Bladder prolapse surgery - of course TMI

I had rectocele prolapse repair this past May via daVinci Robot. I saw a GYN first who typically can do prolapse repair, but mine was too severe so I was sent on to a urologist. I had five small incisions across my belly and not much pain. As scrappinghappy said, I had lifting and activity restrictions for 6-8 weeks. Given that surgery probably wouldn't be scheduled for a few weeks, I would wait to schedule your surgery until after your ski trip.

I'll add, I'm very happy I finally had the surgery. I drug my feet for a couple of years because I was too embarrassed to deal with it. I had a bulge the size of a small grapefruit that was out more than it was in. It feels great to have everything back where it should be. It really was pretty easy. Good luck to you all considering surgery. Life is definitely much better for me since having it fixed.

My friend's bladder was prolapsing and she didn't get surgery. She got some kind of therapy done. She was telling another friend awhile back and I kinda glazed over. I know she talked about the doctor/medical person putting their hand up there and massaging and doing stuff - I'd have to ask her if you wanted better info than that. She went for a couple of sessions I believe. It worked, she stopped peeing herself and the prolapse went away.

Yes, you can go to physical therapy for it. I had the urodynamics bladder test because I have frequency issues also. That was kinda humiliating, but I wanted answers. They put probes everywhere to test muscle strength while I sat on a computerized toilet. I had to pee with the doctor in the room, monitoring everything. She'd have me cough to test for incontinence. I did get answers. I have a tiny bladder. Most people can hold 600-800 ml. Mine tops out at 250 ml.

Anyway, physical therapy was discussed. You literally put weights up there and squeeze to hold them for amounts of time to strengthen muscles. I wanted to faster permanent fix.

My surgeon had me do bowel prep the day before as a risk of surgery is puncturing the bowel.

I thought that I was on my way to a prolapse (it turned out not to be the case) and I went to see a uro-gynocologist.

I've technically had two bladder prolapses. In 2001 I had surgery to correct the bladder prolapse that happened when I delivered my son in 1999. Prior to the surgery, I had many of the alternate treatments that have been discussed above… Biofeedback, pelvic floor physical therapy, etc. In 2001 most bladder prolapses were repaired via vaginal surgery which was minally invasive. For some reason, it was decided that my surgery had to be done via the more invasive way and I had to have major abdominal surgery. The recovery was significant and I'm pretty sure I couldn't lift anything over 5 lbs for 3 months-very difficult when you're the mother of a 2 year old! But, it was a huge success and frankly, I'd do it again in a heart beat.

In the fall of 2014 (13 years after my previous surgery) I began to suspect that my bladder had prolapsed again. I had some odd symptoms that I might have ignored except for my prior bladder issues: pressure on my bladder and feeling like I couldn't empty my bladder all the time. I knew that because I had had one bladder prolapse there was a risk I could've have a second. So I made my way back to the uro-gynaecologist who did my surgery in 2001. To make a long story short, it turned out that I had two very large ovarian cysts which were putting pressure on and had prolapsed my bladder. These cysts turned out to be a ovarian cancer.

I share this story not to scare you but to encourage you to act. The prolapse of a bladder by ovarian cancer is rare but it is not unheard of. Ovarian cancer is often hard to detect because women don't recognize the symptoms or the symptoms are attributed to something else. I've always bemoaned the fact that I had bladder "issues" (really who wants to admit to incontinence!!!) but now I can say that because of my prior bladder issues and my hyper-sensitivity to all things bladder, my cancer was diagnosed at an early stage and may have saved my life!

Emelle

Our friend had the surgery in the fall. She had a pretty severe situation, and long surgery, so she may not be typical.
However she had a LONG recovery and is just now getting back to regular activities. She is diabetic, so that makes healing more difficult.

Good luck, but I don't think you are going on a ski trip this March.

Yes that is what she had pelvic floor physiotheraphy. Good luck with whatever you have to have done.