Stressed and exhausted, 3 weeks post hysterectomy.

I had my hysterectomy on Oct 12th 2016. I honestly don't know which procedure I had done, I have 5 small incisions on my stomach (robotic arms where used) and was told my cervix was taken out vaginally. I had everything removed accept ovaries. I came home from dropping my boys off at school yesterday and instantly started spilling out blood ... I can only compare it to how it felt when my water broke while pregnant. It took me about 15min to stop bleeding enough to drive myself to my doctor where I then continued to bleed til they put liquid bandage on the stitches around my vaginal cuff. I went home and tried to take it as easy as possible. Today I did nothing other than drive my boys to and from school but I've been having cramps and lower back pain and just feel like I've set myself back. My doctors post op instructions where very vague and now I fear that I've been doing things I shouldn't have done or may still be doing :/

I am so sorry to hear you aren't doing well!!!! I had a total vaginal hysto, kept my ovaries also, and my surgery was on 10/7. My doc's instructions were:
No pushing pulling bending or lifting anything over 5-10lbs. No sweeping or vacuuming. Nothing in the vagina. Walk, but only in 5 minute periods, now I can for 10 minute periods. Rest means with feet up. Showers only. Drink at least 64oz of water a day, use stool softeners or milk of magnesia to prevent constipation as needed, take pain meds when you need to, and RELAX.No question is stupid, so when in doubt call the office and ask!
So, did you rupture your stitches or what? Did your doctor tell you why you were bleeding? I have been having lower back pain too, but walking is helping, I just can't go far!

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Originally Posted by Redhead1980 I am so sorry to hear you aren't doing well!!!! I had a total vaginal hysto, kept my ovaries also, and my surgery was on 10/7. My doc's instructions were: No pushing pulling bending or lifting anything over 5-10lbs. No sweeping or vacuuming. Nothing in the vagina. Walk, but only in 5 minute periods, now I can for 10 minute periods. Rest means with feet up. Showers only. Drink at least 64oz of water a day, use stool softeners or milk of magnesia to prevent constipation as needed, take pain meds when you need to, and RELAX.No question is stupid, so when in doubt call the office and ask! So, did you rupture your stitches or what? Did your doctor tell you why you were bleeding? I have been having lower back pain too, but walking is helping, I just can't go far!

Thank you so much for responding.

Okay, I've been definitely pushing, pulling , bending and walking way too much .... It wasn't until yesterday that I realized how much I was doing. No, the doctor checked my stitches around the cuff and said they where all still intact but since I wasn't experiencing other symptoms that I "probably" ripped opened my internal stitches on the edges which I guess weren't visible. He said it was all fresh blood. There was no definite answer which made me nervous because it felt like he was guessing almost. He said if I was in pain he'd be concerned of stomach bleeding and then sent me home. So now I'm just paranoid about everything. Both my boys are young 5yrs &3yrs old and on top of that they're both special needs so taking it easy isn't easy. Is there any safe way to bend? Should I not be sleeping on my stomach? Driving? And is trick-or-treating out of the question this Halloween?

Hi romo.jr! It sounds like you may have been overdoing it a bit. with Redhead1980 on the various restrictions. My doctor gave me similar restrictions for a few weeks. It is important to listen to your body and if you are feeling aches, pains or fatigue, it is time to sit down and relax. While your outsides are healed, your body needs the energy to heal your insides.

With regards to bending, what I did was to use my legs and do more of a squat to pick things up versus bending. If you are comfortable sleeping on your stomach, this should be fine. As to driving if your doctor or post-op instructions did not provide any kind of restrictions or required release, please be sure that you are off of pain meds, comfortable slamming on the brakes and can turn your body to look back for traffic comfortably. This is what was in my post-op instructions. It's a risk to yourself and others, if you hesitate because you are uncomfortable or in pain.

Trick-or-treating is not out of the question. I would suggest having someone with you just in case you start getting fatigued or feeling aches/pains and want your kids to continue on while you head home. You are still pretty early in recovery and should be listening to your body, so you do not experience any setbacks.

