Well I just spent the afternoon in the hospital - yuck.
Last week I noticed a swelling at one of the incisions of my SRS site. I didn't hurt to touch and there was no pain but there was some seepage which really worried me. I went to an after-hours clinic and the doctor confirmed that I had an infection. Damn... He wrote me a prescription for antibiotics and off I went.
Well last night my right labia minora was swollen up like a balloon - not good so I called my doctor to see if she could see me and she said she could. I got to her office and after examining me she said that there wasn't anything she could do but she sent me to the hospital to a gynecologist who would be in a better position to treat me.
Got to the hospital and I was taken to an examination room where I was told the usual - "get undressed, put on the gown, and lay on the bed -the Dr. would be along shortly". A senior med student came in to take my history, symptoms, etc. then a Dr came in with a nurse. I was placed in the stirrups and the nurse took blood samples while the Dr did a preliminary exam down there at the same time she was asking me questions. They didn't seem at all surprised with the fact that I had had SRS or that she was looking at the results. Anyway she took swabs of the site for cultures, and in walked the Gynocologists.
The Gynecologist essentially did the same thing as the Dr. They discussed wether to use a speculum and asked me what size dilator I was up too and with that they decided against using one so as not to cause damage and she applied lubrication and explored my vagina with her fingers. She said that everything looked really great and that I was really doing a good job caring for the site, keeping it clean etc. They contacted Dr Brassard to consult to make sure that the treatment they proposed would be OK and he concurred. So the course of action is massive doses of antibiotics with a follow up visit to the OBGYN next week. Should the infection not be cleared the the next step is to drain the site - yuck.
I was so upset that I had caused this, that I had failed to do something, but not they said I could have gotten the infection from anywhere and to keep doing what I'm doing and that it didn't have anything to do with the SRS. I was relieved with that.
I have to say that throughout the whole time at the hospital I was treated just like any other women, nothing more, nothing less. It was comforting and I felt safe and secure, to have a female Dr examining me down there, giving me an internal with out batting an eye lid was an affirmation of sorts, and while my situation was troubling, it was also comforting.
Steph
