Vin 2 Surgery?

After reading alot of postings on this board, I realize alot of you are much more advanced than I am and my heart goes out to all of you.  I had just received results today from a biopsy of VIN 2 -3 and have to have a surgery in 3 weeks to have it removed.  I was told a local excision with a few stitches and hopefully they can remove it all in my vulvar area.  I am scared to death but was told the surgery was not a big deal but was being done at the hospital with anethesia.  I have already had a hysterectomy and partial vaginectomy over the past 2 years.  I was told I will only be out of work for 2 days and it was no big deal.  After all the pre-cancers I've had and carcinoma in situ's, I am very concerned and want to know if anyone has any advice, knows anything more about this surgery.  I've read a few on here that state 3 weeks out of work so I know mine must not be that bad but I still am very worried about the continually progressions over 4 years.  I would really appreciate any comments to the surgery itself, healing process?  painful?  etc etc.

Thank you so much and my thoughts are with all of you.

Donna

Donna,

After all you have endured, I admire your strength.  Bless your heart!  It has taken me almost four months to realise that I do not have to live in fear with VIN!  I do worry but I don't let the fear run my life.  It is ok to laugh and live life like I did before I got the VIN.  I have faith that close watching and my doctors close follow ups will take care of any new areas that may come about.

I had laser surgery done in June and while they had me under the anesthia they also did an excision and that turned out to be VIN 1.  They told me the excision had clear margins.  I had minimal pain with both and never took pain meds once I went home that day.  Everyone is different but that was my experience. 

I find out on OCT 2 if I will need more lasering to remove the original area and I can almost say for sure they will need to do another round.  My doctors were very up front and honest with me and told me from my very first visit that more than one surgery may be needed.

If you need to talk, I will be more than happy to be here for you.  I feel it is best to talk to people that are going through the same thing as we all know what we are going through.  Keep us posted!

:)

I know exactly how you're feeling right now because I was in the same place a few months ago. I had a Wide Excision of the Vulva in August, for a diagnosis of VIN 3. My doctor said I needed surgery to take off the area and give me a few stitches.  I guess what I can do to help is share my experience and hope that it helps you anticipate the events. Really as scary as it sounds it was not all that bad.

First you will have a preop visit with your MD to discuss the plan of care and your outcomes, you may have blood drawn at this time.

On the day of surgery you will change into a hospital gown, have an IV started, and meet with a nice anestheologist who will give you the "happy meds"  The nurses and doctor will meet with you too before you are medicated and taken into the OR.

I dont remember much after being taken to the OR, other than they said I would do just fine... then I woke up in recovery. I was not having pain then because the Dr. gave me a local anesthetic. I was very sleepy and drifted in and out for awhile before I really woke up. The nurse will be monitoring your heart rate, temperature, and respirations. She will also help you get up when you're ready. I was medicated with nausea meds before surgery so I didnt get sick, but when I got up to goto the bathroom I was very nautious and broke out in a cold sweat. The nurse medicated me for that and the sick feeling went away.

I was scared to pee... but it didnt hurt because I was numb down there. The Dr. had to take a little more than she thought she was going to because under a colposcope in the OR she found more abnormal cells. So I had somewhere around 20 stitches that ran all the way down one side, around the bottom of my vigina and half way up the other side. I lost one of my labia minoras, and half of the other, but other than a small scar everything down there looks pretty normal.

A few supplies I would get youself before surgery are: 

a hemoriod doughnut pillow, this will be great for the car ride home and any sitting down you will have to do for the next week. Dont expect to sit straight for a few weeks.

a peri bottle to rinse off with after you void. you can dab with toilet paper but rinsing with warm water doesnt hurt at all, just make sure you can get dry afterwords, some women I've heard use a hairdryer on no heat setting to dry off. I just dabbed with toilet paper after I used the peri bottle.

a sitz bath, I got one before surgery at the drugstore but also got one from the hospital before I went home. This is great, so soothing and it keeps everything clean down there. I used it two times a day.

