SAH Excellent recovery

To all of you worrying pre op:

I am 4 1/2 weeks post op. Please do not move this post to the post-op board as it is directed to the pre-op group.

My recovery has been excellent. I stayed at the hospital only 2 days (insurance had approved 6) and my recovery has been trouble free.

At my two week post op appt, my GYN released me to drive and to resume exercise. I have been off pain meds since day 5. I take daily walks with my dog Scout (my screen name) and have been doing a modified version of my workout routine. This means shorter, slower walks on the treadmill and modified yoga so I don't stress abdominal muscles.

I just want to post this because I have been using this site since last year and it really provides a lot of information. Also, a lot of the posts that I read were from people experiencing tons of problems post op. This scared me so much that I considered putting off the surgery. I wanted to post this so all of you waiting for your surgery date will realize that you CAN have a great and uneventful recovery...Truly, it is possible.

My best advice is this: if you workout, continue to do so up until surgery. My doctor is convinced that my physical fitness has aided my recovery.

Wishing everyone a trouble free recovery. Waiting is truly the worst part.

Thanks for the encouraging words....I need as much of that now as I can get! It means alot that you care enough about us pre-op patients to tell us that it will all be okay.

I'm so glad you're doing well!

I agree that it's important to try to keep a sense of perspective about things. I considered my recovery to be pretty "normal" -- in other words, it was as I expected. Most ladies have their surgeries and do very, very well. The post-op board is there mostly for ladies who are experiencing difficulties and who need support. It's vital that all of us -- whether we have difficulties post-op or not -- are there to continue to give support after our operations.

For a little while, I found I had to stop visiting HysterSisters quite so often during my pre-op period because I was almost compulsively reading the Hyst-Stories!!! (I almost needed a 12-step group at one time, I think ) I didn't get all worried about complications, because I knew that the chances of those things happening were fairly remote. But there was something about reading about all of the castle experiences that was very comforting for me.

While it is important for l-i-w understand all that can go wrong, obesssing about complications is not a good thing. If l-i-w find that they can't stop thinking about what could go wrong, it may be a good time to take a little break from HysterSisters or maybe talk to their doctor to get more information. It's always difficult to get balance -- but it's important to see what can happen so that in the event you do have a complication you're not completely blindsided by the problem.

Again, I'm glad your recovery is going well so far! It sounds like you're taking good care of yourself and following your doctor's guidelines, and that's what it's all about at this stage. I also agree that getting yourself into the best physical shape possible (within your capabilities, of course) is a good way to prepare for surgery! It's not a guarantee, of course, but it certainly helps.

I hope you'll be posting your Hyst-Story soon, as I still read them every week........ naturally.