LAVH: Terrified - plz help!

Hi there I am now in day 9 post op. along with all the other hystersysters all I can say is take any help that is on offer. Be as organised as you can before you go, because you don't want any post -op stress of thinking about all the things you need to do. don't worry about the house- my dad calls it "clean dirt" most of the time . Will add you to my prayer list for peace in your heart as you go through this. All the best.

HI..I had a LAVH on May 2nd. I did a lot of research, and checked out a few holistic sites as well. I began cutting back on the caffeine as I am a diet coke lover..started to drink a lot of water to make sure I was hydrated and ate lots of fruits and veggies. I know how scared you are. I was too. I began to meditate and taking the deep breaths in through the nose and out through the mouth..the combination totally calmed my nerves. I filled my mind with positive thoughts and looked ahead past the surgery to a future of feeling better and being healthy. I know some of this sounds a little kooky but it worked for me. Stay calm and make your plans for your recovery and you will be fine. I will be sending prayers and good thoughts your way..best of luck!

I did go to the doctor and get an RX for ativan (sp), it seems to help a lot even though its only 0.5 mg (I'm a lightweight - LOL)
I went today and had a my labs done, my hubby went too. So far I have several friends waiting to wait on me (make soup etc), my hubby will be home (he just had back surgery), my Mom lives right next door, a really good friend rents my back house out and she has taken the day of surgery off as well as Friday (she's gonna watch my daughter is she gets too "clingy"). I have done all laundry (except the bedding for the downstairs room, which I'll wash on Wednesday), I've got a tray set up to put next to the bed with everything I could think of, and lots of stuff I prolly won't need, a new frog pillow pet, new bigger jammies, and a fan just in case I get hot from the meds. I have tons of shows on the DVR, 6 new books to read, 3 new video games to play and some puzzle books to work on.
I was going to continue classes (online), but I ended up dropping them to focus on me. I have 5 weeks of recovery time before I have to do anything and even then all it will be is 2 online classes, I actually don't have to be anywhere until September. That should give me enough time to relax and let recovery go as smooth as possible.
Hearing everyones experiences and advice truly helps so much. Just knowing I'm not the only one scared (or who was scared) calms me down. I love this site, all the information, all the people and the fact everyone is so helpful.
<3

wow....that sounds wonderful. You have some meds to take the edge off and everything set up. Perfect.

Today is day five for me, and I'm feeling good! Now that I'm feeling good, I'm totally enjoying the "me" time. It really is wonderful. I'm usually the 65 hour work week woman, so to have books, movies and mags and no meetings has been a treat. Not mention my pain is gone! Why did I wait so long?

Sounds like you have one amazing support system. Enjoy it. I didn't know how great mine was until I had my surgery. Made me stop and feel the love.

You are going to be great. Ask your doctor but I was allowed to take one Xanax the morning of my surgery to keep my nerves calm. It helped 100%.

It is natural for us to be afraid going through this process. What helped me very much was making sure all of my conversations were done and all my ducks were in a row. I knew that should anything happen to me, things could move forward smoothly. It brought a tremendous peace of mind. Depending on your belief system, it also helped to know that there were others out there from family to friends to strangers on the internet who were praying for me. I was remarkably calm going into the surgery with this knowledge.

As far a pain goes, each person is different and we each have a different pain threshold. I think what we have in common is a FEAR of pain. For me, the fear was MUCH worse than any actual pain I felt (the worst for me was removing the packing and the catheter) Arming yourself ahead of time with meds that you know will work on defeating the causes of common pain (gas, stool softeners) will help ease those fears.

BTW, I swear by papaya tablets for digestive assistance and while I wasn't pre-loading Gas-X and Colace, I was chewing down the papaya when I could. I hardly had any gas pain at all (and was able to "pass" it easily) and never had a problem with a BM once I had a few colace in my system along with the papaya doing it's thing. I get mine here