week four and few unwanted surprises

it has been 3 weeks on Monday so I am in my 4th week of recovery. yikes I had some brown discharge and I am achy in my abdomin. Is this normal. I am not lifting anything. I lost one stitch last week. how many can I expect. this is important stuff. I don't know why they don't tell you this at discharge from the hospital. I had a bladder lift/repair and a partial hysterectomy. I also had a vaginal vault prolapse. sometimes it feels kind of heavy in there. I can't wait for my 6 week check up to know that everything is ok.

Hi lucycat,
The discharge you are having is likely from your stitches dissolving. It's okay and normal to have this.

Even if you haven't lifted anything, you can still just be sore or achy sometimes. As you begin to feel better and get more energy, it's easy to sort of overdo things. You feel better, so you do more things around the house and then maybe feel more achy and tired.

It will feel like a step forward and then a step back for a while.
Listen to your body and rest when you need to. If you feel achy, take something for it and rest more.

I only ever noticed passing one stitch. I'm sure everyone is different. Some may never see them at all.

Some (like me) have lots of discharge and for a long time. Some never have any to speak of.

You had a lot of work done in there. I'm sure you still have swelling and lots of healing going on. Rest as much as you can, especially when your body tells you it needs it.

Be sure to look at the link at the top of the page. It's one of the little pink flowers and says Hysterectomy Checkpoints. Look at the one for 3-4 week checkpoint. It may give you some helpful info.

Take care, and let us know how you're doing.

I went thru the same feeling of heaviness last week. 11 May--TVH + rectocele + perineal repair + vault prolapse repair. I found that I was sitting, standing and moving too much when I went back to work. Swelling increased, as did my discomfort. My Dr has me on ibuprofen for swelling and Tylenol for pain. Last week I needed to use Percocet again and increased the amount and frequency of lying down.

Keep listening to your body, call your Dr's nurse (tell receptionist you are one of his post-op patients so they don't just put you into voicemail), and take care of yourself. I found the nurse very helpful, hope yours will be, too.

Aloha!