A few questions

Unfortunately, I have a way to go before surgery. It is scheduled for September 26th. A lot of time to think and to worry. I have a few questions. First, is a bowl prep standard practice? It sounds very unpleasant. Can this get any worse? I have so much worry about everything. Is it wrong for me to ask my primary care physician for some anti-anxiety meds to calm me down? And recently my blood pressure has been up. Should I check into this because it could impact my surgery? I am scared as heck about everything. Any words of wisdom are welcome.

I did not have any bowel prep (YAY!)... my husband and I went out to a nice dinner the night before my surgery

Your blood pressure could be up from the stress/anxiety of the upcoming surgery. I think it is very common for pts to ask their Dr for anti anxiety meds before their trip to the castle. It would be better to ask than to suffer!

It is not uncommon to have a lot of questions prior to your hyst and this is the place to ask them!

Not all women are required to do a bowel prep prior to their hyst. It depends on your doctor, your hyst type, your body, what all will be done, etc. If a bowel prep is ordered for you, you do need to follow directions exactly to prevent complications. While I did not have a bowel prep prior to my hyst, I did have one a couple years ago for a colonoscopy. While it is not fun, I made it through!

Talk to either your GYN or your GP about your anxiety issues. You may even want to talk to both of them and see if you all agree on the best option for you!

And do have your blood pressure checked out. It could be nerves and anxiety because of the surgery. But you will need to have it monitored to be sure there is no other condition that could affect your surgery.

I wish you the very best and hope you find support and information here on the site! s

I am having surgery Aug 10th. I do have to do a bpwel prep and liquid diet for 24hrs. I think it really depends on your doctor if you have to do it. I know it is standard practice with my doctor. I have also been having problems with my blood pressure. Mine is due to the stress and worry. My doctor has been monitoring me and has gave me a script for my anxiety. I never hurts to call and ask questions. It is better to be informed than to go on stressing out about it. I hope you feel better soon.

viennail74
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LAVH or TVH on Aug 10th due to symptomatic fibroid uterus

I did not have to have a bowel prep, but I have done that twice for colonoscopys. They are no big deal, the stuff is hard to swallow but it really cleans you out, your surgeon will be able to tell you if they usually do it, their pre op instruction sheet is the same for most patients. Just ask his nurse, so you can prepare mentally.
The surgery is not bad, you do not know a thing, they ask you lots of questions at the pre op days before, mostly medical history stuff. They give you a Living will to fill out and medical power of attorney to fill out and sign when you arrive just prior to your acutally surgery. you can discuss this with your DH or BF or family member who is taking you to the Castle. you will want to give that some thought if you want to be an organ donor if something did by chance happen to go wrong. You can direct them to do what you wish.
The pre op the morning of surgery they again ask questions and interview the person who will be waiting for you get their number for contact and contact him as soon as you are in recovery and headed to a real room, where he can meet you with your stuff for your stay, like ipod, laptop robe etc.
The nurses are just great, you will most likely wake up to a cathether in your bladder you do not see it or feel it and you do not have to get up to go potty well, pee pee that is, but after a 24 hour liquid diet or even just No solid food after midnight the night before, you won't have to poop for about 5 days. They will be giving you stool softeners, as the pain meds you will be on reek havoc with your bowel regularity!
You will be on a liquid or soft diet until you can pass some gas, doesn't seem like a hard test to pass, especially if you have fibroids now pushin on your colon or rectum and giving you added gas no matter what you eat,, but believe it or not it might take you a good day or two to toot while on the toilet peeing on your own! You will announce it to the nursing staff because they will all ask you if you have passed gas yet. and then they give you real food! Of course you won't have much of an appetite but you will get oatmeal and muffin and yogurt for breakfast and get to pick off the menu what you want for lunch and dinner. I tried to eat about 5 or 6 bites of my yogurt and oatmeal because I did not eat solid food for 24 hours prior to surgery and felt it best to help heal.
If you have abdominal hyster, you will most likely have surgical staples holding you together, you will not see them until they take them out about day 2 or 3 most likely, there was NO blood or even redness just the staples! they replace them with steri strips and the removal is no more painful than plucking your eyebrows! really! Enjoy your stay and read read read this site for hints, and ideas for preparing your home recovery area. Learn what you can and cannot do and for how long you can expect to be limited.
you can always send a private message to any of us that you read on the post op forum and we can answer you, support you and help you calm down! I have 6 to 8 weeks of sitting here at two computers, so any of you in waiting are welcome to send either email or private messages with your questions at any hour!
i am feeling so much better than I thought I would Now, I know the hard part will be staying in bed and doing mostly nothing for as long as I can, I am high energy and have a business to run!
But I read so many gals do the wrong thing, felt so good went to Wal Mart and grocery did a couple loads of laundry and were set back to two or three weeks in recovery, You just cannot push yourself. So look for DVD movies, buy some good books and book out of life basically so you can heal.

I didn't have to have a bowel prep before surgery. My doctor had me stop eating and drinking by midnight the night before. I was given stool softeners afterwards (it helped). I went into all of this as positive as I could and didn't have any complications. The nurses and staff at the hospital explained everything to me during my entire hospital stay (2 1/2 days). I expected the worst and ended up having a fairly good experience (this was my first surgery). I got up and moved around as soon as I could. I think that also helped in my recovery. I'm still a little sore around my incision site, but it's not too bad. I hope you can relax and find some peace before your surgery. Look at it as the best thing you can do for yourself. I am so glad that I had this done. My health has improved so much.

Cheri

I did not have to have a bowel prep before my TAH. It depends so much on your doctor.

Please do not hesitate to ask your doctor any questions you have.

In the mean time pamper yourself. Do things that give you pleasure. Watch a funny movie, tv show, etc.

My thoughts are with you!