5 weeks post robotic total hysterectomy - feel much worse since the surgery

I am so confused how I should be feeling. In week 2 I had to drive to a couple spots. Week 4 saw my dr who said I was healing well and could start the vaginally estrogen again to help my
Bladder I had endromentiral cancer that was why the hysterectomy grade 1 stage 1a early.
It is now week 5 I haven't spotted at all tell a few days ago. I had went for a walk and my grandsons basketball game. Did I do to much?
I'm having lots of left side pain reminds me when I had diverticulitis. Headaches and anxiety.
I'm afraid to take the vaginally estrogen i did one night and it flared my interstitial cystitis horrible. I'm also afraid of a relapse of cancer even though the dr says it's low!!
Should I be able to do my normal 2 mile walk? I know I can't lift tell week 8. I'm just starting to sleep better. First 3/4 weeks was horrible up every 20-30 minutes going to bathroom 24/7
I thought I'd feel better. I would say I feel much worse since the hysterectomy.

I really need the estrogen for my bladder but it's a catch 22.
I'm seeing a urologist next month. I'm wondering if my bowels cramps and gas are surgery related or. Flare of diverticulitis.
I wish my experience was like what I have read on others. I would say mine has been horrible!!

Have you called your doctor about your symptoms?

Is this your regular doctor or your surgeon? I was getting no answers from my surgeon. I had a watery discharge at my 2 week post op I asked about he kind of talked around it. I went back at my six weeks appointment same thing. So at my eight weeks and went to my regular doctor of twenty years and he explained everything and to come find out it is vaginal infection and give me antibotics,

so if you are not getting any where with doctor or surgeon try another one of your doctors. Let us know how you are doing.

Take care

	Quote:
Originally Posted by Delane55 I am so confused how I should be feeling. In week 2 I had to drive to a couple spots. Week 4 saw my dr who said I was healing well and could start the vaginally estrogen again to help my Bladder I had endromentiral cancer that was why the hysterectomy grade 1 stage 1a early. It is now week 5 I haven't spotted at all tell a few days ago. I had went for a walk and my grandsons basketball game. Did I do to much? I'm having lots of left side pain reminds me when I had diverticulitis. Headaches and anxiety. I'm afraid to take the vaginally estrogen i did one night and it flared my interstitial cystitis horrible. I'm also afraid of a relapse of cancer even though the dr says it's low!! Should I be able to do my normal 2 mile walk? I know I can't lift tell week 8. I'm just starting to sleep better. First 3/4 weeks was horrible up every 20-30 minutes going to bathroom 24/7 I thought I'd feel better. I would say I feel much worse since the hysterectomy. I really need the estrogen for my bladder but it's a catch 22. I'm seeing a urologist next month. I'm wondering if my bowels cramps and gas are surgery related or. Flare of diverticulitis. I wish my experience was like what I have read on others. I would say mine has been horrible!!

I also don't know what I should be feeling. Radical hysterectomy 4 weeks tomorrow. Endocervical adenocarcinoma. Did find out last week had a bladder infection. So the pain there has gotten better. I was good a couple days but yesterday I started getting sharp pains down both sides. And I feel nauseas. I started hormone patch so maybe thats the cause of the nauseas. Wish I new if the pain is normal. I made sure they took out all they could so there would be no relapse. But I guess we'll never know! I had no pain before so none of this is fun! Hope someone has a good answer for you!

	Quote:
Originally Posted by Justmesak I also don't know what I should be feeling. Radical hysterectomy 4 weeks tomorrow. Endocervical adenocarcinoma. Did find out last week had a bladder infection. So the pain there has gotten better. I was good a couple days but yesterday I started getting sharp pains down both sides. And I feel nauseas. I started hormone patch so maybe thats the cause of the nauseas. Wish I new if the pain is normal. I made sure they took out all they could so there would be no relapse. But I guess we'll never know! I had no pain before so none of this is fun! Hope someone has a good answer for you!

You dId you started hormone patch? You had. Cancer and they said you could start now? I was worried about reoccursnce of cancer.
I have diverticulitis now and then I think the cramping is that. I also have instersitisl cystitis feels like a bladderbinfection but never is.
Good luck. I wish they gave us a book to know what we should be feeling.

I don't have any insight on the vaginal estrogen and how it's affecting your IC - I think that'd be something your doctor can advise you on.

It helps to understand healing. We tend to think of it as a straight line, with scar tissue getting stronger over time. How it really works is that earlier scar tissue gets replaced by newer scar tissue. When the earlier stuff dissolves, we can feel twinges and zingers. As we resume daily activities, it's good to do so gradually. If you've not worked up to those two miles of walking, that's could be more than you're used to at this point in time.

As for the spotting, it can change during recovery - colors, amount, reasons why. Sisters may notice a change around the time their stitches start to dissolve. Doing more than you're used to might trigger some spotting. The general guideline is if you're not soaking a pad in an hour, you're likely okay, but it's always fine to put a call in if you have any concerns. You can read more about Spotting vs. Bleeding After Hysterectomy here.

Fatigue... another companion for many of us! I hit a notable fatigue wall at 10 weeks, and was in my jammies at 7pm.

One of the hardest things to wrap our brains around is how long this recovery takes. We're our doctors' patients through 4-8 weeks, after which they have no surgical follow up with us. It's not, however, like there's some switch thrown at 6, 8 or 10 weeks and we're "healed". Full healing can take 4-6 months post-op, and for some longer.

All that to say, it's a s-l-o-w journey for many of us, even if we had a textbook surgery and healing. You're not alone, and it does get better, it just takes more patience than we thought we had.

I feel my healing is going slowly and I'm 8 weeks post. I'm still in pain on my left side. The dr said he didn't see anything so I'm hoping this pain is part of my healing process and the pain subsides. Everyone is individual and this is what I focus on! Hope you feel better soon!