Surgery #2 Story - It's Complicated!

On October 12th, 2026 I went in for my 2nd endometriosis surgery, and I had complications. It was very good that I stayed local and did not travel due to what happened. My surgeon was the right choice.  

Let me back up. I spent my summer working with a local doctor to determine if she is the right person to help me or not. My first surgeon (2018) was a local gynecologist at Sanford Hospital who only did ablation (lasering off) of endo. She was able to diagnose me, but her surgical method was not effective for me (and you might read about this in support groups too, how many women warn against this method.) So it was important to me to find a doctor who would do an excision surgery, and I was prepared to need to travel to another state to find a surgeon. 

Then I found Dr. Bradley, who is local to me (Bismarck, ND). She recently opened her own women's clinic in Bismarck and advertised that she is an endo surgeon with many years of training at Mayo. She does excision, which is what I wanted. So I became her patient and really liked her a lot. She was very direct and to the point, but she listened and didn't try to steer me in any direction I didn't want to go in. She really understands what women go through to get help, and she helped me get right to the point of what care I needed. She agreed I needed surgery, so she offered to refer me to one of the more experienced endo excision specialists in the nation if I wasn't comfortable choosing her. I really respected that she understood why patients want to go to the best of the best for surgery. I chose her because she gave me a lot of confidence. The fact that she is local played a huge part in my decision to choose her, but I primarily chose her because she was an excellent choice. 

This is Doctor Bradley, and I highly recommend her! If you are near Bismarck and want to consider her, here's what you need to know: She has her own clinic, but she needed to send me to Sanford Hospital for the endo-specific MRI, and then she used CHI St. Alexius Hospital for the surgery. There was not a long wait for me for me at either hospital, and both hospital experiences were good. My insurance has been working well at both hospitals. 

Context: I live with my retired parents who are in good health, so they were both ready and able to take care of me for my recovery. We purchased some things to help me recover at home, and because of what happened, I didn't use almost any of it. I'll write a different blog about that later. 

Now I'll tell you what happened. 

September: Endo-specific MRI. This was so that she could see if she needed another surgeon to help her. If any endo was found on organs, she would have needed a surgeon who specializes in those organs to help. No endo was found on my organs in my MRI, so she proceeded as my only surgeon. It did find endo in me, but if I understand correctly, it didn't find all of the endo. 

October 12th: Surgery day. My period had just finished, so the timing was absolutely perfect. I was unable to have a bowel movement before the surgery, and that was a problem. I highly recommend cleaning out your colon before surgery. I arrived at 8 am, I got into the gown and into the bed, they gave me Tylenol, the anesthesiologist talked to me, Dr. Bradley talked to me, they gave me an IV port on my hand, and they rolled me into the OR at 9:30. They put a gas mask on me. Next thing I know, I was waking up feeling like I needed to urinate, so they gave me a bed pan, and I couldn't urinate. They rolled me into a recovery room and a team inflated a mattress under me and used it to transfer me into the hospital bed where I could recover. They allowed me to stay as long as I needed to that day, but I had to leave by midnight because Dr. Bradley ordered my discharge for that day. They kept me hooked up to a saline IV all day, helped me use the bathroom, and helped me rest. I didn't go home until around 8:30 pm. It was so nice to get to stay that long. After my first surgery at Sanford, they kicked me out of the hospital within a couple of hours and it was really miserable to understand what I needed to do to recover at home. 

I need to add in a key surgery detail here: Dr. Bradley inserted light-up stents into my ureters for the surgery so that she could identify them and not damage them during the surgery. They were removed when she was finished. We agreed to this detail before the surgery and I gave her consent to do it. 

I will write a post about the outcome of the endo surgery later, which was interesting and notable, I just want to tell my story in this post.

After waking up from the endo surgery

Filled up with gas from the surgery, all bandaged up

October 13th: I really don't remember anything about this day, but in the evening I was in severe pain. It felt like there was a hot acidic iron rod in the right side of my body, and my back hurt. Pain killers were not working. It was so severe that my parents took me to the ER. 

