Officially on the schedule

I have been lurking here since my doc originally recommended a tah back in august of 2000. Being only 32, I just wasn't ready to say goodbye to my uterus! But now, after months of more pain and bad periods, I called my doc and set a date. If approved by my insurance, May 14th will be the big day.
I am very nervous. I am afraid my husband will bring me home from the hospital and then go fishing and leave me with an almost 4 year old and a 20 mo old.
I hope i am going to feel as much better as everone tells me i might. I am in the process of losing weight. Does anyone know if the TAH will hamper that or should it be easier since i will be able to exercise now without threat of uterine pain?

Hi tmhart

I am 3 weeks post-op after having a TAH. I have 3 children and wasn't all that confident with my DH having to care for them 24/7. (Don't get me wrong...he is a fantastic dad...However, he is not used to having the children all of the time and the whole situation was stressful enough.)

I didn't put that burden on him. I took alot of time before my surgery to plan on having friends lined up to care for the boys. Some friends took them to school, picked them up from school, who would take them to basketball practice & games, had the baby all day...or just during the night. Then I made calendars of where each child would be for him and taped them to the back of the front door. I left no stone unturned.

It was tough. I had to rely on lots of friends since we have no family to help. But I think I succeded in helping my husband. All he had to worry about was visiting me at the hospital...for the most part anyway.

Good luck!

Hi tmhart, while it is true that the waiting is the worst part and that most of us feel amazingly good after our surgeries, it is still MAJOR surgery. You really have to arrange for you to rest for the majority of that initial 6 weeks.

My daughter turned 5 years the day I came home from the castle. I had lots of help, since MIL lives with us and dh took time off in between X-Mas and New Year (I had my surgery on December 14th). My daughter also surprised me: she helped, a lot.

One thing to consider is the fact that you will not be allowed to lift your child for quite a while. Please be sure that you make arrangements to have others do the lifting, if lifting is required.

As Robin pointed out, it is a good idea to enroll friends and relatives to care for young children.

Best of luck.

Hi

I have my appt next week to schedule my TAH. Does it feel good to have a plan? Right now I have so many questions and my life seems "up in the air". It is hard to think of anything else!

Know I am am sending positice thoughts your way!

Traci

I guess having a plan is good. i know when it is and i can plan around that. most of my family and friends know how my dh can be and are preparing to step in to help with the girls if necessary. I had two c-sections and i had repeated problems with my incision with the second because dh kept taking off and leaving me with the 2 year old who was being as bad as she could be because of the new baby.
I think dh may surprise me though. But if not, I will not hesitate to call someone.

Hi, Tina,
Just wanted to say hi - our surgeries are planned for the same day!
Hope your DH will surprise you and help out more than you think. It's good that you have family and friends ready to help.
My son is almost 21, so no problems with care for "little ones" with me.
Take care.
Dianne

Hi Tina,
I just wanted to address your weight loss. I am hoping that you have lost weight due to proper food choices rather than restriction of calories. Restricting calories does have a weight loss effect on u. But at some point that will end. Restriction doe not afford our bodies the nutrients required for a healthy system.
If you are eating properly then you should do great. Proper foods will actually aid in the healing process. Nourishing your body and hydrating (with purified water) the body prior to surgery is very important.
As long as you continue to nourish and hydrate you should not put the weight back on and you should continue to lose. Your body will be putting a lot of enery out to recovering from this surgery.

Don't worry about exercise for at least 6 weeks. You Dr will tell you for sure and make sure you do what he tells you. Ask him when you can start to walk. I started the day after I got home from the castle. Mind you, I only walked about 3 houses down the sidewalk and back.

Please contact me at my email listed in my signature and when you are ready take a look at my website also listed in the sig.

And YES weight loss will be easier because you should be able to exercise without the threat of uterine pain.

Blessings

Tracy, I hope you have your plan soon, whatever that plan may be.

Tina, hopefully your DH will come through for you: it is very important to have supportive family members at a time like this.

BTW, I lost a bit of weight since my hyster, even though I haven't resumed my long walks, yet. I have been walking, a little at a time, since the day I came home from my TVH, and even before then, walking the halls of the castle. Just do only what you can, and keep on listening to your body.