LSH: Having Laparoscopic Hysterectomy 10/27/10. Very Nervous!

Hi all! Im having a laparoscopic hysterectomy on 10/27/10. I am excited to be done with all of the pain and bleeding, but the closer I get to the date, the more nervous I get. I am certain I need the surgery, but concerned of how Ill feel after. The doctor says recovery is 14 days and I may go home the same day from the hospital. My preference is to stay in the hospital. If anything goes wrong, I want to be right there. I cant imagine having an organ removed from your body and then going home like nothing just happened.

Does anyone know anything about this procedure?

The doc said that I should just feel tired after. What causes the tiredness and how long does that last?

I had LSH surgery 6 weeks ago. I stayed in the hospital one night and was out the next day around 12:00. Recovery for me has lasted longer than 14 days. I was off work for three weeks (although I was doing some work from home during weeks two and three). After that I went back to work for 1/2 days. The pain from the surgery wasn't nearly as bad as what I expected. I was only taking the prescription pain medicine for the first week and a half. After that I was taking Ibuprofin for a few weeks. I'm not taking anything regularly now, but still get achy and sore after a long day. The tiredness continues for quite a while. It gets better and better, but I still get worn out easily compared to before. I saw my doctor for a post-op check today and she said that tiredness was normal and to expect to be 100% back to normal by the holidays. That is still two months away.

Although complete recovery takes a long time, it was worth it for me to be finished with the pain and bleeding.

Well, its good to hear that the tiredness goes away. Im also concerned about the recovery time because I also have Crohns disease which affects my ability to heal quickly. I have also only taken off 14 days from work.

Did you bring anything to work to help you while sitting? Pillows, foot rests, etc. What about at home? Are you laying, sitting? And what about those "straps" for the belly?

My office chair has a flexible back on it and for the first few weeks, I kind of leaned back as far as I could and still type on the keyboard. Pillows or footrests might help but I didn't try them. A pillow to protect my tummy from the seatbelt in the car was a definite must for the first few weeks.

Up until around the end of the fourth week, all I did was lay down or stretch out in the recliner when I could especially after a tiring day at work. After four weeks, I was good with sitting instead of laying down so often, but it still feels good to lay back in the recliner when I get home.

I didn't try one of those belly strap things. The last thing I wanted was something touching my belly. But others love them, so who knows. I bought knee length nightgowns two sizes too big so nothing was tight on my belly and often laid around with the gown pulled up above my belly. Sounds funny, but it felt better with nothing on it.

Funny, thats the way I feel now. Cant have anything touching my abdomen, it hurts! Good tip on the loose gowns, I need to go get some.

What about the incisions for this surgery? Do they stitch you up afterwards? Dissolvable stiches?

With my LSH, I had two small incisions near the bikini line and one larger incision (although still relatively small) in my belly button. I'm sure every surgery is different, but mine were closed with internal stitches and there were little steri-strips on the outside (like tiny little bandaids). The doctor took off the steri-strips on my first appointment post-op at one week after the surgery. The internal ones just dissolve on their own.

I had my LSH 5 days ago and I have to say I almost feel as though I never had surgery. I've been up walking around all day doing dishes, laundry, cooking, etc. I'm still careful not to lift anything heavy. I did rest for about 2 hours after but I feel amazing. When I woke up from the surgery I had minor pain (a 2 on a scale of 1-10) and that's it. I never needed pain meds in the hospital. The next 2 days were alittle more rough. It was harder to get up and move, but the pain was still minimal and by day 5 (today) I got up and almost all the pain is gone. I have to be careful not to over do it because I almost feel back to normal. I wasn't going to go back to work until Thursday but I'm going in tomorrow. I mostly work at my computer desk. I was so nervous to have this done but I found out the anxiousness was way way worse than the actual procedure. I don't know if my recovery is out of the norm, but I couldn't of been happier with the whole thing. My family and friends are amazed at how I feel and how well I'm doing. My doctor stitched me with regular stitches ( 2 small bikini and bellybutton incision) that he'll be removing at my post op visit next week. The only thing I regret is not doing this sooner! All those years of pain, heavy bleeding and anemia are a thing of the past now! LSH is Amazing!!!

Wow! That's both amazing and comforting. I only hope I can have a recovery like yours. In reading all of the posts, I realize I have a lot to do before the surgery: making sure things are in reaching distance, getting all the laundry and grocery shopping done, etc... Ill have to try and remember even though I may be feeling well not to push, pull and pick up things. And you'll have to let us know how you do at work. Im going to stick with my plan of 14 days off from work though :-).

I wonder if the recovery depends on what was removed. I had several fibroids with the largest being the size of a softball. Maybe mine was a little more difficult due to all the stuff they had to pull out and move around. Even though mine wasn't quite that easy, I can't say it has been difficult either.

Well, Ive been wondering what happens to the bowels once the huge uterus comes out. Mines has been sitting on my colon so long my colon is flat. Will the colon/intestines bounce back and allow for a free flow of BM?