Overnight in the ER: I was seriously in the ER the entire night, and they didn't allow me to go home for 6 days. I think we arrived around 10 pm? Maybe it was earlier? I thought it was severe constipation because I hadn't been able to have a bowel movement since before the surgery. They gave me an enema, and yes, constipation was one of my problems, but it was not THE problem. My pain was so severe that they had to jab me in the thigh with a muscle relaxant, then a 2nd jab for something to help it work? I screamed my head off both times. I mean, the pain from those jabs was so bad that I can't think about it without shuddering and feeling sick to my stomach. Then at some point in the super early morning they gave me a CT scan. I was crying during the whole wheelchair ride because I was in so much pain, despite all the pain killers. When they brought me back to the ER room, the doctor gave me a look of pure horror and told me how sorry she was. Her expression is imprinted in my brain and I can't stop seeing in. This is the stuff trauma is made of. She said something about a blood clot in my kidney. I wasn't fully processing. Then Dr. Bradley visited me in the ER and told me how sorry she was that I was going through this. I could see that she was frustrated that I was in this situation. She said something encouraging and told me they'll take good care of me. Someone told me I was going to have another operation to have ureter stents put in. Someone told me my kidney was swollen up from a blood clot.

October 14th: So they transferred me to a hospital room. I didn't understand that I had to stay there indefinitely. The first day was a blur. They kept giving me IV pain killers. I think I was sleeping most of the day. At some point they came and woke me up and gave me an X-Ray in my bed. At some point an anesthesiologist talked to me.

They gave me a port in my forearm. It was probably logical, but it was hard to bend my elbow to eat

October 15th: A traveling Urologist from Florida who was trying to retire because he was in his 70's, Dr. Hammond, didn't know he was going to be doing operations while he was in Bismarck. He was assigned to my case. At 11 am this day, I went into the Operating Room again. They had trouble getting me to fall asleep. I remember them putting the gas mask on me and joking about how long it was taking, I remember they made me laugh a little at something. Next thing I know, I was waking up in recovery again, and again, feeling the need to urinate. They gave me a bed pan and I couldn't pee. At some point they took me back to my hospital room. Dr. Hammond talked to my Dad and explained everything to him. Later, when I was awake, Dr. Hammond visited me in my room and explained it to me. The CT scan showed my right kidney was swollen up due to a blood clot blocking my ureter, so my kidney couldn't drain urine. He inserted a J-stent into my ureter to keep it open so it could drain. The scan also showed my left kidney had some issues too, so out of an abundance of caution, he inserted a J-stent into that ureter too. He found blood clots on the left one too, so it was a very good decision. He said that he wasn't real impressed with my CT scan, but I don't know what he meant by that. He told me that I probably only needed them to stay in me for 14 days. 

Waking up from stent insertion operation

October 16th: Dr. Bradely and Dr. Hammond visited me in my room again. They both were amazing, but they both said there is nothing more they can do for me and I'm in the hands of the St. A's care team now. Dr. Latouf was my hospital doctor and she was in charge of my care. I remember asking Dr. Hammond if he saw any endo in my bladder, because Dr. Bradley showed me a photo of irritation on the outside of my bladder. He said inside of my bladder looked normal. At some point they did a urine culture and they discovered I also had a UTI. 

I remember suffering every time I had to urinate. They couldn't allow me to use the toilet unattended, and I was screaming in pain from urinating. I felt so much urethra pain that they kept bags of ice pressed against my urethra to keep me numb for hours. It was really difficult to have bowel movements, so they kept giving me stuff to help me with that. Pushing or straining caused me immense bladder pain. Urinating made my kidney squeeze and throb - it felt like someone had their hand on my kidney and was gripping it hard. Moving in and out of the bed to use the bathroom caused my bladder to spasm like crazy. 

I was in the hospital for 6 days, and I think the ONLY reason they let me go home Sunday night was because I kept begging to go home. The reason they didn't want me to go home was because my pain and bladder spasming was difficult to manage, but the doctor also acknowledged that keeping me there too long was going to prevent me from recovering. I had to prove that I was capable of walking around. I went on one walk and was fainting, so the nurse caught me and brought me into bed. I went on another walk the next day and I was stable. But I didn't understand that the walking was causing my bladder pain, and I had a rough night. 

