What it is
Laparoscopy is surgery through small cuts. One at the navel for the camera, one or two low down for instruments.
Gas lifts the abdominal wall to make room. Dr. Mueller looks at the uterus, tubes, ovaries and the lining of the pelvis.
It is both a look and a treatment. Endometriosis, cysts, scar tissue and tubes are handled through the same openings.
Why it is done
- Pelvic pain that imaging has not explained
- Endometriosis suspected from your symptoms
- An ovarian cyst that needs to come out
- Scar tissue from earlier surgery or infection
- Tubes to be tied or removed
- A fibroid or the uterus to be removed
- An ectopic pregnancy
What happens, step by step
- 1
Before surgery
You stop eating at midnight and arrive about two hours ahead.
- 2
Under anesthesia
Laparoscopy is done with you fully asleep.
- 3
Small cuts
A cut at the navel takes the camera, one or two more take instruments.
- 4
The look
Gas makes room and Dr. Mueller inspects the whole pelvis.
- 5
The work
What she finds is treated through the same openings.
- 6
Home the same day
You leave once you can walk and urinate.
Questions people ask
- How big are the scars?
- A quarter to half an inch each. They fade to thin lines.
- Why does my shoulder hurt afterward?
- The gas irritates the nerve under the diaphragm. It passes in a day or two, and walking helps.
- Can I drive home?
- No. General anesthesia means someone drives you and stays with you overnight.
- When can I lift again?
- Nothing over ten pounds for two weeks, unless Dr. Mueller tells you otherwise.
- Could it turn into open surgery?
- Rarely. Heavy scarring or bleeding can make an open incision safer, and you consent to that beforehand.
- Is this how endometriosis is found?
- It is the only way to see it directly. Tissue can be taken and sent while you are asleep.