'm outside in the cold (winter is very cold here) and I itch a lot too.

Thank you for answering my thread, it means a lot to me. All this is a little overwhelming. I'm still frightened to look down there - it looks so different than before. I hope it's going to look better as it heals, but if I finally can have pain free sex it's going to have been worth it.

Oh my gosh - I totally understand that it is frightening to look there. I am 12 weeks post-op...and it looks very different to me. I can still see where the stitches were, and it's still fairly sensitive. Be VERY careful as you start to have sex again - have a patient partner, and much lube. I think we may have created another fissure in the past week...so that is very frustrating since I just had it surgically removed!

As far as your itching, if you still have the stitches in, I can see why it would itch - and hopefully that is a sign of continued healing. Once I got mine out at 2 weeks post-op, my condition improved DRASTICALLY and almost immediately. Yes - I would encourage you to spritz after using the bathroom, keep it clean, and maybe use a KY moisturizer or something. Also, if you can continue to ice a little each day that might help. I can't imagine not having had my stitches out - the discomfort was pretty unbearable, but I didn't read about many people who DID have them out, so I guess I'm a minority. That is interesting it is painful outside in the cold...I had mine done in October so I did not experience that. It has been cold here in Minnesota, but I have not noticed any pain associated with that. Great idea with the hand-held shower head - I wish I still had one. I think that should help to keep the skin supple & the area clean.

While pain can recur after vestibulectomy, it usually recurs because of spasm of the pelvic floor muscles- not because the vestibulitis is back- in fact if the entire vestibule was removed and a vaginal advancement was performed then it can't come back because there isn't any vestibular tissue left.

<small>[ 03-06-2008, 09:40 AM: Message edited by: Moderator ]</small>

An update! I did IT today for the first time after my operation in mid-december! At first, I was a little afraid because... well it hurt when he entered but... As soon as he was in... No pain! At all! I simply couldn't believe it. I even asked him to move harder. It felt so good, for the first time in my life (my vestibulodynia was primary, which means it's been there from my first penetration). I'm so thankful to the doctor who did the operation on me (Dr Lambert in Montreal). *sigh* I never thought there would be an end to this. Honestly.

Thanks for the update. We are so glad you have been successfully treated.

Congratualations Rinoa!!! I have my surgery on May 31. Hopefully I will have the same success. Keep us updated!

Happy nights!

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