TAH - At the castle, a positive story - Hystersisters Hysterectomy Article

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TAH - At the castle, a positive story

TAH - At the castle, a positive story

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Hello sisters,

This site has been most helpful to me, so I decided to take the time and post my postive story, hoping it would help some of you. Keeping in mind that everyone is different, and not wanting to bring up expectations, my story can also be yours, a succesful one. (note: English is my second language, so please excuse any spelling mistakes)

I had a TAH due large fibroids to be removed. I am 44, healthy, live alone, and proportional weight. Before going to the castle, I tried to get as much information I could on what to expect and was ready in my mind. I figured that many women go through this without any problems, and decided in my head that this was not worse than a c-section that some of my friends experienced.

I got to the castle the night before surgery. I was praying to get my own room and I did, first positive surprise. I received the visit of my doctor's assistant and we went through my medical history. I was able to ask many questions concerning the surgery, post surgery, and felt good about having someone to listen and answered my questions. It was confirmed that I would keep my ovaries, important for me. Then I met the anesthesist. He gave me the option to have full anesthesia or regional i.e spinal. I did not know that I had the option, so it took me by surprise. I told him I would give him my answer the next morning, as I wanted time to think about this. After discussing with nurses, they all told me that patients recover better from the spinal one, but the best argument was that all c-section are now performed under regional, so I figure it was the way to go. By the way, my stay was at a university hospital, actualy the children hospital, so presence of experts and well trained profesionals.

I was given powerful laxative and less than 30 minutes after, it took effect. I made sure to drink lots of water. I requested a pill to sleep better and went to bed at 11:30 PM. Of course, no food of liquid past midnight.

My surgery was scheduled for 9:15 AM. My Mom came early to give me support. My dear boyfriend was away, so he could not be there ( I will remeber that one, he lost many points lol).

I was only taken to the pre-op room by 11:00 as they had emergencies. In the pre-op room, there were kids waiting with their parents for their own surgery. It made me realize how little worried those kids were compared to their parents, and how lucky I have been never to have surgery when I was a kid. I call that positive re-enforcement. Then, the anesthesist came to get my final decision and told me that one of the advantage of the spinal is that pain medication through spinal would be left and supposed to last 18 hours after the surgery. Everyone and everything seemed so well under control, I did not have any fear and felt well taking care of. I was relaxed and thought, let's get this over with with confidence and calm. This was my part of the deal, leaving doctors to do their part.

I was then rolled in the OR. Good looking male nurses moved me to the table. IV was put in and my arm felt cold. I was then asked to sit, roll my back and not to move. I had a split two seconds moment of anxiety thinking that this was a delicate procedure. Injection completed, my legs started also to feel cold and numb...gently a male nurse took me in his arms and put me on my back...(good arms, it felt good). The anesthesist told me then that sedatives would be push through the IV , he put a walkman with music on my ears......And I do not remember anything else at all. The surgery lasted 1h45m. All I remember is being in the recovery area, being so cold and not feeling anything in my lower body. They put heating blankets on me to elevate my temperature. After 15 minutes, I started to be able to move my hips, and as time passed, maybe an hour, my legs and toes. It is a very strange feeling not to be able to move your legs...that part, I really did not like.

After being moved to my room, I realized that the catheter was in place and IV . I had minor nausea through the afternoon. No pain. First night went well, being under narcotics but I had problems sleeping on my back. Nurses keept waking me up to take vital sign readings. The next morning, still no pain. I was given liquids for breakfast. The nurse washed me, that felt refreshing, dressed me with my own night gown, and monitored my vital signs all day. The catheter was removed at around 2:00 PM. Still no pain. I learned to get up my bed to go the the girls room, still having the IV in, and nurses monitor how well I was doing, measuring urine volume. I took some steps in my room, moving the IV pole with me. They removed the IV at 5:00 PM and YES, I was finally free of any tubes! Good positive feeling. I had liquid dinner, and watched TV all night, still no pain.

The second night was unventful, except for finding a good sleeping position. Thanks to earplugs that I had brought with me and narcotics, I slept well. Well, the next morning, I took a shower, washed and dried my hair, and felt pretty much myself. Jello for breakfast, more jello for lunch and yes, salties. No pain. I walked every hour or so, visiting new babies in the nursery, and experienced the famous passing of gas all day.

The following day, my internal system was back at working again, still no pain, and I was starting to get bored. It was time to think about getting out of the castle. Since I was moving so well, they stopped giving me shots of epinephrin, which I did not like since you get a local bruise at every shot.

Next morning, the last at the castle, waking up with a smile, and still no pain. Staples holding my incision were removed, tapes were put on, and I was given a prescription for pain killers, just in case.

I am now 11 days after the surgery. I never had any pain and did not take any medication once at home. By day one at home, I was easily going up and down in my house, by day two, taking daily walk in the neighbourhood, by day five, driving to get bread and milk at the grocery store, by day six, driving to the video store. I took a nap every afternoon in order to recover better. I spent most of my days reading confortably in a reclining chair, or checking messages on the computer. With all the frozen food I had stored, I do not really cook. And yes, I almost forgot to tell you, I have a glass of wine every night to celebrate that I am doing well.

I am praying to remain infection free, I keep reminding myself to restrict moving too much for a while, and I stay away from chocolate...not moving much, I do not want to gain weight.

So far, so good. My story is not different from all the succesful stories you have read so far, and I hope it gives hope to all sisters in waiting.

Happiness to all and good luck in your recovery.

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