Living with Urinary Incontinence

I recently had a “sling and prolift” procedure done vaginally for a cystocele and stress incontinence. After surgery I had extremely painful urination and tried to explain this to my doctor and he all he said is that this was normal and that it will go away in a couple of days. Week after week, I would visit my urologist and tell him that it was still painful to urinate and that there is still blood in my urine, once again he said that was normal. I had also I told him that it was very hard for me to sit in a 90 degree angle without pain (the pain felt like a huge dry tampon was inserted inside me and that I could not bend). Once again, he said that was normal (not the tampon). Never once did he ever check me for any problems.

Fortunately, I was due to have an appointment with my gyn and I explained this situation to him, he said that did not sound right so he did his gyn exam and said that my “sling” had possibly eroded into my vagina and that there was scar tissue (bumps) inside my vagina causing the pain. He said that this was too complicated for my town and that he had to send me to another facility four hours away to a urology specialist and she did many test including a cystoscopy and found that the “sling” had eroded not only in my vagina but also my bladder, hence the painful urination. Now, I have to have the eroded part of my bladder removed which is practically three-fourths of my bladder and have it reconstructed possibly with my colon if I’m lucky and then have my anterior vagina wall cut to eliminate the “bumps” inside it so I actually sit up without any pain, once again if I am lucky.

This procedure will take about six hours and at least five days in the hospital plus a very nice scar from my belly button down and of course, all the time out recovering and the lovely medical expenses. I just want to say before you decide to have any procedure done please do your research and have a second opinion before any surgery or you too may be in my situation. I have been in constant pain for five months now because my doctor did not believe I had any problems. He could have avoided my second surgery if only he would have done a cystoscope to see if the “sling” was properly placed beneath my bladder but he didn’t.