So I have finally a week post op and after (starting this a couple of times previously and abandoning) got around to typing up my experience of a cold knife cone.
I was pretty scared pre this operation and despite a very large amount of googling and searching around this forum I could only find a handful of stories similar to mine. Thank you very much to the ladies on here who have shared their experiences and answered my questions – I have found it a huge support from the day of that first dreaded letter.
I hope this will come in useful for any women going through a similar process and give them a good idea of what to expect.
As you can see from my signature my Cone came after a diagnosis of CGIN and CIN2 and following a previous LLETZ under general anaesthetic.
I am lucky to have private medical cover through my work and therefore the process has moved along pretty rapidly for me which I am grateful for, even if it has been a stressful, horrible few months.
I went into hospital early on the 11th of June, (I had gone in for a pre op two days previously which consisted of bloods and a urine sample). The hospital was different from the one I visited from my LLETZ it was much smaller and I generally liked the feel better. The rooms were very quiet and I felt like the only person in there! If anyone would like a recommendation for this place if you are looking in Manchester please PM me.
I underwent the usual several rounds of checking my name, allergies, height, weight, blood pressure etc and had a brief chat with the anaesthesiologist. She was the same lady who had put me under for my LLETZ and this put me very much at ease.
I also spoke to the consultant (again the same chap from my LLETZ) who explained he would use a needle first to outline the affected area and then use a scalpel to cut it away. He outlined the risks, including the ongoing risk of premature labour in the future and I signed the consent form. He explained that I would wake up with a vaginal pack and a catheter and be in at least 24 hours. I was second on the surgery list which I couldn’t decide was a good or a bad thing but by 8.45 I was being taken down to theatre.
I chatted to the anaesthesiologist and the assistant whilst she inserted the canula (honestly this women is one of the best people I have ever had put those horrible things in!) and I didn’t feel much at all. The last I remember I was being told she would ‘give me something to relax’ and lights out!
I woke up in recovery feeling nauseous with some discomfort in my vagina and generally feeling a bit battered around and a after a few sips of water and around ten minutes lying there I was wheeled back to my room. That’s when the fun started! I started to feel horribly horribly sick and I couldn’t manage a bite of the sandwiches I had been brought. The lovely nurse who was looking after me gave me some anti nausea medication via my canula which I could feel creeping up the veins in my arm in a not at all pleasant and pretty painful way. It stopped the sickness but made me feel massively spaced out and like I couldn’t remember my own name. I spent the next hour or so drifting in and out of sleep and generally feeling grim.
The catheter was possibly my least favourite thing about the whole experience. It made me feel a little bit like I needed a wee the whole time but not able to go! I knew that stuff was coming out of me as I could see the bag filling up but I never felt ‘relieved’. That sensation did ease into the night but the sensation for some reason really freaked me out.
The vaginal pack caused me a lot of pain and discomfort and I had pretty much all the pain relief I could get my hands on (including morphine!) so that night and next morning was pretty much a drug addled blur. The care I received was excellent – every nurse I dealt with was pleasant and understanding and I really felt like they did everything they could to make me as comfortable as possible in what is an unpleasant and not very dignified set of circumstances.
The next morning I got another brief visit from the consultant who examined me and gave the ok to have the pack and canular removed. If I could have moved I would have kissed him I was so desperate to have these things out!!! He also said he fel the surgery went well which was much more optimistic than he was after the first LLETZ.
The canula and pack removal was uncomfortable but not too painful and after passing water several times under my own steam they discharged me around lunch time. I felt very shaky, faint and beaten up. Speed bumps on the drive home did definitely not help! However I was so glad to be out and in my own house.
That first twelve hours was a bit grim. I started shaking, sweating and vomiting about an hour after getting back home and generally felt like I had terrible flu. I think now it was probably a reaction to the copious cocktail of drugs coming out of my system! After that things started to level out. I felt exhausted and sore but certainly not in severe pain. Walking and standing caused me some discomfort and I have spent most of this week on the couch or sat on my lounger in the garden. That’s improving day on day and today is certainly the best day and the first day I feel like ‘me’. My partner has been wonderful and worked from home every day to look after me – even if his level of house cleaning doesn’t exactly match mine!!!
I am trying to do a short walk every day, even if it is only to the end of my road or around the block! I was signed off by three weeks by the hospital which feels about right to fully heal and get back to my normal level of activity – it certainly much more intense and draining than my LLETZ. Also I am not sure what they did but my poor bum is bruised all over and covered in little scrapes and cuts!
I see my consultant for the results on Monday and I have everything crossed that this will be the end of this process and a real chance to feel ‘normal’ again. I am not sure mentally how I will cope with another lot of invasive treatment but I know many of you ladies on here have endured much worse and I admire you enormously. I guess the bottom line is we do what it takes to prevent or fight this horrendous disease to secure our future and that of our loved ones.
Good luck to everyone whatever aspect of this you are facing and well done Jo’s for creating such a great community for us to share and support one another.
