Jo

Age at interview: 52

Brief Outline:

Jo had a hysterectomy and both ovaries removed at 49. She had surgery to repair her grade 2 rectocele (prolapse of the rectum into the vagina) and grade 3 cystocele (prolapse of the bladder into the vagina) a year ago. Before surgery she tried a pessary, but she found it uncomfortable.

Background:

Jo is a nurse who is passionate about patient care and information. She is married and has four children. Her ethnicity is White British.

Condition: pelvic organ prolapse

More about me...

Jo has had four children, two via vaginal delivery and two via caesarean section. When she was 49, Jo had a hysterectomy and a bi-lateral salpingo-oophorectomy (a procedure to remove her ovaries and fallopian tubes). After this first surgery, Jo started to feel heaviness and pain in her bottom and had a sense of urgency to urinate. Over time, these feelings got worse, and she had to stop doing things she enjoyed, like cycling or going on long walks. It also made going to work as a nurse difficult.

About a year after her hysterectomy surgery, Jo tried a pessary, but it felt very painful, and she took it out after a few days. She tried a second time to see if it would be better, but still hated it. Jo thinks it was not fitted correctly.

Jo’s prolapse worsened and made it difficult to lead the life she wanted. She decided to have surgery to repair her rectocele (prolapse of the rectum into the vagina) and cystocele (prolapse of the bladder into the vagina). Before this surgery, she got a call from a physiotherapist who described what would happen and Jo also received information in the mail. She felt that the urogynaecologist was supportive and answered her questions. She had the surgery about 20 months after her hysterectomy.

Jo found it hard to rest and not do anything after her prolapse surgery. It took Jo several months to recover but now she says the surgery has transformed her life. She can go to the toilet without pain, exercise, and be on her feet again at work.

Jo does worry that perhaps she will have another prolapse as she ages. She does not want the condition to come back and stop her from living her life again. She hopes she will not have to have another surgery and is working to prevent that chance by watching her weight, doing pelvic floor exercises, and staying active.

Jo recommends that other women with prolapse seek medical help to learn about the options like pelvic floor exercises, pessaries, and possibly surgery. She recommends having surgery to repair a severe prolapse, but to make sure to be mindful of the recovery period instructions and give your body time to heal.

Jo doesn’t let prolapse and urinary incontinence stop her enjoying time with her kids. If she has an accident whilst on the trampoline, she gets changed and carries on.

And the impact, I just, I just got on with it, I just got on with it. But even at the start, before I had children, with, you know before I had the first surgery, it would just become something you laughed about. Oh, oh I’ve got to go and change, and actually I did you know, having four kids, I’ve been on the trampoline, I’ve, I’ve done all the things, you know, active, “Oh God, I’ve got to go in, I’ve wet myself.” Do you know what I mean? And I’d just, go, or, or if I, if I was able to, that’s if I was at home. You know so you just go and change. It just become the norm. I’ve even been known to actually, to take my underwear off, and just put my trousers back on.

 

It took Jo a long time to recover from her surgical repair and she needed to give herself time to heal.

But the consequences, you know, and obviously you’ve got to, you’ve got to, the difficult thing I had was not being able to do anything. You know you have to lie there, you have to rest, you can’t be walking around, you know you have got to allow your body to recover, and you know, and I found that really, really, really hard, actually resting and not doing nothing. And for those people what have, I mean for me, to a degree, I was able to because you know my children are that bit older, but if people are having it and they’ve got young children, you know it would be, and you know not being able to pick them up, not being, you know I couldn’t pick my grandson up.
 
You know it’s, it’s, it’s really hard, and not, you know they say about a kettle and things like that you know, no weight. Because you don’t realise how much you use this core, this core section for, you know what it is, you know just lifting up a kettle, you don’t realise. And you, and you couldn’t even do that in the first week or few weeks. And you know, you know things like that. So, I think from that perspective it’s, it’s really hard, and not being able to drive, no, that, that’s by the by. But no, it’s, it’s not being able to anything really, even the simple things what you take for granted. And it’s, I’d say it took months and months really, now, to fully recover.

 

Jo thinks there is a “massive gap in information” around urogynaecological conditions. She thinks that it would help if materials were visual and easier to absorb.

But I’d just believe there is a massive, massive gap in information. I just try to contribute to everything cos you know, and I’ve tried to write, I could write them, I could write them myself, and I could write them so somebody would want to read them. Because sometimes when people, when you see leaflets and that at the, in the hospital, whatever it’s, they’re so formal, and you know and it’s like oh you know, paragraph here, paragraph there, but you know actually things need to be aimed at all abilities, you know because we are all different, and you know and we all have a different understanding of things. Cos, I think if you make things visual as well, you know then you know somebody will want to read that, read it. You know, and continue to read it, then, and it’s not just the reading, it’s the retaining it, and understanding what you’re reading.