Here are a couple of links that I found very helpful to my recovery in terms of what to expect during the various weeks of recovery.

Weeks 3-4 of Recovery

Weeks 5-6 of Recovery

What 350,000 Women know about Hysterectomy

Best wishes for your continued recovery!

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Originally Posted by romo.jr I had my hysterectomy on Oct 12th 2016. I honestly don't know which procedure I had done, I have 5 small incisions on my stomach (robotic arms where used) and was told my cervix was taken out vaginally. I had everything removed accept ovaries. I came home from dropping my boys off at school yesterday and instantly started spilling out blood ... I can only compare it to how it felt when my water broke while pregnant. It took me about 15min to stop bleeding enough to drive myself to my doctor where I then continued to bleed til they put liquid bandage on the stitches around my vaginal cuff. I went home and tried to take it as easy as possible. Today I did nothing other than drive my boys to and from school but I've been having cramps and lower back pain and just feel like I've set myself back. My doctors post op instructions where very vague and now I fear that I've been doing things I shouldn't have done or may still be doing :/

I agree with the other respondees... is there anyone that can help you with the kids? Sometimes we feel like we have to 'get back to normal' because so much is expected of us. With little ones it's got to be hard to rest... but rest you must or it's not going to be good in the long run.

Thank you ladies for the quick responses and information. I've taken a step back to just relax. I've been doing the bare minimal went to bed early last night. Even though I'm not doing much, I'm still having mild cramps in the pelvic region. Is this typical around 3weeks post? Is it due to the silver nitrate from 2days ago? I've been bending at the knees and doing more of a squat than a bending over but I'm going to take it easy on that too. I have been off pains meds since the 1st week post op and am only using tylenol atm. I was taking it with Ibuprofen but after the blood scare, figured it was safe to steer clear from blood thinners. Could the heavy bleeding have been due to granulation? I was reading about it and it sounds like that is what happened to me but then I'm not sure why the doc wouldn't have just said so. I'm going to read the links that where provided and rest some more. Thanks again, I appreciate it.

Also, re: trick-or-treating, see if another adult can come along to carry candy or make sure your kiddos can manage it on their own. I suppose it depends on the neighborhood, but around here, hauls can easily exceed 10 lbs, especially with multiple kids!

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Originally Posted by ByeBloodyMary Also, re: trick-or-treating, see if another adult can come along to carry candy or make sure your kiddos can manage it on their own. I suppose it depends on the neighborhood, but around here, hauls can easily exceed 10 lbs, especially with multiple kids!

Thankfully my husband has Halloween off this year so he'll be doing the carrying of candy and overall caring for our children. It would just be nice to go with them. I'll make sure to continue rest this weekend so that I'm up for walking Halloween night.

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Originally Posted by romo.jr Thank you ladies for the quick responses and information. I've taken a step back to just relax. I've been doing the bare minimal went to bed early last night. Even though I'm not doing much, I'm still having mild cramps in the pelvic region. Is this typical around 3weeks post? Is it due to the silver nitrate from 2days ago? I've been bending at the knees and doing more of a squat than a bending over but I'm going to take it easy on that too. I have been off pains meds since the 1st week post op and am only using tylenol atm. I was taking it with Ibuprofen but after the blood scare, figured it was safe to steer clear from blood thinners. Could the heavy bleeding have been due to granulation? I was reading about it and it sounds like that is what happened to me but then I'm not sure why the doc wouldn't have just said so. I'm going to read the links that where provided and rest some more. Thanks again, I appreciate it.

Good to hear that you are taking it easier. I don't know whether the granulation caused the heavy bleeding. At 5 weeks post-op, I had a little granulation that was treated with silver nitrate. I did not have the bright red bleeding at that time, but I did have discharge. For me, my bright red bleeding from granulation did not show up until almost 10 weeks post-op. I did have some cramping for a day after the silver nitrate treatment. Sometimes it can take more than one treatment to resolve granulation. Here is an HS article - Granulation.