A DH Funny!

DH and I had our annual Christmas party last evening. We entertained 50 of our friends, family and neighbors. We were exhausted this morning to say the least. Last night during the party, I felt something down below and yes, low and behold, the flood gates opened again! I've been bleeding off and on since mid November and I guess the Provera isn't working any longer as my dr hoped it would. I know I've been on my feet way too much (I did all of the cooking, baking, preparing myself), but luckily I caught it in time and suffered no embarrasment.

Back to the funny part.. this morning as DH and I were getting dressed, he asked me if I was going to iron today. I told him no, I wasn't doing anything today but taking it easy. I told him that he was more than welcome to get the old iron out and iron away! I went on to say that he needed to learn because in a few weeks, there will be no ironing for me for awhile.....can you guess what he said? He said..........."Why, your arms won't be broke!" I couldn't help but laugh and told him that I won't be doing ANYTHING for awhile and he said that he didn't realize that ironing would be something I couldn't do right away. MEN, they really don't get it. My DH has a lot to learn.

One of my neighbors has been a great support to me as she had a hyst in September. They only took her uterus and left the cervix. She had the LEEP procedure and her dr gouged an artery. She's really had a tough time of it and is just starting to feel better now. She joked with my DH last night, as did her DH, and told him that she'll hold "Hyst Camp" at her house and he's welcome any time to learn the ropes. I think she and her DH are going to be our greatest support as they've been thru it.

I just wanted to share...I thought it may give some of you a chuckle.

Happy Holidays!
Aimster

That's funny. I remember when I first told my dh about the surgery. He knew I had gone to a gynecologist and that I had the fun of filling my bladder for an ultrasound, but I really hadn't gone into any great detail. We went out to dinner, and I told him the details (how big my uterus was, what was going to be done, etc.) and he said, "OK, so you'll be down for a week or 10 days, right?" And I said, "No, 6-8 weeks." He just didn't believe me.

So a week or so later, when I met with a surgeon (this is a huge hospital/clinic system, so I saw probably 12-15 doctors altogether), I repeated what my husband had said to him. It was so funny. This very intense Latino doctor, who had been typing up a storm the whole time I was talking, did a complete double-take, looked at me, and said, "No. The healing time is 6-8 weeks." It was priceless.

Anyhoo, my dh was still kind of poo-poohing the whole surgery experience, and then a few weeks later, he said, "I wonder if your daughter could come stay with us while you're out to help with "M" (the 4-year-old) and cook for you." I asked if he had been reading my books, and he said, "I can use the computer, too." And I never heard another word about how "easy" it was going to be.

Men.

Have my own dh funny to add to this thread. This week while in the hospital my back was really hurting. Dh was visiting and asking why in the world my back would hurt. I looked at him and said honey, ligaments and nerves were cut. He looked at me like yea right. Well the doc comes in and confirms that there are 5 ligaments holding the uterus. Dh turned a bit green.

I asked when the doc left, "Honey, what did you think that the uterus just floated in there by itself?" LOL

It is frustrating how little people in general understand the invasive nature of this surgery. DH did a lot of research before my surgery and thought he was pretty knowledgeable about the whole thing.

Today he told me that he really hadn't believed that it would take me 6 - 8 weeks to recover. He just couldn't imagine that it could take me longer to heal from this surgery than it did my dad to heal from open heart surgery. He said "I should have gone to your presurgery appointments with you. Maybe I would have had a better understanding of what was going to happen. I just thought this would be like having an appendectomy."

The good news is that he has totally embraced vacuuming, laundry, ironing, and unloading the dishwasher. He is doing all the shopping, cooking all our meals, and trying to keep me entertained - which he really doesn't have to do. Watching him do the housework is entertainment enough!!

I do think bootcamp for families would be a good thing. I feel a little sorry for DH that he was so unprepared.

A lot of people don't believe that this really is major surgery until they've gone through it. One evening before my tvh I had my dh look at the pelvic.com website to show him what they were going to do. That really helps to put things in perspective.

I don't think people intentionally mean to underestimate the recovery time, it's just that they really have no clue. This isn't like removing a splinter from your finger. This is major stuff!

Yes, it does take weeks to recover and we should use every day allowed. It's nice to have someone who's gone through it to offer the support you need....like Hystersisters!!!



Blessings,
Judy

My DH seemed to understand from the beginning that this was major surgery. He asked a lot questions at pre-op too. But what really made it sink in for him was when the doctor went out to talk to him after my LSH. He showed my DH photos of my uterus and explained where he cut, etc. Then the doctor said, "Your wife is going to feel pretty weak for a while." For some reason, that one sentence really hit home with DH.

He's been absolutely wonderful, but I knew he would be.......