A surgical termination at nine weeks with local anaesthetic. A painful experience....
By anonymous on 04/07/2013
I wanted to share my story because I have just had a traumatic experience and I want no woman to go through the same.
Before I begin I would just like to say thank god for the NHS for where would we be without it.
I decided on a medical termination in the first instance because I wanted to be able to go home as soon as possible. As it turns out I couldn't as I was nine weeks gone on the day of the termination. I'm now eternally grateful for this as the stories I have read about medical termination seem traumatic.
The Marie Stopes clinic advised that I would have to have a surgical termination and I had three options... I could have just a local anaesthetic where they insert a gel to numb the neck of the womb and I can go home after half hour of recovery. I could have it done under sedation where I would feel very little and not remember anything about it but I would be in recovery for up to three hours. The last option is a general anaesthetic where you are out cold but in recovery for up to six hours. As I have a young daughter at home I decided to just have a local anaesthetic so I could get back home as soon as possible.
HUGE MISTAKE.....
Although I cannot fault the staff at Marie Stopes , I feel that a local anaesthetic in this situation should not be an option. It was extremely painful and traumatic and I felt everything. It starts off with an instrument being inserted to open your cervix which is uncomfortable but not painful. I don't know at which point they inserted the local because the surgeon seemed to start straight away with the vacuum and the pain was horrendous. The two nurses with me were fabulous and comforted me and talked me through my breathing trying to keep me calm but it really was awful. I started sweating and shaking uncontrollably and felt totally out of control. The surgeon kept stopping to give me a break but this didn't really help.
Afterwards I was wheeled through to a room where I was immediately dressed and walked through to,a recovery room full of other woman. I was given water ,painkillers ,a hot pack for my tummy to help the cramps which were like a painful period and told to lie and rest. After about ten minutes the shaking stopped and I was encouraged to drink tea and eat a biscuit. After half an hour I asked if I could go and she asked me to go to the toilet and pass water and check my level of bleeding on my pad. I had hardly any blood and managed to have a wee so they let me go home.
It is now the following day and I am fine. My tummy is tender and I have diarrhoea but there is no cramping and only normal period type bleeding.
The experience of a surgical termination was fine , it's over and done with so quickly and the after effects are very mild in my experience. HOWEVER PLEASE OPT FOR THE SEDATION OR G.A AND DO NOT PUT YOURSELF THROUGH UNNECESSARY PAIN AND TRAUMA OF A LOCAL ANAESTHETIC. THE OPTION SHOULD BE TAKEN AWAY COMPLETELY. IT'S LIKE A BARBARIC FORM OF TORTURE.
Woman who were opting for a sedation were being allowed home within the hour and if I had known this I would have gone with this option but I was made to understand that it would be three hours before I got to go home and as the clinic was an hour's drive from my home I chose the wrong option.
God bless you all and respect your choices and decisions because they are yours and they are always right. x