Healing time

I'm scheduled for a vaginal hysterectomy, a&p repair, and tot sling on the 11th. I have 3 small kids, 3yrs, 2yrs, and 9 months, and I'm just wondering when to expect to be able to go back to my mom duties again. I had my pre-op today and I asked the dr several times about the recovery and all he kept saying was to just take it easy. He didn't give me any information at all. My mom is coming to stay with us to help me out and I just need to let her know how long she can expect to be here. Will I be on bedrest? What will I be allowed or not allowed to do? When will it be safe to life my 20lb 9 month old again? I know everyone is different but I just need rough estimates so I know what to expect. Thanks!

I had a RALSH, so my recovery is very different, but I know many women were not allowed to lift for at least 6 weeks, and I imagine with your repairs and such, it'll be at least that long. The weight limit was 10lbs. Same time frame for vacuuming, sweeping, etc.

Did your doc give you any post-op paperwork with instructions? Did you explain your needing to know for your post-op help arrangements? Ask the nurses in the practice--my doc's assistant was VERY helpful (and more cautious than my doc). Be the squeeky wheel so you get your questions answered

slide -

Check out the hysterectomy checkpoints for some general guidelines but as mentioned with your additonal work it could be longer. A friend had similar surgery over the summer and it was at least 8 to 12 weeks before her Dr. would allow her to lift 20lbs. She hs some max. lifting restrictions for life so that the rectocele and cystocels don't recur. She had her hyster due to uterine prolapse.

I can't tell you about the bedrest, hopefully a member with a similar surgery will be along to give you some input.



G.

That's why I'm having mine too (uterine prolapse). I explained to the dr why I needed to know but he wasn't interested in giving me a straight answer. Honestly I don't really like the guy but he is the only one in my ob's office who does this type of surgery. I wasn't given any paperwork regarding post op. Honestly right now I feel like I'm going into this totally blind. I'm just not sure what to expect.

slide -

I know your surgery is close but if you have concerns about your doctor and not knowing what to expect can you get a 2nd opinion? Possibly with a uro-gynecologist? I know that is the type of Dr. that did my friend's surgery. You really need to know what to expect.

G.

I've had several opinions but this is the only dr under my insurance in my area who does the TOT sling so I'm kinda stuck. I did call his nurses assistant this morning and she was much more helpful. She said no doing anything but light walking for 2 weeks. No driving or riding in a car for 3 weeks. No lifting anything for 4 weeks. No sex for at least 6 weeks. And no lifting more than 15lbs for 12 weeks after the initial 4 weeks. Does all that sound about right?

Hi Slide,
My surgery was almost the same as yours, except that a slightly different procedure was used for my bladder - TVT-O. I'm very sorry to hear that your surgeon is being relatively unhelpful and that he is the best option for your insurance. It sounds as if you are asking for the bare truth because you'll need it to manage your 3 children. I have 3 also, but I managed to put my surgery off till no one needed lifting anymore. My parents stayed with us for 10 days from just before my surgery to a week or so after. My husband took 3 weeks off work to take the load of the family up to the end of week 4. Here is a summary of my recovery:

week1 -
Complete bed rest with a little bit of walking
Slept several times per day
Catheter still in place for the first few days
Bowel eventually started working
Cramping from bowel and bladder as they come back to life
Body sore and creaky
On pain medication
Woozy head from anaesthetic, and pain meds
Read my novel twice because I had absolutely NO memory of parts of it - Enjoyed it both times, so that was a bonus!

Week 2-3
Focus was on re-establishing regular bowel and bladder function
Used hot packs a lot for cramping
Transitioned to non-prescription pain meds
Lots of time in bed with a big sleep every day
Couldn't sit for too long as it put all my weight on the repairs
Gentle walking several times a day
Head still woozy

Week 4-5
All the above were a little bit better
Began to do some very light household chores - folding and sorting clothes, cooking whole meals. I felt the effort of lifting even a couple of pounds on my internal repairs.
Extended the walking regime
Head better but still foggy
On occasional pain meds
Sleeping every day AND going to bed early
Began to spend several hours per day on work that I could do at home.

Week 5-6
Quite a lot better, but far from 'as good as new'
Had the follow-up appointment with my urogyn who was pleased with the healing, cleared me to build-up my exercise and said I was ready for sex. DH and I weren't - we left that several more weeks.
Still sleeping every day and rationing my sitting at the computer time.

Week 6-8
I still was far from normal so I organised a reduced load at work for the remainder of the year and we rallied help so that I didn't have to return to maternal duties like taking kids to school, shopping, etc.
Still sleeping every day.
Began to feel the effects of the absence of oestrogen, as my ovaries had gone on holiday post-op, so in many ways I felt worse in this fortnight than in the previous one.

Since then, Its been slow steady progress back to normal. It is 6 months and I feel mostly over it, but I've been working actively on that recovery. This is just one story, so it may not be the best match for you. You can search the website for more. Use the type of surgery in the little search box on the top right of the page. You might get a few more responses by posting on the Pelvic Floor and Bladder Issues forum.

My surgeon recommends a lifetime lifting restriction of 22-30 lbs, to protect the repairs. I've still lifted nothing like that. Maybe 12- 15?? I've been seeing a physiotherapist who is a pelvic floor expert to ensure I make the best recovery I can, as I'm a fit active person. She is able to give me broader lifting guidelines now and has said she would have been able to make a better judgement if she'd been able to assess me before my surgery.

Good luck with your information gathering. I'm happy to answer any questions you might have.

J

Omgosh! Thank you SO much for all that information!! Very very helpful! Idealy I would love to put it off a few years so the kids are older but that just isn't possible. I am also very active and I'm only 29 years old so it's going to be very hard for me to slow down. I'm really scared about damaging the sling though. I was told this is a one time only deal and if it fails then I can't have another repair. I've had a few surgeries in the past but nothing has ever been as scary as this one.

There aren't many women who would find it useful Slide, but I suspected you might be one of them. You're almost 20 years younger than me, but I was told I'm relatively young to have these repairs. My understanding is that the younger you are, the better you'll manage the surgery itself and the healing, but the greater will be the risk that you will break down the repair - so much longer to do it I guess. I hope it all goes well for you.
J