2+ weeks post vaginal hysterectomy - concerned that doctor used a speculum

Hello

Hi my name is Estrella. I had my hysterectomy on March 1th 2016. This surgery hasn't been easy for me. I have a lot of health issues after my surgery. My hysterectomy was vaginal. I got bladder infection so the dr sent me antibiotics. I did finished and I still feeling the same symptoms. So I called my Dr because I noticed when I pee I have like a little pink color like blood in my urine. So I went to his office and he introduced an speculum inside my vagina. Was really painfull . After he did that he told me supposed he can't do that because nothing can't go inside my vagina. After that I feel paint inside me and is worse than before. My question is. now because he introduced the speculum inside me my recuperation is going to be longer than 6 weeks? I also scare because if he wasn't supposed to do that what he did that anyway? I scare that doesn't heal inside my vagina now. Now I feel worse than before. Also what medicine is good for swelling? I dont want to take ibuprofen anymore my stomach hurts.

The pink is to be expected, I was told if you fill a pad in an hour or see bright red instead of pink, call your doctor. I am surprised he examined you as mine wouldn't even look at my perenium tissue as prefers to leave everything alone a couple of weeks and not invite pain. There are lots of great posts on here, so I settle down once a day and read posts just to learn from others' experiences.

NSAIDS like ibuprofen can irritate the stomach, so it's always recommended that you take them with food - even as little as a few soda crackers can help. Also avoid hard to digest foods, which could also aggravate the pain; that includes legumes, onions and garlic, cabbage and its relatives, cucumbers, melons, pears, and artificial sweeteners. As for your bladder infection, it's possible that the surgical antibiotics have upset the normal balance of bacteria inside your urinary tract; to restore balance, I would recommend a probiotic supplement, or regular servings of live culture yogurt, to restore balance. Best wishes for your continued recovery!

I had my first Dr appt at 2 weeks. He used a speculum so he could see my healing vaginal cuff. It hurt so bad the Dr had to tell me to relax and breathe. But I'm glad he did use the speculum because I found out I was unconsciously tightening the vaginal wall muscles, which was causing most of my pain and vaginal irritation. For the next few days, I deliberately loosened the muscles. I even walked with my legs spread wide, as a reminder to stay loose.

The exam with the speculum did not do me any harm or extend the healing time. And in my case, it actually helped. If the Dr properly sterilized the speculum and has experience using it in post op exams, you should be ok. However, if your pain gets worse, you have a fever for several days ( check your hospital discharge papers for specifics), or you bleed enough to fill more than a pad an hour, contact your doctor.

Sorry to hear you are not feeling very well. For your bladder and urinary tract try lots of cranberry juice. During surgery, your bladder gets moved around quite a bit, and with the catheter there can be some discomfort. Cranberries help a lot.

Best of luck to you.

Thank all of you for replay me. I appreciate your time and advises. Is good to feel I am not alone thrue this process. Thanks

	Quote:
Originally Posted by Estrella7 Hello Hi my name is Estrella. I had my hysterectomy on March 1th 2016. This surgery hasn't been easy for me. I have a lot of health issues after my surgery. My hysterectomy was vaginal. I got bladder infection so the dr sent me antibiotics. I did finished and I still feeling the same symptoms. So I called my Dr because I noticed when I pee I have like a little pink color like blood in my urine. So I went to his office and he introduced an speculum inside my vagina. Was really painfull . After he did that he told me supposed he can't do that because nothing can't go inside my vagina. After that I feel paint inside me and is worse than before. My question is. now because he introduced the speculum inside me my recuperation is going to be longer than 6 weeks? I also scare because if he wasn't supposed to do that what he did that anyway? I scare that doesn't heal inside my vagina now. Now I feel worse than before. Also what medicine is good for swelling? I dont want to take ibuprofen anymore my stomach hurts.

Good morning Estrella,

I am sorry to hear that you have had a difficult recovery and have had to deal with a bladder infection. Please rest assured that your doctor did not do anything wrong by using a speculum at your post-op visit. As patients we are told not to put anything inside, but a doctor is using only sterile equipment and is doing this very carefully.

It may be a regular practice of your doctor to do a speculum exam at a two week post-op appointment on all of his patients because each doctor has a different opinion as to when they want to do this. Also, and more importantly, he likely wanted to look inside to be certain the vaginal cuff was still sutured correctly and did not have any obvious signs of tears or infection. This was likely the reason because you had been fighting a bladder infection and were still reporting that you had a pink color in your urine. For many of us when we are recovering from our surgery we see blood or discharge when we pee but it is quite difficult for us to determine if it is coming from the urethra or the vagina. By conducting a speculum exam your doctor can determine where it is coming from, check your sutures in your vaginal cuff, and evaluate the vagina for infection/discharge.

Finally, please know it is quite common for us to have a speculum exam at our 2 week post-op. I have often read on this site that many women do experience this at their 2 week post-op. Of course none of us know what to expect when we go into our appointments. I personally had my post-op at 2 weeks and a day. A full exam, including a speculum exam to check the sutures on the vaginal cuff was done. For me, this post-op exam is all that I needed and the doctor said not to come back for a year or maybe two.

I wish you well and hope you have relief from this bladder infection soon.