12 weeks post op and still no stamina

At present I am 12 weeks post op from a total TAHBS&O. I have remained very tired and have had no energy since the hysterectomy. I came home from the hospital 18 pounds heavier. I could not understand the extra weight. My stomach was very swollen and painful. It remained swollen for several weeks after surgery even after taking lasix. I tried to return to work after 6 weeks because my doctor told be I could. I was not able to work more than 4 hours. My doctor ignored my complaints about the swollen stomach. He told me I was constipated and gave me a laxitive. I complained several times about the swelling and he always told me it was normal. He told me it was because I am a small person. He said his small patients complain the most. I could not understand why I didn't feel better. I am in very good health and have no other health risk. About 6 weeks ago I began to feel nausea on a daily basis. I called my doctor after two weeks of nausea and he told me to take an OTC nausea medication. I finally called my primary care physician for an appointment. He tought it might be my gall bladder and sent me for an abdominal ultrasound. My gall bladder looked fine, but my left kidney was enlarged. (hydronephrosis) I then had an IVPCT of the left kidney and found that I had blockage from the ureter. I was referred to a urologist and he thought there may be a little scar tissue and he did a cystogram and discovered than my left ureter had been transected during surgery and tied off. After further testing, I learned that my left kidney was functioning at 13.7 percent of a normal 50 percent. I was told that it is very difficult to save a kidney that functions at less than 15 percent. I currently have a percutaneous nephrostomy tube in my back to drain the urine from my obstructed kidney. I will return for a renal scan in hopes that the function improves and if so schedule a re implantation of the left ureter into the bladder. Has anyone had this surgery? I am anxious and have heard that the bladder spasms are terrible after this surgery. Also, the common complaint of women with ureter damage seems to be a swollen stomach. Please push your doctor if you have this symptom.

Hello,

I am so sorry to hear of your troubles. Since i have not experienced what you ar going through, I don't have anything to offer in terms of advice. Just hang in there and know that if you take it slow, do your research and push you DR's everything will get better.

I will be praying for you.

I'm sorry you are going thru this! Your Doctor sounds like an Idiot!!!Wow- I'm soo surprised to read about someone that has the same thing as I do!!! I was told that I was born this way though and in me it was not discovered until my CT Scan that I had to have prior to my hysterectomy. So beside my cervical cancer I now had to worry about that as well. After my hyster I got to have a renogram and another CT Scan,my left kidney tested at 28%,right one is normal. However when I went to see a Urologist he told me that my kidney function was good overall and that my kidney draining function is at 116 which is normal. He told me that I could have a so called Pyloplasty ( I think that's what it's called) Surgery,where they remove the blockage,but so far I have decided not to do anyhing at least for now. I've read that as long as you have one normal kidney that it takes over for the other one. I believe that a lot of times Doctors are too quick to do surgery!! Other than the usual swelly belly from the hyster I have not had any kidney related symptoms. I know exactly what you must be going thru-you're totally scared and angry too and you don't want to have surgery already again! If you dont mind me asking:how did it feel to have that tube put in and how does it feel to have it? The reason that I'm asking is because my Urologist had mentioned this to me too.I'm not sure if Pyloplasty and the Surgery you're supposed to have are the same thing,sorry! The bladder spasms after sound horrible! I'm really looking forward to hearing back from you! I even joined a Yahoo Group on kidney support in hopes of finding someone with UPJ Obstruction but so far no luck.Talk to you soon, Annette. Sorry that I could not be of any more help to you!

Thanks for writing Annette, The procedure to put the tube is called percutaneous nephrostomy. Which is a tube that goes into the pelvis of the kidney to help drain when there is blockage downstream from the kidney. It drains into a bag that I have to carry everywhere with me. The procedure was done under conscious sedation and performed by a interventional radiologist. The procedure was somewhat painful. I had a lot of pain for the first 2 - 3 days, but it has gotten better. There were able to put a small tube in my back. Sometimes the tube is larger and would be more painful. I feel pain when i move too much or breath deeply. I cannot lay on my back or left side. I have to lean over on my right side when sitting in a chair. I have a large dressing on the tube site and have to put a pillow behind the right side of my back if I ride in a car. I have to sleep on my right side all night. This results in pain in my right hip. I sometimes get up and sit in the relciner in the early morning hours. In about 1 -2 weeks I will have a major surgery where my ureter will be re implanted into my left kidney if my kidney function improves. My left kidney was functioning at 13.7 percent and my right kidney was functioning at 86.3 percent for a total of 100 percent. I was told that the two kidneys together should function at 100 percent. They each give 50 percent. When one kidney shuts down the other picks up the slack. It sounds like you problem is different from my problem. Good Luck and thanks for writing.

This makes me so angry. I could say these are men doing a female only operation so they don't know what we are feeling. But my Dr was a female and she 10 weeks later still says I don't have swelly belly. My bestfriend/nurse says anyone with half a brain would know when you open up the human body and air gets in there will be swelling. I am going for a colon test now cause the Dr said so. Who knows what will happen. I call the Dr and she rushes me off the phone. I will pray for you sister.

Janet