Hi im looking for some advice please.. I was due to see my consultant next monday to work out a date for repair. Im between the devil and the deep blue sea..I need to work fulltime hours and have been looking for another job close to home. My job at the moment is 3 days a week in a ladies boutique. I have an interview this thursday at boots for 30 hrs a week but I am worried that it will be the wrong decision to take this job is offered to me as that means i will have to put back my repair till the summer (3months probationary period) but cant deal with this bulge any longer.. Sorry for tmi but i feel i could push out an egg and it drives me insane 
Can someone give me some advice on what they would do in my situation. Would you stay at the current job earning less money and have the surgery or take up the better paid job and put back the surgery. I have been at my current job for 1 year and will be off for 6 weeks so the consultant says. Any help would be wonderful. Thankyou so much!!
This really is a question of how desperately you need the money. If you can get by without the extra, and you feel you can still have that opportunity of a better job after surgery, I'd get the surgery, but if there's not much chance of the job opportunity arising again and you need the money, then it might be worth taking it if it's offered now. You could get a prolapse pessary fitted to keep you going until you have an operation. I have one and it's absolutely brilliant. I went from feeling like you - as though there was a lemon stuck there, so feeling normal again! There are a variety available, so if you want to be able to have sexual penetration, you can get one that can be removed, or if not, one that will stay there until you have your operation?
Thank You chrissy for replying.. Ive not really thought about a pessary as i was told they can erode the vaginal tissues, didnt like the sound of that, also having to take it out all the time too for sex didnt appeal to me.. although the way i feel doesnt make me want to feel sexy right now either.. I will see how I get on in the interview, i may not be successful so the decision will be made for me lol. thank you again.
Your health is much more important.
THANKYOU FOR REPLY/
Don't be put off by a pessary if you do decide at some point to have one, because I had one for years before surgery, and then my surgery failed (long story, but some do and mine was more likely to fail because of another condition) so I've got a prolapse pessary again now and VERY happy with it. They don't normally cause vaginal erosion if they fit properly. But just keep in mind it's a possibility if you do have to put the op off for any reason. But as I see Matron has said, your health is the most important aspect!
cant put a price on our health!! your all so right. thankyou
Do you think that Id be able to work on a shop floor again after surgery. Im worried that such a physical job on feet all day with undo any work done by my consultant. I had my gallbladder out nearly 2 years ago and was back at work the following week.. it seems quite compliated the recovery, on what you an and cant do temporary or permanently. Can I swim and bike ride once ive healed? so confused amongst all the other worries.
When you had your gall bladder removed it would have been keyhole surgery so you do recuperate much quicker. Prolapse surgery is classed as major surgery so if you worked on a shop floor ideally you should be off work for 12 weeks.
OMG 12 weeks. my consultant never told me that amount of time. he said 6 weeks. that is worrying as i cant afford really to be off for 6 weeks nevermind 12.. i think id be bankrupt lol... im really conerned about all this now. its not straight forward at all is it.. even if they do the repair vaginally is it still classed as major?
If you're working on a shop floor, standing and probably lifting there's no way you could go back to work at 6 weeks. I do hear of consultants who make these claims but unless you're in an office job, sitting all day then it's almost impossible. Chris has come up with an excellent point, a pessary. That is definitely worth exploring until you are settled in a new job. Some women don't find them easy to cope with but many do so discuss this possibility with your consultant who I hope is a Urogynaecologist.
Thanks Matron, yes My consultant is the top urogyne out of Southampton general so im in safe hands. even if i was settled in a new job being off for 3 months is just madness.
Hi Chris.
just read your reply and would like to ask you about pessaries. I am 66, and in April, after waiting 2 years, had an anterior and bladder repair. Took me 3 months to recover, but by the time I saw the consultant, my posterior wall had collapsed. THEN I was sent to physiotherapy, and although I do the pelvic floor exercises, as I have done for many years, it is not going to go away. But can I face further surgery? Or try pessaries? What has been your experience - medics do not give me confidence!!!
Oooops sorry of course. I answered your other question. I am surprised he has said you'll be ok to go back to work at 6 weeks but I'm now wondering if he repairs anterior prolapse differently. 2 Urogynaecologists in my area are doing this new procedure where you can drive after 2 weeks and recovery is much quicker. You are also in hospital as a day case and it's performed without an anaesthetic. This could be what he is doing.
Hi Celia. I had a prolapse ring pessary for years - I'm guessing around 6 years and was very happy with it but when I had to have a hysterectomy (long story - I got endometrial cancer after being put on vagifem at three times the recommended dose for 16 months) I took up the offer of surgery to repair the worst prolapse which was the anterior, too, but that had failed 9 months later and because of having a connective tissue problem it makes it likely that any further surgery won't be successful for long. I know it can make fitting a pessary more of a problem after hysterectomy and vaginal surgery, and the first prolapse pessaries that the gynie tried didn't work for me (stopped me weeing) but the shelf pessary that she fitted is excellent. You can't have penetrative sex with the shelf pessary but it's taken away that feeling of something bulging there totally. It was my best Christmas present ever (it was fitted in November). A lot of medics will automatically put women on vagifem if they have a prolapse support pessary but obviously, after having endometrial cancer, they wouldn't even suggest that now, but there are brilliant alternatives to vagifem. One is Balance Activ Menoopause plus which has hyalaronic acid in it, which has shown in many studies to actually improve vaginal atrophy, any my gynie said that's absolutely safe to use as often as I want to, or there is organic coconut oil, which is what I'm using and have found that to be very successful, so I'm over the moon with my pessary and using the coconut oil alongside. If you do want sexual penetration to be possible, there are pessaries that you can take out (just like a tampon really), so it's a case of talking to a gynie to find out what will work best for you. Because I had the failed anterior repair, a posterior prolapse AND the vaginal vault was coming down, I knew mine was going to be more complicated and my husband was very sweet when we went for my appointment and said penetrative sex wasn't as important as my comfort all day every day, so that meant that aspect wasn't a problem for me. I actually think prolapse pessaries are under used really. You don't know feel them once they're in, and knowing that around one third of prolapse repairs will fail at some point, to me it makes sense to give pessaries some consideration, especially as you get older. I'm 66 now too;-))))
I will be in hospital overnight and will have anaesthetic.. so im guessing its the stitched approach. what is the procedure your thinking of matron? be nice to know 
It's a mini sling that can be adjusted to tighten it. My friend is a research nurse who works alongside the Urogynaecologists who are now performing this procedure and she said the ladies really like it and coincidentally my neighbour is having the procedure on Friday. She said she'll be playing golf in 2 weeks which is excellent news.
wow thats wonderful!! I have heard of this but always thought it was for leakage. I dont have any of this just the feeling of this bulge in the entrance. im guessing he would of told me if it was that. i would remeber a mini sling. i wish your neaighbour the best of health and speedy healing.
Thanks for your informative reply! How often does it have to be changed, and can you do it yourself.
Some types you can take out yourself, but the shelf is one that you can't - it's one of the more difficult for them to put in and take out. They tend to take them out roughly every four months, although it can be a bit longer, I THINK, depending on the gynie. They just take it out, check the vagina, clean the pessary or change it for a new one, and then put it back and you're done and dusted until the next time:-) But some are meant to be taken out every couple or few days and people are shown how to do those themselves. Others can be left longer but people can still be able to take them out if they want to.