I'm freaking out need help from others who has already walked this mile ahead of me.

Don't know if this is in the right place or not but since i'm waiting to have my surgery which is the 17th of may. can any body give me an idea of what to except when i wake up from this??

I Have spent hours reading this boards and found a lot of answers to my question and even found some answer to this question too but still want more answer if i can get them.
i have gotten me a s. gown for the surgery since i read it would help me get out of bed easier because i can slide more with it. i think i understand how to get up.

i know i'm going to have to have a cath for 24 hrs after the surgery.
I also know i will be made to walk before i can come home from this surgery too.
Does the hosp. have to be made to make sure that my pain level is taking care of on the level it needs to be.
see i take perocets 10.325 daily due to IC pain. so i know i'm going to need something stronger to help me with this pain. for what i understand this is very painful surgery. is that right?
a lot of the stronger medcine however stops me from peeing. i'm worried that the gyn want control my pain the way he should even tho he knows i have a lot of reaction to medicine i can't take.
he also knows the pain medicine i take on a daily base. i'm just scared because he hasn't dealth a lot with ic pat. *pain pat* that he will be able to control my pain with all the reaction i have.
i'm scared to dealth.
please help me face my fears. I have already spoken to the gyn. My uro will not be there who controls my pain for this surgery another uro is having to take his place because my uro has to be in the office that day.
I did ask my uro to control my pain because he knows me better then any other doctor but he said he can't this time because this isn't his call.
i feel like i'm in a mess. I wanted to put the surgery off until my uro could help with the surgery but since this is a cancer scare he doesn't want me to put it off a min longer.

another question. my gyn wanted to give me a total hy. but i wanted to keep my ov. since i'm only 30 there only takeing out my urturs sp? sorry my spelling isn't to great hope you can make out what i'm trying to say.
if it is my crvics sp? is where the cancer scare is at why are they not taking them?
someone please help me as time is growing near and i'm freaking out.
thank you
dixiewildfire.

I had a TLH/BSO 8 1/2 weeks ago. My surgery was about 3 hours long and everything was removed. I'm over 50 years old so elected to remove everything.

I had a cath but it was removed soon after leaving the recovery room. The pain was minimal; I was able to get up and go to the bathroom with very little assistance. I left the "castle" at 7:30 the same night. Once at home, I took pain pills at night. Found I needed the pain pills in order to get into bed (my bed is 30" off the ground) and get comfortable for the night. I didn't need the pills after the first week or so.

I felt stronger every day and started to feel almost back to normal at about 4 1/2 to 5 weeks and back to work full-time without any problems at 6 weeks.

This was my experience, but I didn't have any problems prior to my surgery (surgery due to fibroids that were growing; discovered in August, 2004) and everyone is different.

I hope I have eased your mind a little. Best Wishes to you, heal well. Remember, you have only one chance to heal well, so take things slow and easy after your surgery.

I will try to answer as many of your questions as I can, and leave the others for some other sisters to answer.

The nurses will help you figure out how to get out of bed without using your abdominals - tummy muscles. They will show you how to roll and use your arms to pull up.

Yes, you will have to walk before you go home. Walking will help you keep your bowels moving, and help you pass gas, too.

Everyone's pain reaction is different. It took me a couple days to go through the first allotment of pain pump meds. When I used that up, it was time to take me off the IV, so I switched to oral meds. It took a long time before I needed anything that way, too. If you are in pain, just tell your nurses, they will make sure your docs are taking care of your pain. Something else to keep in mind is that an ice pack across your tummy can help keep the pain down, too. No reason you can' t ask your nurse or the doc to let you give it a try - because that won't interact with other meds or cause your body to react, either.

You may want to check the terminology of what surgery is being performed. A "Total" means that your uterus and cervix are being removed. BSO or Bilateral Salpingo Oophorectomy would mean your ovaries were being removed. LSO or RSO would be either the left or right ovary being removed. If your cervix were not being removed your surgery would be either "SVH" or "SAH", for instance.

So, my best guess here is that if you are being operated on because of suspected cervical cancer, you are havng a TAH or TVH, which means your cervix is being removed.

Please call your doctor's office Monday morning and get your questions answered. You need the peace of mind and understanding of what will be happening.

Bless your heart!! I too have IC, although my case must not be as severe as yours. I don't have to take medicine as strong as percocet. I do sometimes take Lortab for it, especially when I have my period. My URO doesn't like to treat it with pain medicine too much. Do you take Elmiron to repair your bladder? It is usually given to all IC patients. Have you ever had any of the bladder treatments where they put the medicine right in to your baldder. I haven't had to have them but my daughter's case of IC is worse than mine and she has the treatments done. She says they help a lot. Maybe you could ask your URO about them and maybe you could have one or two treatments before your surgery date. I didn't see when that was. I did read somewhere that after the surgery some people's IC flares up and I haven't been good about taking my Elmiron lately. I've been sick for a awhile and when I have to take too many things, I always leave something out. Usually the Elmiron night dose. My URO said that alot of people will start to feel better and take themselves off the medicine and then things will get worse again. I told my gyn that I have IC, because he didn't know since I was just diagnosed in December. I told him when I went for the problems and found out I have a fibroid and need a hysterectomy. He told me that a his office they can put the Elmiron in directly in the baldder there if I ever need it. I don't think that is the same thing put in it at the URO, but I am not sure. Hope some of this helps! Good luck to you and I hope everything goes well.

chaychay4
elimron is the first normal medicine gave to people with IC but i can't take it so i do the heparin and marcaine installments instead heparin is a stronger form of elimron but doens't have to go threw the stomach so no side effects. my IC is Chornic. I do daily heparin and marcaine treatements at home sometimes up to four times a day for pain. its been a god sent.

between dealing with IC and having to have this surgery i'm totally freaked out and scared. I don't trust this gyn but my uro told me to because he is the best gyn when it comes to dealing with ic pat. (i have a trust issue when it comes to doctor) it takes me a long time to trust a doctor but yet i'm told with the cancer scare i dont' have time to play around with this.
Oh boy. oh boy oh boy i believe the stress from worriing about this surgery is making my IC wrose.

two days and counting please please please everyone pray for me and please say something to calm me down for i lose my mind PLEASE I BEG YOU HELP ME I'M SO SO SCARED!!!!!!!!!

