help me to choose....

I am scheduled for a hysterectomy in 2 weeks (I have endometriosis and a 6cm cyst in my ovary and fibroids in my uterus) and I am very confussed about which anesthesia to go with...my dr said that he prefers for me the epidural because there is no pain for the first 24hours, there is no breathing tube, and the next day you can go home, and the recovery is much less (max.2 weeks). has anyone ever done a hysterectomy with epidural, please advice and tell me how it is, does it hurt, how is the recovery time, etc. thank you

Hi 4hisglory! I didn't have an epidural...because I wanted to be in control of my own pain management after the surgery and didn't like not having feeling in my extremeties, etc. after an epidural. If you are at all conflicted in this, please pray about it. I cannot believe they told you that your recovery time after an epidural is much less than w/out one. That doesn't seem right. Based on your case, I would assume you are having a TAH and not an TVH...which would easily give you a six week recovery time.

I'll be praying that your surgery goes well. Please keep us posted on your recovery.

I did and it was a wonderful experience. I had no PAIN--- not even a twinge while in the hospital. No breathing tube meant no sore throat for a month like I had when I had my gall bladder removed. There was absolutely no down side to the whole thing. I went home about 15 hours after surgery and it could have been 12 if the business office was a little swifter with the release papers.

I don't remember much but I do remember being on the operating table and having a nurse (a friend of a friend which made it nice) hold me tightly as I was leaning into her chest because I was trembling so much. They were very concerned about the movements and were holding me quite steady as the needle was put in. I felt nothing and remember nothing until they hit the doorway with my bed while going into my patient room. I remember nothing of being in recovery at all. They did put something in my iv right before I left the pre op area and it worked very quickly to settle me down. The trembling might have been from the cold of the operating room or just involuntary movements.

This is the way to go and I have preached it over and over. I requested this method and insisted on it because of the breathing tube issues that I have.

Go for it is my recommendation but that is just my 2 cents worth.

Kay

Hi
Is there any chance that you confused the part about going home early with some other choice?
My doc recommended the epidural for me, but the anesthesiologist said I was too anemic. Since I had two csectiosn with an epidural, I can strongly strongly recommend the epidural--the pain after the general was really intense for hours whereas I really had no significant pain after the two epidrual surgeries.

BUT I don't understand why it would affect the recovery time, that doesn't make sense to me.
I know recovery is shorter if you have laparscopic surgery or vaginal surgery than an abdominal cut--any chance that is the choice he was discussing that would mean easier recovery?
Deb

I had general anesthesia for my LSH and a breathing tube. I did not have a sore throat from the tube, a little scratchy maybe for a day or so. I had very little pain for over 24 hours after the procedure, pain pills took care of what I had when I went home. I was in the hospital for 36 hours following surgery and really my only initial discomfort was from the catheter.

I had both an epidural and general anesthesia for my TAH. The epidural had a problem - they put the catheter in too far and only my left side was numb. So, when I woke up in recovery, I had massive pain on my right side only. The nurses couldn't figure it out and kept giving me narcotics to try to kill the pain. It didn't work so they had to page the anesthesiologist. He was in another surgery so they had to wait for him to finish. He finally came and pulled the catheter out an inch or two and the right side started feeling better, but never did get numb. Then the next day when it was time to pull it out, it wouldn't come out. They kept trying to have me go into a fetal position (ouch on the belly) so they could try to pull it out. After 10 hours, it finally came out. As I'm sure you can imagine, I wasn't all that impressed with the epidural, although what happened to me is supposedly rare.

I had gereal anaesthesia for my TAH. I asked about epigural and was told no way that it would not be enough pain control for a hysterectomy. I had my surgery at 4 pm and was released to go home 3 pm next afternoon.

My only side effect was a scratchy throat that water and mints helped clear up in a day or two.

I had morphine pump the first night and that was taken off 8 am next morning. After that Vicodin and motrin alternating took care of my pain at home. Done with Vicodin in 4 days just motrin since.

That is my 2 cents worth.