Ice packs, I got gel ones that are reusable, but anything would be ok as long as its not too big. I found ice really soothing too for the first week.

Unscented pantyliners... you'll leak a little bit.

lots of pillows, when I slept at night I would sleep with a pillow between my legs so it didnt squeeze the area at all, it was pretty comfortable.

bacetracin ointment... this my Dr. prescribed for me and I went home from the hospital with it and applied it to the stitches twice a day.

Ibuprofen, I took prescription stregnth and it was fine, they also gave me a narcotic pain reliever that I used for the first week so that I was fairly comfortable.

I would have to say that I was pretty much off my feet the first week, by week two I was doing small things around the house and feeling better and week three I was wanting to go out and do things again, but I was still sore... just a little achey is all, ibuprofen helped the most. The stitches are dissolving, and it took almost six weeks for all of them to fall out. It took a few months before I was really ready to be active with my fiance again, and it kinda hurts still but its getting better every day. I'm just thankful that I didnt have any cancer underlying the VIN 3 cells.

Anyway I hope that this will help you. Good luck with everything. You will do just fine, it sounds much worse than it really is. Just remember to take it easy for a few weeks, take your pain meds when you need them, and you will do great! good luck :)

 

I am curious. Are you having any more lesions or brown spots?

Thank you all so much for all of your advice and words of wisdom.  I feel a little better now about my upcoming surgery.  Still nervous but better.  Its on Monday.  I had not spoken to anyone who had to deal with VIN so I was lost, this is a great board and I am so glad I found it. 

I am on my way out to pick out some skirts, ha ha as I hear that is the best to do after this for recovery. 

Thank you all again so much and I will return back here right after my surgery, you are all wonderful women and I appreciate all the feedback.

 

Thank you

Donna

Hi Donna,

I was just wondering how your surgery went?  I have also been diagnosed with VIN 2-3.  I am very scared.  I have never had anything seriously wrong before.  Just yeast infections, UTI's.  Nobody I know has ever even heard of this, I am just learning about it myself.  Anything that sounds remotely like cancer is just plain frightening...even if it's pre-cancer. 

 I have not yet seen the OB/Oncologist yet, but my gyno believed that the multiple lesions would be lasored off.  I have also read that interferon is used along with surgery.  Is this true?  This is a pretty wicked drug that is used in treatment for HCV and has some heavy side effects.

Another question: What about sex?  I am 39 and very active in this area and am missing this part of my life.  When is sex okay?  And... if this is related to HPV, does my SO need to get tested and treated?  I know these are questions I should have asked my gyno, but failed to do so.

 The reason I ask about HPV is, all of my previous tests indicated neg on HPV, but my biopsy indicated HPV DNA detected.  My confusion starts about 8 mos. ago when my now ex-husband told me he had relations with possible IV drug users while we were still together.  I asked my gyno to test me for everything at that time.  All tests came back negative.  Nothing detected.  April 4, 2008 I was diagnosed with 2 to 3 stage VIN. 

I am relieved to know that I am not alone.

 

Laura

Well...I had laser ablation and am recovering.  the Dr. lasered quite a bit more than I thought he would.  The pain was not too bad, and going to the restroom was not painful until about the third week when it was in the healing stage.  The itching is probably the worst.  Grin and bear it.  The surgery, all in all, was not as bad as I thought it would be.  I was up and moving the day of surgery, but not very fast.  Sitz baths 2-3 times a day and thin maxi pads.  The first 2 weeks I used overnight pads as to not completely ruin all of my panties.  I also used Silver Sulfadiazine cream.  This is a great topical for burns and decreases scarring.  The company I work for makes the name brand Thermazine so I was familiar with this medication.  I faithfully applied it 3 times daily for 3 weeks.  Now I apply it 1-2 times per day.  It is important to keep the surgery site clean and dry.  I used a blow dryer alot!  I am almost healed and feeling good.  I am also trying to quit smoking.  Started Chantix in mid April and cut down and today have not had any cigs.