hello

Hi all,
My name is kellie, 36 y.o. mother of 2. I'm having a hysterectomy on Jan 17th. At this point they're taking just my uterus. If the ovaries look good they'll leave them. I'm a bit nervous. I have no idea what to expect afterwards and what is a realistic recovery time? Any feedback would be totally appreciated.
Thanks,
K

Hi ((( Kellie ))) welcome to Hystersisters, a great place to get hyst related info and share experiences. What to expect and recovery time will depend a lot on what type of hyst you'll having and what all is done during your surgery. The normal recovery time varies between 6 - 8 weeks. Abdominal surgery can take a little longer to recover from than vaginal. Your dr should be able to advise you on what to expect. He/she should give you instructions on what is allowed and not allowed for your recovery and when you can start resuming normal activities.

You can find a lot of helpful hints here in the Checkpoints There are both pre and post op articles there that can help you.

Please feel free to ask any questions that you may have. The ladies here are wonderful with sharing.

Best wishes.

S

Best Wishes to you Kellie!!! I am going in for my TAH on Jan. 12th and getting very nervous, but this site has helped me feel MUCH better about things, and I am much more aware of what to do, expect, etc....just keep reading, and asking questions, the ladies here are awesome and can help you in a million ways!!!! Things get answered here that you don't even think to ask the Dr.!!!! Best of luck to you on your journey!!!!!

thanks for the words of encouragement. i don't know what all the letters mean (tah, etc)i'll figure all that out eventually! i've read some of the posts here.. i just totally don't know where to begin w/all this. i feel grossly unprepared. I have a 4 year old and a 2 year old and i work full time as well.. my husband is a good one.. but he's never had to take care of the family/house full time. i know that once it's over i'll be free from the years of uterine drama that i've had to endure.. but it's getting to the day and getting it over with. my nerves aren't shot.. yet.

Hello Kelally! I totally understand what you mean about "not prepared" But I will tell you, that this website will help you answers alot of your questions as it did mine ! TAH BSO....if u look under "hysterectomy options" that will explain the letters and what they mean !!! All the best to you !

Hi Kelally,
I also had a tah (trans abdominal hysterectomy) just 4 and 1/2 weeks ago, 12/7/05. I also had a perenneal repair. I didn't know what to expect. I like you, work full time and have a ten year old at home. I was worried about my husband not being able to keep things up. He's great, but I knew he really didn't understand everything I did. Needless to say, it was an awakening for him. He now understands why I say grocery shopping is such a job. He also did a good job getting a few meals prepared, doing laundry and keeping the house picked up, but he didn't do any serious cleaning, ie, bathrooms, mopping etc. Thankfully we had a few good friends bring meals over the first week--if anyone offers to do this, put them on the schedule, it will be a big help to you. The biggest thing I can tell you is "Be a princess". Don't worry about your house work, it will be waiting for you when you are better. This site is great and you will get some really great information from here.

My doctor is wonderful, but he is a man, and really didn't tell me the do's and don'ts (other than take it easy and don't have sex). Of course I didn't know which questions to ask, so I really didn't ask a lot. I am not planning on vacuuming until my six week point-even though doctor said I could exercise and do anything (except sex) that didn't cause pain. Husband and son will continue to do vacuuming. 10 year old goes to grocery store and pushes cart for me, and brings groceries in.

I think I did remarkably well--but part of that is mindset and your goals. I took it way easy for first two weeks. All I really did was shower and fix myself something to eat and went back to bed or couch. My doctor did tell me to use a heating pad and that has really helped a lot. At three weeks I began massaging my scar with vaseline. This has helped reduce appearance of scar and scar tissue. You should ask your doctor before you do these things though.

Have goals, but don't expect too much, too soon. Just taking a shower the first few weeks will wear you completely out. The good news is when you do feel human (probably around day 13 or 14) your strength will improve and you will feel better with each passing day.

I returned to work on day 20, but I have a desk job and I was allowed to wear sweat pants, and I only worked six hours a day for the first week. I just put on jeans for the first time two days ago, but they were a size to big, so I am still not wearing anthing too tight. Oh yeah, check with your doc, but another thing that has really helped me is the support panties. You can get them at Wal-mart for about $9.00 a pair, I like the soft cotton ones.

You will wonder the first 2-3 weeks if the surgery and down time was worth it, but around week 4 you will start feeling much better and be more optomistic. Good Luck!
Kell28584

I had a TVH(total vag. hyster.), but kept my ovaries.My doc. told me to take 8 wks. out, only because my job is so physical.I took the full 8 wks. and still felt it wasn't enough.You'll have good days & bad days.Just remember to take it easy on your good days.It's really easy to over do it when your feeling so good.I made that mistake & ended up bed ridden for a few days.Just listen to whatever your doc. says so you can heal right the FIRST time!