1week post hysterectomy-Can being overweight inhibit recovery?

Hello All,

I had my laproscopic hysterectomy, removal of right ovary with 9 cm cyst, and both fallopian tubes a week ago. I am sore, swollen, gassy, tired, and bored.

I had massive fibroids that had my uterus swollen to about 16 weeks pregnant size and were pressed against my bowel and bladder. The cyst on my ovary was the need for surgery and because of the fibroids/uterus size I just went ahead and got it all out. I feel fortunate that I got to keep my other ovary at which was healthy. I am about 60 pounds overweight so the swollen belly is the pits, I have my largest clown-pant-esque sweat pants on right now and they are snug. My belly already hangs down a little so the surgery and the "pulling" sensation is bad.

I am having trouble with bowel movements, I either take too much stool softener and it's bad, or a don't take enough and I am so uncomfortable. I feel gas or whatever moving through my belly but it doesn't come out like I wish it would! I walk a little bit every day. Yesterday I even walked around the block. Drinking lots of water and eating yogurt, fruit, fiber rich food. I feel bad in the evening after walking it feels like I am over doing it. I want to feel better quicker than this, especially when my Dr said that the recovery for this surgery is 2-4 weeks. UGH. 2-4 weeks doesn't feel like enough time at all!

I am an account executive for a cosmetics company, recently moved from NC to CA so all this discovery came about because I was ill with the flu and then pneumonia in February and after a while of feeling terrible I got frustrated and started to complain about everything that was wrong- hurts, aches, problems, so my fibroids and cyst were discovered thank goodness. I am written out of work for 4 weeks because I have a demanding job than although some of my work is at a desk, it also involves lots of lifting and carrying things around- standing for long periods. I honestly don't even see how I will be able to go back to work at the end of the month. All I can say is thank goodness for insurance! I didn't have good insurance before and should have probably had this surgery a couple years ago.

After reading a lot for the posts here, it seems that all the swelling and soreness takes months to go away. I know it is early- only 1 week post op so I hope that I will get better every single day.

Hope to hear some encouragement and advise from others about the extra weight and how it may prohibit recovery, and the activity level a week out from surgery.

Thanks!

I am overweight as well and had a very quick and easy recovery. So the weight does not have to keep you down! I walked, walked and walked some more, and maintained a very active life during my recovery, while still following my restrictions. It does not have to take months for swelling/soreness to go away, although for a few people it may. I wasn't really very sore ever, but I did have swelling, which started subsiding around 4 weeks and was mostly gone around 6 weeks. I feel great!

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Originally Posted by coughy16 I am overweight as well and had a very quick and easy recovery. So the weight does not have to keep you down! I walked, walked and walked some more, and maintained a very active life during my recovery, while still following my restrictions. It does not have to take months for swelling/soreness to go away, although for a few people it may. I wasn't really very sore ever, but I did have swelling, which started subsiding around 4 weeks and was mostly gone around 6 weeks. I feel great!

You seem to be one of the lucky ones. You had little or no pain and was up and about and very active during recovery.

Some of us are not so lucky. I miss walking. I used to walk 10 km every day but after my surgeries I can't walk around very much. I have quite a bit of pain and my back gets really sore as well. It takes me weeks to be able to even step on the treadmill again and go for a very slow walk. The first op took 9weeks the second took 6 weeks and I am waiting to see with this one. I do agree walking really helps recovery but some of us need time before we can even begin.

However back to the topic I am not sure that weight has much to do with it. Some people just take longer than others no matter what their weight. I take ages and was very fit before surgery and only weigh 50kg (not sure how much that is in American)

You sound like you have been through a lot and it is only 1 week. I am now just over 5 weeks post and while I am not over it yet I am much better than I was at 1 week.

Just relax and don't stress about it. Look after yourself and enjoy the time you do have. Make preparations for when you return to work. Make sure people know you are not allowed to lift and make sure you have a comfy chair and take a pillow and heat/cool if you have to. 4 weeks is not that long and you have had major surgery. Make sure they understand.

All the best

I am in somewhat same boat as you but So far my recovery is going ok (I had to take an oxycodone pill today, I think I overdid it too much earlier when I walked up the stairs too fast to answer my ringing cell phone.... I am 5'7" and 190lbs (now 185lbs since this morning, I am following a strict veggie/fruit low-calorie anti-cancer diet) but most of my weight is right around my pelvis (always had a beer gut). I def think its harder w more weight in the middle, I have stitches in my lower belly that are taking more time to heal precisely because every time I sit on the toilet, I put pressure on those exact spots...its frustrating.

I'm also 60 pounds overweight. I don't think my weight has had any bearing on my recovery. I do believe, however, that my age (59) has slowed me down a bit. The younger one is, the faster one heals. It's going to be very important not to strain the pelvic floor, so please be careful with that lifting on your return to work. I'm about 3-1/2 weeks out from the surgery now and I think I could probably do some desk work on a part time basis if I had to.