Da Vinci

I am scheduled to have a total hysterectomy on Dec 19th due to uterine prolapse. I am also going to have my left ovary removed (my right was removed about 6 years ago).
I must admit, I am starting to get nervous. I have had the surgery scheduled for about the 7 weeks and have worked myself to death to "prepare". I am a hair stylist (work from home), a full time college student and a single mom of 2 kids. I am trying to wrap up finals by Tuesday of next week (the 13th), get my clients in Tuesday, Wed, and Thurs. My preop appointment is Friday morning and then I hope to finish my Christmas shopping.I will have the house clean Sat and be ready to go to the hospital on Monday morning. The past 7 weeks have flown by and I am afraid I am not going to get everything finished. My parents live 4 houses down from me so that will be a blessing.

I am hoping to return back to work right after the New year which will give me 2 weeks off. Since my job requires standing for extended periods of time and some lifting Im not sure how that will work,does anyone have experience with that? Also, Spring semester starts 4 weeks post op. I hope to be back in full swing by then.
I am open to any tips that will make recovery as smooth as possible!

I have a similar story. Mom, full time employee, student & runner. I went back to work 12/5 at 2 weeks after diVinchi. Sitting was very uncomfortable by the end of the day & caused my belly to swell. Standing for more than a couple hours at a time would have been irritating. I wish I had taken 3 weeks. I finished the full week today - have gone to bed really early every night & used heating pad to help the swelling. Exhausted but ever do glad I had the surgery! Ill be glad to have finals over next Thursday for tjis semester Please consider the extra week & maybe shortened hours when you return. Best of luck!

I went back to a desk job and found it really hard. Lifting will be a NO NO. I was not able to lift more than 15lbs for 6 weeks and even when I forgot and did lift something I would get achy and swell.
Standing for a length of time is hard too.
I am not saying that you would not be able to do it all and heal but you could hurt your insides causing your healing to take a lot longer than if you took an extra week to heal in the first place.
Good Luck...

Luv2Hum....I too work at a desk job....how long did you take off work...I see you said it was hard going back, so now im curious? My surgery (DaVinci) isnt till Dec 27th, and i have 6 weeks off (i actually was thinking that was too much), and i do know everyone heals at a different rate =)

I decided I just wasn't going to stress about getting everything done. I just picked the important stuff. My finals were this week but since most of my classes are online I was able to get them finished early. I'll have a few weeks off before I have to go back and only have one on campus class.

I own a business with my husband. He understands that I can't do stuff like stock shelves, sweep, and a lot of the random stuff I do. He has to have me manage the bookwork type stuff but I think I'll be able to get back to that pretty quickly. Just not working full days for a while.

Prioritize what has to be done versus what you would like done. Taking care of Christmas stuff for your kids is a must, scrubbing under the fridge is not. You'll be fine and it's great that your parents are so close.

I had a great experience. No pain following surgery - I did take a few days off - but I have a desk job. However, because I had no pain - didn't even know I had surgery really - I pretty much did whatever I wanted - without lifting much at all. I had a 10 pound weight limit for two weeks - then a 25 pound weight limit - for the next two weeks then released for anything after that. I was on my feet for a couple of days after one week - did ok - no problems. Went on a trip (34 hours driving) no problems-but did get out every couple of hours and walk.

It will all depend upon how you feel. I may have done more than the doctor would have liked me to - but I didn't feel anything. And now - at four weeks - still fine. I told my doctor he needed to put on his business card that he performs "pain free hysterectomies". I think his ego just grew! Apparently he gets that alot.

You will be fine - DaVinci is great!

	Quote:
Originally Posted by jowens1873 Luv2Hum....I too work at a desk job....how long did you take off work...I see you said it was hard going back, so now im curious? My surgery (DaVinci) isnt till Dec 27th, and i have 6 weeks off (i actually was thinking that was too much), and i do know everyone heals at a different rate =)

I started back at 2 weeks but since I run the office I could leave when I needed to... If I got too tired I just went home. It took several weeks to get back into it full time. By 4 weeks it was better.
Good Luck