keep ovaries at age 48? recovery time at age 48?

I was 49 when I had my surgery. They did my surgery at 11 a.m., I was up and going to the bathroom by 6:00 that evening. I ate my first meal at about 4:00, did not vomit or even feel queasy. I was up the next morning at about 6 a.m., ate a very nice breakfast, got dressed, my DH and MIL came to pick me up and I was home in bed by about noon.

I say all of that to say this....my surgery was very uneventful and my recovery was very uneventful. Does that mean I was up exercising and doing my own cleaning? No...a thousand times no! My nurses and doc were amazed at how well I did. They all said I was walking around like I hadn't even had surgery. But, I pampered myself, let my husband and family pamper me and rested, rested, rested. I don't think it matters how old you are. how healthy you are, or how much you weigh...initial recovery time is 6-8 weeks for this major surgery. As you probably have seen in many of the posts here...if you play you pay. I don't mean to be harsh at all, but it really does take lots of rest for that period of time to recover PROPERLY. You will only set yourself back if you don't take care of yourself. When you opt for a hysterectomy you may as well give in to being pretty much out of commission for those 6-8 weeks at least. My doc told me that when he recommended a hyst to me. He did tell me that having a TVH could take some time off my recovery, but to plan on being out of commission for the 6-8 weeks. It took every bit of that time to even think of going back to work full-time. I went part-time at 6 weeks, full-time my 8th week. The truth is when I went back to work part-time I was drained by midday. And this is a woman who had a textbook hyst! When I went back for my 3 week post-op my doc was really in awe at the healing that had taken place on my vaginal cuff. So I am a fast healer...BUT I still was an exhausted fast healer. I was also a very healthy person except for my female woes. It was very normal for me to work 11 hrs., stop by the store to grocery shop, go home, do dinner and clean-up (if DH didn't cook), throw 2-3 loads of laundry in, clean the bathroom, take bath, go to bed, and get up the next day to do it all over again. Truth: at 6 weeks I was so tired there were times I had to make myself walk from the house to the mail box.

I would say it's better to plan on being exhausted and not be, than to plan on going back to normal activities by week 3, finding that you can't, and being discouraged about it. Lots of damage can be done internally by over doing and you can set back your healing. In the end,I don't think it matters how healthy you are, how much you weigh or how old you are.

I didn't mean for this to be so long, but I'm trying to convey how important it is to give yourself the time to heal. We owe it not only to ourselves, but to our families to be kind to ourselves.

Hi
I am one of the "older" ladies on these boards - and have recovered just fine. Had my TVH and A&P repairs 5 weeks ago. Go to both Drs next week for my 6 week check up. Was allowed to drive short distances and take walks and minimal stairs at 2 weeks. Still no vacuuming, lifting over 10 pounds, long drives, or sex. I feel fine.
I work from an office in my home so was "back to work" at 6 days post op - but I just worked when I felt like it - maybe 3 or 4 hours a day total for the first week. By 3 weeks I was attending a couple of meetings at my office and last week a co-worker had to leave town for a family funeral and I worked for her for three days. I was very tired after a 9 hour day the first day, but seem to have survived . I just took it easy and my boss did lots for me - so I did more sitting than normal. Was still tired, but felt fine. Now am back to my 40++ hour weeks.
Both my primary care and gyn and I discussed the ovary issue and we even took a FSH test and found that my ovaries were not secreting much hormone at all - so we decided to take them out. I am afraid of ovarian cancer. Had breast cancer 9 years ago (instant chemical menopause) and can't do hormones - so actually would rather not have any ovaries - since if the cancer returns it will feed on the hormones.
But the gyn was unable to get them out! They were in so much scar tissue and adhesions that she would have had to "open me up" to remove them. I had already been in surgery for 3 hours so she felt that opening me up would put me "at risK'. So I still have those pesky ovaries!
If it werent' for my fear of ovarian cancer and return of breast cancer I would have wanted to keep them. But now they are mine forever, I guess!