TAH/LSO- My Story - Hystersisters Hysterectomy Article

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TAH/LSO- My Story

TAH/LSO- My Story

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Hi All,
Well, I just wanted to post about my experience with the hysterectomy/removal of ovarian tumor, plus left ovary. After taking a bowel prep Monday afternoon (my surgeon was unsure of whether he would need to operate on my bowel, so better safe than sorry), I spent a good portion of the night getting up and using the toilet. It wasn't painful or anything, though - just a bit annoying. I had to be at the hospital for early morning surgery at 6:16 AM. My saint of a next-door neighbour drove me to hospital on her way to work. Once I checked in, the physical therapist assigned to my case talked me through some the the stuff I would be doing post-op to recover from surgery. This involved both getting up and walking the day after surgery, and also a breathing exercise device which encourages you to re-inflate your lungs (lying on an operating table under general anasthetic causes fluid to build up in your lungs and reduces your lung capacity - it's important to 'clear' this fluid after surgery to avoid complications like pneumonia.) Once I had finished speaking to him, they took me to my bed, where I undressed completely and lay down with a sheet over me. One by one, each of the pre-op nurses, plus my anesthesiologist came in and went through the forms with me, asking me the same questions over and over, (liability concerns, you see) and receiving the same answers every time. They then wheeled me into the anasthesia room (? - I think that's what they called it) which is right outside the operating room itself. They were cleaning up the operating room from the last surgery, which had gone a little longer than expected. They wheeled me into surgery and my surgeon greeted me "How do you feel?" To which I replied, "Scared ****less!" with a laugh. The anesthesiologist cracked up. That's pretty much the last thing I remember before waking up in the recovery room, along with about a dozen other groggy post-op patients. They then put me into my private room (good insurance - thank the goddess!), where I woke up a while later with an IV in my left arm, and the button for my morphine drip in my left hand. I was on self-administered morphine. Fortunately for me, I have a pretty high pain tolerance. The nurses kept coming in and checking on my morphine usage, and telling me to use it and not be 'brave'. Thank goodness I didn't take their advice, and used it very sparingly, as I found out about midday Wednesday that I was having an allergic reaction to the morphine. It was causing me nausea and hives. Fortunately, both were only mild (though the last bout of nausea was not nice and pretty scary, cause you DEFINITELY don't want to be vomiting with a six-inch vertical incision in your belly!)

I asked to have the morphine removed as soon as I realised I was reacting to it. Since I was tolerating water OK, and have a high pain tolerance, they decided it would be OK for me to be on oral painkillers from that point (they would normally wait until I was back on food, but the fact that I couldn't take morphine sorta rerouted that decision). The most uncomfortable things were:
* a belly FULL of wind - and my bowel was in a snit, and didn't allow me to pass wind until Thursday morning
* coughing - I would STRONGLY advise anyone who is a smoker to give up smoking completely before having this surgery. I cannot emphasize this strongly enough. The smokers I heard in the other rooms were suffering severely with coughing post-surgery, and to be coughing with a belly incision just doesn't bear thinking about
* sneezing - I sneezed for the first time this morning, and I have to say - thank the goddess I didn't sneeze in the first couple of days!!
* laughing - I have cruel friends. They visited me in hospital and made me laugh till there were tears running down my face. ;-) I did learn to hold my belly pillow over my incision while laughing, and am now able to laugh pretty comfortably, but it wasn't funny (hehehe) the first few times I laughed. Not nearly as bad as coughing or sneezing, though. From here on out, I consider it excellent therapy for getting those belly muscles back into action...

Overall, my experience was pretty good. I had excellent medical care in a very good facility, and I bounced back so quickly that I amazed my doctor. He sent me home two days early, and I could have gone home the day before, if I'd wanted to. I am already able to shower, walk, bend over and touch my toes, and reach things in overhead cupboards with no problem. I even gave my 15lb cat a push onto the bed this morning - (not lifting, PUSHING ;-)) I am pleased with my progress, and I know my doctor is, too. I'm looking forward to the next five weeks I'll have off of work. With a little luck, the last two should feel more like a vacation than a medical leave... :-)

I just wanted to post this for those of you who may have been frightened by the bad experiences of others. Sometimes it comes out OK. Oh, and we didn't know, going in, whether I had ovarian cancer or not, but the tumor was completely benign, and the doctor was able to leave my right ovary, which he said appeared perfectly healthy. Overall, a very good outcome. :-)

P.S. I cannot stress the no smoking thing strongly enough. Please, please, please - if you smoke - please stop. It hurt ME to hear those poor people on my ward coughing...

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TAH/LSO My Story

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