I was able to walk around the hallway and it felt great, but I paid for it with too much pain later

6 days of crazy low lab values like this

At one point a woman came into my room and asked if I wanted to receive the Eucharist (Catholic hospital.) I told her, yes please. She gave it to me and my dad. She commented that I looked like I wasn't well. I remember trying to say I just did something to justify it, I can't remember what, but dad told her I was having a very rough week. 

A chaplain also visited me twice and prayed over me. It was very good... I just remember feeling a little horrified that I was in a situation in which I needed so much prayer. I laid there, in a lot of pain and distress, listening to man ask God to heal me. As if I was in danger and my situation wasn't good. It scared me. It alerted me to the fact that I wasn't in a good situation. 

I don't want to talk about the hospital food situation in this post. Having allergies isn't easy. I survived.

I couldn't shower all week, so my hair was greasy. They gave me "baths" in my bed. The day they released me the nurse gave me a brush so I could work on my hair. It was nice of him. He was very kind to me. Albert. He was a great nurse because he was very thoughtful. They all were really good nurses and I trusted all of them. Dr. Latouf was very cautious, and I needed her to be. I kept asking for things that were not good for me, like going home, and she understood how to be gentle with me while telling me "no." 

The nurse gave me a brush after 6 days

Every morning at 4 am a lady came into my room to take my blood for blood work. She was the sweetest lady, so so so so gentle and kind. I imagine how many patients would be angry at her for coming in the middle of the night. But she had the most gentle attitude. 

The cleaning lady, Princess, was clearly prepared to get yelled at. I asked her how she was and her whole demeanor softened and relaxed. I thanked her and she smiled at me. When Albert was wheeling me out of the hospital I passed her in the hallway and smiled at her and thanked her again, she was clearly really grateful that I was nice to her. I want to find her and give her a huge hug. 

October 18th: So then I came home. What a relief...? The mental relief was very real. The reality wasn't so easy. 

Dad had to manage all of my prescriptions: Azo, Oxybutynin, different pain killers (opioids and otherwise), Flomax, stool softeners, Miralax, antibiotics... 

I was very unwell. My speech was slowing way down. It was difficult to get my thoughts out, it was difficult to form words, it was difficult to breathe while talking. My muscles were twitching while I tried to fall asleep. I was feeling nerve pain and joint pain, like fibromyalgia. I was zoned out, couldn't really focus or understand. 

I had an appointment to see Dr. Bradley, and I learned that my UTI was still present. We switched the antibiotic I was on to something a lot more gentle. The one I was on is known to cause side effects like I was experiencing, and I was already on it for a week and I still had a UTI. We also agreed to take less of the opioid, and I reduced it to have a dose to help me fall asleep at night. After a few days I did improve and it became a lot easier to speak. The problem was that antibiotic. The muscle spasming was from an overdose of the opioid. 

The problem was, my pain was not being managed well enough. I was trying to go for walks outside to help me recover, not understanding that it was making my pain MUCH worse. I had 2 stents in my bladder rubbing a very sensitive area, making me feel the need to urinate constantly. This caused me to feel like I always had urine stuck in my urethra, which is a pain and a feeling of desperation you can't imagine until you're stuck on the toilet for 20+ minutes multiple times per day every day for weeks, wondering when your bladder will finally fully empty. Movement was causing my bladder to spasm from feeling the stents, but the oxybutynin (anti-spasmatic) was only so effective and it was causing a lot of teeth pain and leaving a terrible taste in my mouth. 

I was NOT coached on how to live with stents. I read a bunch of stories online from people, and I found urologist advice online about how to deal with stents. Everything I was experiencing was normal: urethra pain, inability to empty my bladder fully, movement causing a ton of bladder pain, and an endless feeling of distress. 

So I wrote a message to my urologist. That's when I learned that he moved my appointment to remove my stents back to 26 days out. My original traveling urologist told me 14 days, but the permanent urologist taking over my case at St. A's told me he was very uncomfortable with that because my internal tissues needed more time to heal from the endo surgery before it was safe to remove the stents. He refused to take them out earlier. The problem was I was in a ton of distress from the endless pain, and communicating with the doctor took me days. The clinic was very slow to reply. After 2 days a nurse from his clinic called me and listened to me, and decided my pain management was not appropriate, and she talked to the doctor. They gave me prescriptions for Toradol and a prescription version of Azo. This meant I was ramping up to stronger pain meds again, but it was necessary. Taking the Toradol twice per day made a huge difference and allowed me to urinate more easily, relax more fully, and get better rest. But it did not allow me to move. If I walked around a little too much, all my pain ramped back up and it was difficult to urinate again. I had to be as still as possible. 

