To be honest, I was looking forward to my surgery. My final period lasted 13 days, smelled badly, and I had constant pelvic pain and cluster headaches. I think my kids were more nervous about surgery than I was!
My last memory at the castle was being wheeled away from my family, turning the corner, and asking the nurse if it was okay to be nervous now that I was out of my children’s' sight. She laughed, and took me to a prep room where they put a blood pressure cuff on me, then hooked me up to an IV. I remember their commenting on the beautiful big vein in my left hand.
It's like someone edited out the next few hours! The next thing I knew, I was very cold, and a nurse was piling big warm blankets on me and around my head. It felt so good that I must have dozed off again....
As the day progressed, I was filled with the sensations of the blood pressure cuff tightening on my arm every so often, and the leg cuffs massaging my legs rhythmically. I was warm and when I felt pain, the nurse came and put morphine in my IV. Later, I felt itchy all over, and they put benadryl in, too. The only thing I wanted was water! Ice chips! Anything! My mouth was so dry and my throat was so sore! All they could give me was a little sponge on a stick dipped in water! I swabbed my mouth out a lot!!!
My family came for a short visit later, and they never looked so good to me! My 9 yr old daughter's eyes were big with concern at seeing her Mommy so out of it! My 7 yr old boy held my hand and told me about his day, but I needed the nurse back with her special little IV additive.
Night fell, and I was still so thirsty! My little sponge pops were nice, but I wanted water! The nurse told me my bowels were still sleeping, and the last thing we wanted was for something to come back up!! I decided to just put up with it, and faded back into twilight, the leg cuffs massaging my legs every minute or so.
I woke up with a little headache on one side of my head, as well as pain in my belly. The night nurse came in; a great-looking guy! I told him about my headache and my pain, and he gave me more morphine and benadryl. I told him about my migraines, and he said ok, and left.
Later, my head pain was worse! Mr. Handsome Nurse was called again. I told him the morphine wasn't helping the head pain. He gave me another dose and told me to sleep.
6 am. I wake again. Head in a vise. Call nurse. More morphine. Try to tell him I'm feeling sick from headache. Can he call doctor or something? Fade into twilight again...
Luckily, my doctor is an early bird. He arrives about 7 am and I am feeling seriously bad. He finally asks questions - what happens with my migraines, etc. Orders me some migraine meds and something for my nausea. It's too late. Handsome arrives with the anti-nausea stuff and is giving it to me when I ask for a bucket or something. The man does NOT know how to move fast! And he's usually an ER nurse!!! The bucket arrives; I have one BIG dry heave, which feels like someone is tearing my insides out! "OOOOOOOOWWWWWWWW", I yell, and burst into sobs.
I lay there for some time, sobbing with my hoarse voice, and Handsome just stands there and stares at me. He managed to stammer, "I'm so sorry" before fleeing the room. My migraine meds arrive, and while I'm laying back waiting for them to kick in, I feel a big bubble travel through my colon and out the other end! Hooray!! I passed gas!!
Handsome went home, which was nice. He apologized again, and I weakly told him he might want to ask his patients questions when they complain. Later, I got to take my first walk, which was funny with the catheter coming out from under my gown!!! I got the cuffs off my legs and everything!
The catheter never bugged me. I kind of got a kick out of seeing how much I could fill it. But I'm weird.
The next morning, I got to take a shower bright and early. I was weak, but it felt so good to have the hot water hit my body! I had gotten the catheter out, and was able to go potty all by myself! I had had a Burch procedure done, so they were all very excited to see what I could do on my own.
Unfortunately, I washed most of my hormone patch off without realizing.
During the day, I started having hot flashes! I didn't realize what was happening at first. I was able to drink all the water I wanted, and had even eaten, so I was comfortable there. I had another "fill in" nurse that day. She patted me on the head patronizingly and asked me "What do you expect? You just had an abdominal hysterectomy and your ovaries removed!" I called later to tell her this was not what the doctor had intended, that I was on HRT and was not supposed to have hot flash after hot flash! She checked the patch and found it was nearly off. I asked her to call my doctor, and she reluctantly agreed to order me a new patch.
Hours passed. The hot flashes were physically and mentally draining. I told the nurse I was feeling emotionally fragile and didn't like it. She assured me it was just a post-op thing. I asked about the patch, and she said she was going to order it.
By the time my patch arrived, I was really out of it. I realized I had just gone through menopause.
New patch. After a while, I started feeling big head rushes! I went through puberty!
Suddenly, I broke out as if coming up to the surface of a lake. I felt good! My hot flashes disappeared! The nurse came in - a different one - and I smiled!
Ever since then, it's been nothing but uphill!
I came home the next day to a lovely "nest" my Dear Hubby set up for me. I had a table for my water and my breathing thingy (MAKE SURE YOU USE YOUR BREATHING THINGY!! IT HELPS YOUR BODY REGULATE YOUR BODY TEMPERATURE!!!), my meds, the remote, and a book. I spent the next few days relaxing in the warm embrace of my family and my comfy bed. Videos and books kept me company, and my mini dachshund and one of my cats snuggled up and kept me still and warm. My other dog slept in front of the bed as my protector, and I was waited on hand and foot.
I didn't have endo after all. I had adenomyosis. There were no fibroids and no adhesions. The doc told me my ovaries looked fine, but they are gone anyway. Today, a week and a half post-op, I feel really good! I have some pain, of course, but I take a couple ibuprophens with one percoset, and I'm fine! I get tired more easily right now, but when I have done enough, I just fall asleep!
My doc told me to do the bare minimum I need to do to survive for one month. Don't lift any more than what I can lift with my non-dominant hand without straining. Don't be shy about pain meds - it's better to take a pill rather than be in pain and have my body get stressed. My incision is healing nicely, and I don't really even have a scab! The staples were no sweat to have removed. It looks worse than it really is.
I am drinking water, and can make it around my cul-de-sac three times now!!! Bowel movements are another topic - I am a little slow there, but working on it!
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