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1

Hello

I Hope someone can give me advice. I had my emergency surgery removal 3 weeks ago. The trauma of it all still feels very fresh

I had an incision in my bellly button and then one either side ( one I know to be a drain site for blood) as I woke up with a bag of blood attached.

I also have an incision on my bikini line. Looks like a c section sort of scar (I’ve not had a c section before) is this normal?

I’d love to have a full breakdown with my hospital on what happened during surgery.

I was pretty out of it for a few days after which is when the docs were coming in with info. Has anyone been able to access anything like this

Thanks so much in advance x

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Dear Hello,

I am so sorry to hear of your ectopic pregnancy loss,

There are two types of surgery techniques for ectopic pregnancy, historically surgery involved a laparotomy (an open cut) on the lower abdomen, just above the bikini line. This type of surgery is still occasionally needed if there is heavy internal bleeding/rupture or a lot of scar tissue and is performed in an emergency. the other technique is called laparoscopy (keyhole surgery). This involves inserting a camera through the navel (belly button) and inserting instruments through two small cuts in the lower abdomen (tummy). A small amount of gas is put into your abdominal cavity to inflate it to enable the surgeon to see inside the abdomen. So you have a few small incisions in the skin rather than one long one.

I have added more information about surgery for ectopic pregnancy here which you may find helpful.

https://ectopic.org.uk/treating-an-ecto … management.

If you haven’t been given a discharge letter with information on or you would like more in-depth information and you are in the UK, I would advise calling the hospital to get this information for you. The best way to do this is to call the Patient Advice Liaison Department (PALS) who should be able to arrange this for you. Please do bare in mind that your notes will contain medical language and terminology which can be difficult to understand or upsetting to read, so I would also suggest going through them with the PALS department of they offer this.

When we experience ectopic pregnancy we are suddenly faced with a life threatening emergency and it’s treatment, reduction in fertility, concerns about recovery and the future and the loss of our babies. Experiencing any one of these is an ordeal, putting them together is immense and your feelings are completely normal. Be kind to yourself and allow time to grieve and heal both physically and emotionally.

Sending much love,

Karen x

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thank you so much Karen this is so helpful

i have contacted PALS and await there reply

as i have the key hole scars as well, is it likely they inital went to perform keyhole and then realised i needed laparotomy (an open cut)

thank you. so grateful for this service and your reply

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I have 3 incisions from my laparoscopic surgery - 1 in the belly button, 1 to the left on the side, and 1 at the same spot as my csection scar, though it is not quite as long as my csection incision. I know that my surgery was only laparoscopic for certain. I did not have any drains put in, so maybe they did switch on yours. But the bikini incision was done on mine too.

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thank you! do you mind me asking how long your recovery was?

its been 3 weeks and i have a two year old who im worried about picking up

thank you

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I think I only waited 10-14 days before I was picking up my 2.5 year old. He couldn’t handle it any longer. You could try having yours climb up on a bed or couch so that you aren’t lifting much. For me it wasn’t the weight in my arms that hurt it was the motion of bending and lifting him up. You could try doing that and see if it is pain free.

By 6 weeks I felt “normal” physically, as in no more pain. My abdomen stayed swollen for a couple months though. That was hard emotionally because I felt like I looked pregnant even though I was not. I feel like maybe that took a good 3 months to go away completely. I also noticed that I gained a couple of pounds in the months after. I don’t think I changed my diet much. I later read that it can be common after a loss to gain weight due to hormones. Thankfully my milk supply did not drop or anything cause I am still nursing.

I’m a little over 6 months out now. Physically feel fine. Emotionally it is still hard sometimes. It’s hard to go through something where we were in a lot of danger and lost a baby on top of it. Mine was super early, but it was hard going to the hospital, having to be on the ob level and not come home with a baby.

I’m happy to answer any other questions if I can.