My hysterectomy novel lol and why I'm happy I had the surgery.

I am 28 and have had horrible periods since they started. Heavy bleeding, clots and pain. Went from doctor to doctor and tried birth control pills,nsaids, narcotic pain pills. They even tried anti depressants at one time cause they thought it was all in my head. After my tubes were tied in 06 the pain got worse. In about 03 I seen a doctor that decided to go in and see what was going on. We found out I had endometriosis. He removed all he could see and put me back on bcp to prevent it from flaring up again. Less then a year later the pain was back. So the doctor said that lupron shots where my next option but I didn't want to deal with the menopause only for the pain to come back after it wore off. I brought up a hysterectomy. I was ready for the pain to be gone. He told me that the only way he would do it was if I did the lupron first and he took my ovaries when he did the hysterectomy. I was in no way ready for what that entailed so I stayed on the bcp. Dealt with the pain as best I could. Fast forward to about 3 months ago. I decided to switch doctors. I went back to the one that did my tubal. I told him about my attempts at being pain free and how nothing I did worked. He then asked me what I wanted to try next. I immediately told him I wanted a hysterectomy but I wanted to keep my ovaries if possible. He agreed and told me he would have to do a TAH due to my past abdominal surgeries. I was thrilled. He wanted an ultrasound to see if there was anything he needed to know about before the surgery. I had it almost a month later and he asked me when I wanted to have the surgery. I wanted it asap. But it was scheduled almost 2 mths later as my doctor is a busy man. This gave me plenty of time to prepare and get things situated with work. As the time got closer I started to get antsy. Pre op tests came and went. I did the bowel prep the day before which was not thrilling.

Surgery day finally came. I had to be at the hospital at 7:30. My mom came with me and we assumed things would go fairly fast. Wrong. It was closer to noon when my doctor finally came in. The nurses had kept me comfy and informed. I talked to my doctors and the nurse came in and gave me my pre meds. And I was soon wheeled to the OR. they got me situated and comfy. My nurses were great. They explained everything to me. next thing I knew I was in recovery.

My recovery room experience wasn't so pleasant. My nurse was great. I'm just a complicated person. Lol it's harder for me to wake up and pain meds don't like to work. I was finally able to keep my eyes open and my pain decently under control. I also apologized to my nurse for being such a baby and she just laughed. She hooked my pain pump up, gave me some ice chips and took me to my room.

In my room they moved me to my bed which was a little painful. My mom met me in my room. Helped get me comfortable. I tend to be known as the pillow queen. I think I had gathered 8 in my bed by the time I was discharged. I'm such a baby after surgery. I finally got my pain under control. Pain pump with diautid and could push the button every 6 minutes. Love right there. And I was finally able to hold a conversation with my mom. This is where I found out like always the surgery was a little more complicated then expected. When my doctor did the first incision he was met with about 16 cms of my bowl. I had at some point developed an incisional hernia in a previous scar. So he got to fix that. He took my uterus and cervix and left everything else. Come to find out the endometriosis hadn't come back. Yay. I was happy that hopefully the pain was over. If I hadn't had the surgery o wouldn't have known about the hernia until it caused a probable problem and this is why I am very happy I had the surgery.

My recovery so far has been pretty uneventful. I begged for the cath to come out and pain pump was next which I.regretted but I started to do laps around the floor. I felt pretty good other then the pain being out of control on just percodans. So my doctor ordered morphine shots. Finally back under control. I didn't actually sleep until the second night when they gave me a sleeping pill. Got about four hours asleep. My nurse agreed to wake me for my pain pills so I wouldn't have any major breakthrough pain. I ended up staying up. This was Friday and the day I was gonna get to go home. I was excited. The doctor came in and told me he was discharging me. I was already showered and dressed. I am a wk and a half post op. I've been resting at home pretty well. At first it was hard. I convinced my doctor to take my staples out 2 days early due to pain. I'm taking norco for the pain. Most days only 1 every 12 hours. I seem to only need them to get up and started. The pain is mainly soreness with some sharpness. My doctor says I am healing well. Just wish it was faster.

I guess my reasoning behind telling my story is listen to your body and don't be afraid to speak up. I knew something was wrong and faught until it was fixed. You know your body. You have to advocate for it. I'm sorry that this has been so long. But I wanted people to hear my story. Yes TAH take longer to heal from but the pain is tolerable if you need this type. I wish all the other sisters well. This site has been amazingly informational for me. Thank you for taking the time to read this.