My thoughts on my surgery

Hi Ladies in Waiting
I had my surgery on June 14th-a vaginal hysterectomy due to prolapse and an anterior repair on my bladder. I wanted to write and let you know that so far, the waiting was the worst part! I have recovered very well-I never expected to be feeling this well so fast. I just came home from a walk around 2 blocks in my neighbourhood, I'm finally walking at a normalish pace, walking has been pretty slow since Friday.

I woke up from the surgery on my way back to the recovery room. I had general anaethetic, I was worried about feeling sick but I never did. I had some hip pain, I assume from the position they had me in although the nurses seemed surprised by my pain?! I got a shot of morphine when I complained so the pain disappeared. Most of Thursday was pretty hazy.

Friday they had me out of bed and walking, a bit at a time and when I asked for someone to walk with me later on Friday the nurse said she would if I needed her, but I shouldn't need her, she was right. I just kept on walking after that. Do walk as much as you can, it will help with the gas and I found my back was sore so walking helped.

They discovered that I was allergic to Demerol, crazy itching, so they switched me to Ibupofen. I almost cried when she told me what they were, Demerol to Ibuprofen!!! Were they crazy!, but in fact I found the Ibuprofen to work much better and the walls didn't move when I took it!

I found the nights bad, I had trouble sleeping and my roommate was restless. I would get out of bed and walk a bit and then I would usually sleep again. My roommate, although restless, was fantastic. We giggled a lot, although tried really hard not to belly laugh because that hurts!! We have talked on the phone twice since I came home as she is still in and plan to get together next week if possible. So the hysterectomy has made me a new friend I thinK!

I have been a bit weepy since Friday, the nurses seemed to expect this. Sometimes I know why I'm crying-grieving, homesick, but other times I had no idea. I guess hormones. One nurse said that it is the nature of the surgery.

My nurses were fantastic as was my doctor. I was so scared going into the surgery and everyone did their best to make me comfortable. My family has also been great. My DH set up our hammock in the back yard and made a great supper and has just generally been taking care of me.

I know that everyone's experiences are different but I wanted to let you know that mine was not nearly as bad as I feared. I still have lots of recovery ahead of me and know I still have some grieving to do. I grieved as much as I could before which I think has helped. I tried to be as healthy as I could before also. I lost some weight and began exercising. I asked all the questions I could think of. I read as many posts as I could on this website to prepare myself. I found the support and encouragement to be fantastic and I want to thank all of the ladies-in-waiting and princesses.

Good luck!
Curly

Thank you for your story, I'm going to the castle on the 27th of June and waiting is driving me crazy, but it's the wondering that's the worst, so you've put my mind as ease that it's not as bad as my mind is trying to make it, thank you for that. Keep on resting and recovering, your now a princess!! Yah!

Wow, what perfect timing to read your post... I'm on my way to the castle on the 20th! I'm glad things are going well for you... I have some of the same repairs being made... and then some, so it was nice to hear your story! Thanks for your post

What an uplifting story!! Thank you so much for sharing. It seemed to have helped with the usual fears I've been feeling a lot of lately!!! My stepdaughter has already told that she is going to help me take walks when I get home from the hospital, so I'm looking forward to that time with her.

Anyway...saying a prayer for you and your continued recovery.

Hugs, Donna

Hello Curly!:-)
It's so comforting to hear your story. Sounds much better than what you actually feared. I'm so happy for you.

Well I am having a LAVH on July 6th. My gyn is removing my cervix and uterus. Ovaries are staying in if the mass I have on my uterus is benign. I'm very scared but I believe I'm fortunate to have it done without them cutting my abdominal since its less invasive and I hear recuperation is much quicker.


Lets keep in touch.

Best wishes,

Maria
New York

Thanks for sharing!! It's always a comfort to hear good stories! I'm glad to hear you are doing so well. Take care and

I had my LAVH on 6/14 and was scared to death about all of this! The waiting was the worst part and I am doing great since leaving the castle on 6/15. Other then some gas pain and back pain I feel great. Everyone that has seen me or talked to me on the phone can't believe how well I am doing. Walk walking within 5 hours of getting out of surgery and was home by 10AM the next day. Gas pain was the worst and caused my belly to swell quite a bit but once it past things were good. Finally had my first BM and have felt great since. It really isn't that bad and I am so glad I did this surgery. Especially since my uterus was the size of a 3 month pregnancy. Am excited to see how much more slimmer I'm going to look when all of this swelling goes down. I had my husband, best friend, and sister with me when I went to the castle and having my sister here was the best thing I could have done. My mother was supposed to come take care of me for the week but chickened out and my sister came instead. We've always been close, but having her here taking such good care of me meant the world to me. She gave me massages, rubbed my belly and generally wouldn't let me out of her sight! She teased my hubby that until he passed her standards she wasn't going to leave me alone with him to take care of me. She finally turned me over to him on Saturday and went back to her house 3 hours away. What a great experience to share with each other. I'm the older sister so I always have taken care of her. She said she enjoyed taking care of me for once. I get teary eyed every time I think about it. I am truly blessed to have her, my DH and my friend.