16 days post hysterectomy: TVH Help Needed

Hi, I'm perplexed and looking for some ideas or anything. Some history. I had a TVH 03 May, I'm 16 days post op. The night of my surgery I haemorrhaged and spent the night in ICU being constantly watched with 2 pints of blood. The surgeon figured I popped a stitch when I was wrenching from too much pain killer. I must also say my surgeon is a 12 hour drive away since I live in a very small northern town. I went home and took it easy but when I started to get around a bit more I was feeling off, and after what I call my "episode" that landed me in ICU i wasn't taking any chances. 10 days after my surgery I went to the Emerg at my local hospital. I wasn't feeling well and I wanted to ensure everything was ok. The dr. told me I needed to start to exercise. He gave me iron for my anemia and sent me on my way. Long story short, I developed a cold with a cough and since then I've been having a pink watery discharge that requires a pad, not a panty liner. Last night it pretty much soaked a long pad. I also have pain on either side of my bladder, i'm thinking where the ligaments would be holding my uterus in place. Not my actual bladder. Is this normal for people? I would go to emerg if i thought it would make a difference but the doctors here focus on "exercise" instead of diagnosing. I"m just confused because vaginal hysterectomy is supposed to be faster healing, and I do have pain on either side which i mostly feel when i cough. I hope you all understand I don't want to go back to Emerg and they just tell me to exercise, it's such a waste of time, and my appointment with my gynaecologist isn't until June 22. I suppose i'm just looking for some guidance if anyone has any please and thank you!

Emerg isn't a great place to go for non-emergency issues because the docs there tend to be focused on immediate solutions. For example if a person's bleeding out, they focus on stopping this. A person's got some post-surgical pain and discharge? Eh, give her some iron, tell her to exercise and send her on her way.

Does your GP or family doc live closer to you than your surgeon? Can you get in to see them before June 22?

As for one type of hysterectomy being faster healing than another, that's a general statement. For any type of surgery, there'll be a lot of spread in healing times among different patients. If you're at the long end of the vaginal hysterectomy spread, you may well have a longer, more difficult recovery than someone who's at the short end of the abdominal hysterectomy spread.

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I'm sorry to read of the lack of understanding at the local hospital regarding your care. I'll share some HysterSister resources below to help guide you. At 16 days, though not "fresh out of surgery", you're still in the early weeks of recovery and resting is the best thing for healing. Definitely not exercising in a way to engage your abs! (Walking is fine, and those walks can be brief and short).

The pain that your feeling ("where the ligaments would be holding my uterus in place") sounds within the range of normal post-op aches. I agree with SurprisedinNB, though you had a laparoscopic vaginal hysterectomy, you still have the same internal incisions as other Sisters - organs got removed, and with that, quite a few cuts had to be made. All that takes time to heal, which is why we're our doctor's patients through the initial 4-8 weeks.

The general guideline on vaginal discharge is if you're filling a pad (maxi pad) with heavy bleeding in an hour, that's an emergency. As you nudge up against that 3rd week, your stitches will start dissolving and you may notice an increase in the discharge. We've got two very good articles on Spotting vs. Bleeding After Hysterectomy and Vaginal Discharge After Hysterectomy.

Here are those resources for you:

• Hysterectomy Recovery Videos on the Recovery Splash page
• Hysterectomy Checkpoints for a week-to-week guide, and your
• Recovery Progress Reports for May 01-07, a thread dedicated to women who had surgery the same week as you - great for getting support, comparing notes, and encouraging others

Though your surgeon is 12 hours away, I'd be surprised if he doesn't have an office number you can call with questions which concern you. We always suggest Sisters call if they're at all still concerned that their symptoms might be something more than the usual healing.

Rest well! Don't try to do too much in these early weeks.

Hi,

I definitely don't think increased exercising is what you need...

I would recommend calling your surgeon just to make sure the amount you are bleeding is OK. The suggestion to see your GP if local is a good one too.

Please take it easy and rest as much as possible. Sounds like your body just needs some down / recovery time. Hanging there sweetie!