So during the weeks at home waiting for my stents to be removed, I could not lay on my back at all. Urine would flow back up my ureters into my kidneys, so it was really important that I remained vertical enough to prevent this. Again, I was not coached by any doctor about this, so I figured it out by reading medical literature online. I lived and slept on the recliner the whole time. 

Where I lived, not moving much, for 26 days...

The reason I wasn't coached on how to deal with having 2 stents in me for 26 days was probably because a traveling surgeon put them in, and then my care had to be transferred to a very very very busy doctor who didn't really know what was going on. I fell through the cracks. It wasn't until I messaged the urology clinic that they started to notice me. The nurse was really helpful and apologized for the delay in care. 

October 9th: Finally, the day of my stent removal. My period started, and yes, it was a huge deal to me. I was cramping a TON, the bleeding was very heavy, and it was making me feel extremely weak. Oh my goodness, it was miserable. The opioid didn't touch my cramping pain, it seriously didn't help. I had to wait hours until I could take the Toradol, which did help some. I had to be wheelchaired through the hospital while feeling my disposable period underwear filling up, thinking about how they were about to dig inside my urethra. Anxiety. 

My blood pressure was 81/49. It felt like it was that low too. Then I met Dr. Fischer, the urologist. He has incredible bedside manner. He was very very nice to me. He showed me the images from my CT scan, so I could see why the ER doctor was so scared for me. That was wild to see my right kidney bright white and quite a bit larger than my left kidney, which also had some swelling. Wow. He was able to confirm that Dr. Bradley did not cause injury to my ureters, so the blood clotting was a me problem. Dr. Bradley did her job brilliantly. 

Ok, so then they took me into the room for the stent removal procedure. He warned me that some people notice some pain, but the majority do not feel much. Keep in mind, I had 4 stents put me and a UTI (which was done by this point, I was tested), so my urethra was VERY sensitive. I was not a typical kidney stone patient. I laid on that bed, shaking hard. I don't know if I was cold, anxious, low blood pressure, or all of the above. I was shaking a lot. Maybe it was all the medical trauma I had already been through and the anticipation of more pain. The nurse gave me a blanket. They inserted the camera in my urethra and it stung. They put a screen in front of me so I could watch, but I was clenched in pain and couldn't even open my eyes if I wanted to. They pulled the first one out as quickly as possible. I screamed. 10/10 pain. It felt like a pipecleaner brush was being pulled through me!!! The doctor paused and let me calm down, and asked if it was ok to proceed to pull out the second one. I knew I had no choice, so I nodded. I needed to get it over with. I screamed again. I was in tears. It was my worst fear: just more pain. 

Living in constant pain has a major impact on mental health. It's not just something I had to deal with, it was making me question the entire point of living. As someone who has felt suicidal before, this is dangerous. I was honestly too drugged up to put much thought into it, which might have been important to my mental health. The more pain I've had to endure in my life, the less resilient I am to it. It erodes, not strengthens. 

And now today, one day after the stent removal. 

I have refused to take any painkillers. I'm regretting that a little bit, because I'm finally feeling how sore my insides are. I was able to sleep flat on my back!!! But I tried laying on my side and that was a huge no. That was painful on my organs. 

The greatest problem I have today is that I'm in withdrawal. Headaches, muscle aches, nausea, feeling like I have the flu in my gut, no energy, feeling unstable... I'm not well. But I don't want to take anymore drugs. I really really want to be done.

My urethra stings, but I can finally empty my bladder fully. 

So.... this started as endometriosis surgery, but was completely dominated by blood clots. 

Don't read this blog as a warning. If you need endo surgery, you need it! But you need to be prepared for potential complications. Anything can happen. 

If you were here to read about endo surgery results, stay tuned. I'll write about that soon. It's really interesting what she found inside of me. 

Let me end this by saying something very important:

I'm VERY GRATEFUL for my doctors and medical team. Everyone did their part so well. My situation was a nightmare, but not because of the doctors.