Recovery

I returned to work after 3 weeks. I have a job where I sit all day so it was really hard. Luckily my work is really nice and they were happy to let me leave early the first week. It was still pretty brutal though, I was really sore by the time I left to go home.

Surgery Day

Surgery lasted about an hour. I stayed in the hospital for a couple hours and then went home. The drive wasn’t too bad, I was reclined the whole way so I wasn’t sitting and my husband drove.

The first 2 days were fairly easy. I was in pain, but well medicated and still kind of out of it from the anesthesia. The pain became worse starting from day 3 and continued at roughly the same level for a solid 2 weeks. No sign of improvement.

One thing I wasn’t expecting from the surgery is what I call my “bonus episiotomy”. I wasn’t really aware that anything would be cut besides the typical U shape, but apparently the Dr. made it more of a Y so that there wouldn’t be issues with tightness. The episiotomy pain was far more prominent than the rest of the incision for about 2 weeks. At that point, it really started healing well , but then the vestibulectomy incision really felt painful.

I did just about everything that was suggested on the VVS Sexual health boards. I took stool softener 3 days before surgery and continued throughout the first couple weeks. I drank plenty of water. I started taking Milk of Magnesia after surgery. And honestly, NOTHING helped. Maybe it varies from person to person, but for me, the pain meds that I was on just completely stopped my GI tract. It made for the most miserable bowel movements I have ever experienced. My advice for the first 3.5 weeks for anyone is to do all of the things I mentioned above and also pick up some glycerin suppositories. Do not be shy with any of these methods. If you feel like you might need to have a bowel movement, try them ALL. Even though it’s not fun, in my experience, it’s way better to be explosive than to be constipated.

I used ice really frequently for the first 10 days after surgery. It didn’t make the pain a ton better, but sometimes it took the edge off. Taking baths are what really helped. I am not a bath person, but I seriously counted down the time till I could take my next bath. Bathing was the closest thing to being pain free I ever got. One other thing that helped with itching was Tuck’s pads. They are these witch hazel pads that you can buy OTC at any pharmacy and sometime if it was bothering me, I would blot the area and it would help a little.

Preparing for Surgery

I arranged to take a full 3 weeks off work. My Dr. made it sound like I might be pretty okay after 2 weeks, but I feel like all doctors lie about recovery times. Plus, I have a pretty low pain threshold, so I didn’t want to have to go back to work before I was ready.

There wasn’t a lot to really “do” to prepare for the surgery. From all the reading I had done, I started taking stool softener a few days before the surgery.

Deciding to Have Surgery

Even when I had exhausted all the other options and the Dr. told me that I should have the surgery, I just did not want to accept it. I was in denial and didn’t want to face the pain of surgery.  I kept hoping that if I just waited long enough, it would magically heal.

 
About nine months later, I finally faced the truth that I would not be getting better without surgery. So I called the Dr. and met with him once more and scheduled the surgery.

Exhausting Other Options

The Dr. was very understanding of my aversion to having surgery. So he was on board with the idea of trying other options first. I tried a couple different creams – one of them was estrace and I also tried using lidocaine. Neither of these was successful. Just applying the creams was quite painful and I experienced a lot of burning. Physical therapy wasn’t even ever discussed – likely because my source of pain was not muscular at all. Finally the Dr. told me that he really thought that I should have the surgery.

Find the Right Doctor

I met with the new Dr. shortly after and explained what I was experiencing. He told me he thought it sounded like vulvar vestibulitis. He did a quick 1 minute “exam” in which he very gently touched the area with a q-tip. And man did it hurt! From the exam it was obvious that I had finally learned what had been plaguing me. I was so relieved to know what was wrong with me. However, the relief was short lived when I learned that the best option for me would be surgery.