Looking for information about Total Vaginal Hysterectomy please

Hi I am in the prelimenary stages of planning to have a Total
Vaginal Hysterectomy, removal of the uterus and cervix with rectocele repair. I am not positive as to whether it will be laproscopically assisted or not, the doc is still waiting on some tests to come in. I have found tons of info on the Lapro assisted procedure, but am not finding much on just the vaginal hyster. So if anyone has been through this could you please answer some questions for me from your personal experience? I find people who have been through it are much more clearer than the docs who do it LOL

What is the expected hospital stay?

How long were you off of work?

How long did you have physical restrictions?

What should I expect in terms/type of pain?

I will of course be asking the doc all of these ?'s also.
Anything else I may be missing would be appreciated too!

Thanks in advance!~Carebear

Hi Carebear! I can't answer your questions yet, cause I am a also right now. But am bumping this up so that someone else can. I can tell you that on the bottom of the Hyster Sisters Home page are pull down menus. There is a list of possible questions to ask your dr. on the Pre-Op page. Also, if you go to search and input TVH or Total Vaginal Hyst. you will find lots of threads that discuss other women's experiences in this. I've been a for awhile, so I know this is a pretty normal thread.
If you want me to, I can also send you a link to a site that shows pictures of various procedures including a TVH. I thought the pics were cool, but they are photographs, so very graphic. Hope all this helps! Good luck and blessings to you on your journey!
Warmly, Pammy

Hi Pammy and thanks so much, the links would be great! I also posted this on the post-op board, I got to thinking everyone here is probably wondering the same things as me! LOL I got some really nice responses there, and am so glad I found this site! I have been spending hours just reading everything and really enjoying learning all of the great info here! Thanks again for your consideration, I really appreciate it! BTW my name is Carrie ~Carebear

hi1 i had a vaginal hystectomy nine months ago. i don,t know how much help i can be but , i have a blood disorder . apparently they did not know that i had it until i had my surgery. but back to the point, i had a vaginal surgery and i went through hell and back. iwas in the hospital for six days but i also lost alot of blood and i almost died. i could not do anything until six weeks but i could not lift anything until six months. my stomach was too weak for lifting anything, i could not drive before six weeks. i went back for my two week checkup and icould not drive then .the doctor said that it was not the right time to drive.as for the pain, when i was in the hospital i was on pain killers, but i was in icu for two days as well and i did not know much until i woke up. i was mostly on tylenal, the strongest kind. i guess that is it. you can email me if you want i can answer any questions you may have! my email adress is ; jgeorge@crrstv.net

Hi,
I had a TVH (kept ovaries) 4 weeks ago.
I was in surgery for one hour.
I was in the hospital for a little over 48 hrs.
Everything went fine!
I would choose a TVH over a TAH any day!....if you have the choice, of course. There is no ab. incision to deal with.
Pain level in the hospital was LESS than what I had expected! I'm sure that you (and I know that I have), have had worse pain every month, then what the pain level will be for you after your surgery.
Any questions, feel free to email me.

Hi Carebear,

I am 2 weeks + post-op. I had a TVH and things went very well for me. I had my 2 week post-op follow-up with my gyn this morning. I will try to answer your questions, but remember everyone is different.

I was in the hospital just a little over 24 hours, (that is counting the time I arrived before surgery until they actually rolled me out the door to go home.)

I asked my doctor today when I would be able to go back to work, he asked me when I wanted to go to work. Come on doc, work with me here,. I wanted a date/time from him. I told him I was considering going back to work around the 13th of Aug. He calculated the amount of time it would be post-op and told me that was fine. Not sure what restrictions I will be on for work, need to call his nurse and get a work release note from him. I can't go back to work at the hospital until I take a note to employee health and am cleared by our employee health doc.

I am still under lift/push/pull restrictions for the next few weeks. As of now I can officially lift 10lbs. but no more than that. Wasn't given a specific time period for this, so guess I will have to call the doc about that too.

The pain afterwards was not as bad as I thought it would be. Thank God for morphine!. After you wake up from the anesthesia you need a little something to help you out when you move around in the bed and when they get you up to walk to the bathroom for the first time.

I am feeling really good, still get tired very easily. Do okay sitting and walking, but can't do either for very long at the time.

Hope that I have helped you out some. Feel free to email me with any questions you may have. See you on the other side.

Kimmiejay

I just got back from the hospital yesterday. I was there 1 and one half days.
I am to be off work 6 weeks.
Not supposed to do anything for 6 weeks. just walk to the bath room.
1st 24 hours after surgery my pain level was 7-9. They gave me shots in the butt. It brought it down to a 6-7 level. I was sick at my stomach.
As soon as I was over being sick, they gave me red pills. One every 4 hours. They did not work real good, Pain level was 6-8 and the pills only brought it down to a 5.
After being able to eat I was much better. Today I had 6-8 hours with no pain. I don't know what I did to make it start hurting again as I am in pain now.
Good luck

Hi, Carebear,

I had a TVH with BSO on 6-12-01. I had spinal anesthesia with sedation. I remember the anesthesiologist injecting medication into my IV in the pre-op area, and next I remember waking up in the recovery room. Great anesthesia! I did have some itching from the morphine-related drug in the spinal while I was in recovery.

I was in the castle for 24 hours. My only problem was back pain. My back pain was NOT relieved by the med in the pain pump, but toradol and a heating pad made me feel much better. I walked a lot in the hospital.

I never experienced problems with constipation or gas, as many of our sisters do. My doc prescribed 30 percocet when I was discharged, and I still have about half of them. Ibuprofen (advil) and tylenol were all I needed after the first few days. Back pain continued to be my only complaint.

At home, I rested and was pampered by my wonderful DH and DD.
It seems like I slept for 2 1/2 weeks constantly, and then I started to feel like I could conquer the world! Pillow Police Alert! I found that I could do one activity per day (brief trip to grocery store, go out to eat, etc.) before I needed a nap. I had the usual lifting and bending restrictions, and I tried to follow those.

Now, 6 1/2 weeks postop, I have much more energy, although the occasional nap really helps. My doctor has released me, and says I can do whatever I feel able to.

I feel SO lucky to have had such an easy recovery, such a great doc, and such a wonderful family. We're all lucky to have found this supportive website. This is my first post, but you've all helped me more than I can say. Thanks, hystersisters!

I hope this is helpful to you, Carebear. Good luck to you.

Wow I must say I am so happy with all of the information everyone has shared with me! I am really feeling this is the right choice for me and I am almost looking forward to getting on the otherside and start feeling like my old self again!

I can certainly see that everyone heals differently and also that different docs use different guidelines, but I am glad to see so many had/are having good recoveries. Thanks so much for the advice and details! I hope everyone feels better on the otherside! ~Carebear

Great thread, carebear! I am having a TVH on August 13, and am still sorting everything out in my head. It does seem like most ladies tolerate it fairly well, and the pain certainly seems less than a TAH. I'll keep my eyes on this thread for any further information!