Dixie.
Freaking out is only going to make things worse for you.
You need to really get a grip and take some deep breathes and tell yourself that you have gotton through alot of hard times already in your life...and here you are.
You are okay.
This is one more bump in the road.
You can go over it.
It is just a bump.

The doctors are expert at pain control after surgery.
If for some reason you are not getting good pain relief ask for dilaudid.
It is an alternate to morphine and often used for folks when morphine isn't enough.
Have faith in yourself that you can do this.
Keep breathing.

Keep believing.

Let us know how it goes.

I don't know what IC pain means. But I had a TAH and when I woke up I was in a lot of pain. They kept asking me what number on a scale from 1-10. They were very concerned with keeping me comfortable. I had a morphine pump and they kept adjusting it for me. When I was back in my room there was someone from a pain management staff that checked on me a couple times a day to assess my pain level. They adjusted my meds when necessary. Every nurse that came in also asked me about my pain. Pain management was a major deal. They did everything possible to keep me comfortable. My surgery was around 1 PM on thursday and I would say the first 24 hours my pain level was very high. But I have no complaints on how they helped me. By Friday afternoon I was ready to turn off the morphine pump and change to oral meds.

My catheter was removed about 9 am on Friday morning. I hated to see it go, it was my best friend. They got me out of bed shortly after and I was able to pee with no trouble. The first time up was a little painful but I was able to stand upright right away. Everything was uphill after that. By Saturday morning I was feeling and I still had pain but it was well controlled. I was able to go home later in the afternoon. Getting in and out of bed was the hardest thing for me. And then getting comfortable once I got there.

I must say the first week post-op went by very quickly. I still can't believe it's been 2 and a half weeks. The time before surgery seem to last forever. Try to remember that this surgery has been done millions of times. The doctors and everyone in the hospital are experts at taking care of you. They've seen just about everything. Don't hesitate to tell everyone how you feel. They are all there to help you and get you through it. It will be over before you know it.

I can't take morphine that is one of the medicine i have bad reaction to. morphine makes me feel like there is a million bees stinging the heck out of my skin where the shot went in at. Morphine also makes me stop peeing and with IC you when you have to go you have to go lol no ifs and or butts about it. or you will be changing your clothes.

is this medicine the same as morphine or is it diff? if it doesn't have morphine or no type of aprian in it i may be able to use it. with me taking perocets and the strong amount of dose i take it scares me they want be able to get it under control, however you are right i have been threw many many bumbs in the road in my pass 30 years i have had many surgeries three major ones but they where all when i was younger. I honestly believe a child can stand more pain then adults can.
i had to bladder surgery before age one. then one when i was nine years old.
then the rest have been minor but they been a lot of them.
I truly don't know what i'm more scared of. the doctor who doesn't listen to me the reason i say this is because after my pap i told him he had to give me an anti. or i would get an infection he didn't believe me then i ended up a week later having to have iv treatments anti. after a test in the office i ask him yet again for an anti. what happen i had to take shots for seven days in the hips. my uro has talked with him. (so he told me) but still he hasn't listen to me yet.
so if he isn't listening to me about something as minor as this that could be provented if he would had listen is he going to listen to me about my pain level? he hasn't never treated me for pain before. or am i scared because this is kind of a new doctor to me. or am i scared because the way this same *castle* has treated me in the pass?
i think i'm over reaction but i can't stop my fears from running away with me. on my papers it says i may take a bladder treatment before i go in for a.m surgery and a perocets for my pain with a sip of water. I guess i need to call and as if i can take a nerve pill too.
scared worried and totally freaking out.

dixiewildfire.

P.S
Thanks ladies for coming to my aide and trying to help me. I have read many things on this board that has helped me already many of my question has already been answered.

oh i looked at my papers today and this is the surgery i'm having.
hysterectomy vaginal assisted laparoscopic, cysto, preop catheters.
does that mean there going to put the cath in me before i'm a sleep??

They can put other things in the pain pump besides morphine. They will work with you and keep you as comfortable as possible. Pre-op catheter might just mean the IV. they don't put the catheter in your bladder until you are sleeping. I didn't even feel it when I woke up and barely felt it when they took it out.

that is good to know that i will be a sleep before the cath is in because an ic bladder can't stand things like that ic stand for intersistal cystitis. i also have hunner uclers on my bladder. i have pain 24/7 due to this disease. and there hopeing that this hy. will also help my ic bladder due to i get a ture uti the week before my period and the week of my peroid. my peroids are so painful. I had the leep and lap done about eight weeks ago what lead up to that was my pap came back i had modern py. and then they did the cone by. it didn't come back well either. then we went to the o.r that didn't look to good either. i have a lot of scar tissue at first he said he was sure we would have to do it the old fashion way but when i went to sign paper he had it down to cut me in four spots on my lower part of my tummy then take it out of my private area.
i hope that makes sinces thanks for helping calm me down a bit tonight.

trust me tomorrow night i will need you all!! Tuesday is the day. 17th