Some Basic Questions

Hello friends, I meet with my doc./surgeon this coming Thursday in preparation for my May 19th hysterectomy (abdominal--large fibroid). I'm sure I'll be told all of this, but I want to know NOW!
1.) What is the time restriction for driving?
2.) Are my bowels going to be "out of whack" for a while?
3.) If yes to above, what is it that screws up the bowels?
4.) I'm a total stomach sleeper . . guess that's out of the question for a while?
5.) How long will I be totally "down" and dependent on my husband for everything? Not that this is a BAD thing . . . but I just want a time frame!

I know I have more questions, but I can't think of them right now. Thanks!

Ok, my surgery is Wed (11th) so haven't gone through it but from what I have been told from all my pre-op appts....

No driving for 2 weeks
Bowels get messed up just from all the drugs, pain meds, anesthesia, etc.. And from what I hear they won't discharge you until you pass gas &/or have a bowel movement to make sure it wakes back up & works.
If your having abdominal surgery - yeah I would say you aren't gonna be too comfortable sleeping on your stomach! LOL
Not sure on #5 - but I am making my hubby take the 2 weeks off.. if I can't drive I can't run our daughter to school or practices or games.

Hope that helps - I won't & don't have ALL the answers.. but hope it helps.

My gyn cleared me to drive at 10 days, but I felt much safer at 15 days. She has known me for over 20 years and cleared me early for two reasons: DH is blind and she knew how hard it would be for me to be dependent on friends and public transportation, and because she knew that I would limit distance and duration.

I didn't have a lot of gas or constipation. My gyn does not require a bowel movement before leaving the hospital because that can take 2 or 3 days for some women.

I normally don't sleep on my stomach, but I woke up that way sometime during week 6. It was definitely uncomfortable because of the surgery (daVinci, so I would expect abdominal to be even more of a challenge).

Trying to estimate initial downtime is really hard because there are so many variables. Layout of your home, exactly what is done during the surgery, etc. Your gyn can give you some idea of what to expect, but even that isn't perfect. Even with abdominal surgery, some women report having very little pain. At the other extreme, some have significant pain for several weeks. 2 weeks seems like a reasonable guess. My daVinci surgery was on a Friday and I sent DH back to work on Monday. I don't think that's the norm, however. I just wanted to sleep. The bathroom was close, and I could climb stairs as soon as I came home from the hospital. My pain was well managed with ibuprofen, so I wasn't worried about doing something stupid because I was fuzzy-minded from a narcotic.

Hi!

For me, the restriction on driving was technically no driving while on narcotic pain meds. But in reality, the said to avoid any driving until I felt "well enough". I didn't understand what that meant until it was actually upon me. For the first few weeks, I just didn't want to sit up and pay attention as much as required to drive! I didn't drive until about 3 weeks post-op.

My bowels were rather messed up for a while. Part of this is the narcotic pain meds, but I was taking stool softeners to counteract this effect somewhat. Part of it was from the anesthesia, which just slows down the system overall. It was a few weeks before things were back to normal.

I couldn't even lie down on my back (much less my tummy) for a few weeks. I actually slept sitting up on the couch with pillows all around me for a while. I was quite a sight, I'm sure.

I could have been home by myself after a week post-op. Now, this truly meant "by myself". I couldn't have cared for anyone else, including any pets. That would have been another several weeks, because I just wasn't fast on my feet and I was still very uncomfortable.

I was told two weeks on the driving

As to the bowels gas x will be your friend. Alot of people had constipation issues I went the other way and truthfully I not sure what was worse.

I am a total stomache sleeper (4wks post op) and just now getting ok with it. I bought two body pillows put one on each side of me. It kept me from rolling onto my belly and its was nice to prop on leg on to and sorta side/belly sleep. Also between the knees, or under the knees when on your back.

As to Hubby just needed him for driving errand and carrying things but was nice to have him catter to me the first few days, then I started sending him out n bout because hes a restless person and I couldnt sleep with him home.

Goodluck!