Six weeks: Honest Report

I am am 5.5 weeks post op and will see my doc tomorrow for my 6 week checkup. I go in waves where I feel like I have energey, feeling good and then bam, I get an overwheliming rush of fatigue where I must sleep. Kind of extreem like how Dorothy in the Wizard of OZ falls asleep in the field of poppies. You drop.

I can't sit for long periods of time, I get very sore and tired sitting. I have to work up to that.

I still need to take Ambian at night to go to sleep, I am worried about when I do go back to work, if they cut me off that stuff - how will I sleep.

I think there many factors that affect your healing time. I think your overall health condition, how well you were before your surgery, Your AGE and WEIGHT. For me, I am 100 lbs overweight and I think that complicates everything for me.

Does it for you, if you are fluffy too?

[Darend, i am " fluffy" too and I have ecome very conscious of the fact

that I wil probably feel sooo much better when I taper the " fluff"

down a bit..lol...I am about the same ...100 lbs over and just sitting

in the house is not helping that...lol...I have tried some walking but

find it is still quite uncomfortable. I will wait until I get the green light

fom my Dr. on the 23rd. Maybe there is a weightloss group on here

somewhere...I am new to the site and haven't explored it completely

yet....I try to cover some different areas of it each day. Continued

recovery and excellent health!!!. :0)..........Sw88tp8aB]...P.S....

The good thing is that we don't have to deal with those worrisome " female problems" ever again....YAAAAAYYYYYY!!!

Ok.... I contemplated on replying to this post because I'm almost at the 5 wks mark in my recuperation... and feel darn good. I look at all of the posts with problems that others have had and are having and say "Thank God". My surgery was uneventful and my pathology reports came back negative. I had a morphine drip for pain in the hospital for 1.5 days and then on to percocets for the remainder of my time there (total of 3 days) .. and then only used them for another week. They had me up and walking @6 hrs after surgery ... it was only 4 steps out from the bed, but the following morning, I took a long stroll down the entire length of the unit.

I'm overweight also - 234 lbs (went down to 228 after surgery), but I went on a health kick back in April and am down 30 lbs now, give or take a few. I still eat all the wrong things at times ... ok ... every week ... lol... I have a sweet tooth. I was working out 5-6 days a week at home to help with my wtloss until Thanksgiving rolled around and i got lazy.

I wasn't able to finish my holiday shopping, but I look at it as saved money. LOL! I did venture to WalMart and the grocery store within a week of getting home from the hospital... taking it slow. I drove my car exactly at 2 wks and took it easy. It wore me out, but I had to get out of the house.

I have been scrapbooking at the scrap book store and doing all sorts of things, with the exception of cleaning my house. It's a total disaster zone. I did attempt to vacuum it last week and had some minor spotting the following day. Ok... slapping my hand for I know it was a no-no, but it had to be done.

I wonder if I'm normal? I'm not trying to be superwoman, but have wondered if all of the energy that I have is because of my good habits prior to the surgery?? I am truly blessed for my good health.

I'm wishing everyone the same successes in your recovery efforts. I will say some extra prayers in that whatever suffering you are going through right now will soon be eased.

My problems at this stage of the game is that I can't sit upright in a desk chair for more than 2-3 hours at the most before I need to lay down. And then the other problem is insomnia is terrible and constant fatigue.

I had my 6 week post op checkup yesterday with my doctor. I was given a refill of my Ambian this time at 10 mg instead of 5. Boy did that help well. I was knocked out. That should help kick me into a better sleep mode.

I will return to work at 8 weeks post op on Monday Feb 6th. I am getting much better, but not ready for full time work yet.

Also, my doctor said when people are more fluffy they have estrogen stores in their body, which may be why my menopausal symptoms are less than expected or less than others.

I am 6 weeks today !!! I am doing pretty good I think, last week I had a 5 week checkup and the doc said all was healing great. I was cleared for normal activies and SEX , next week, which is today ( and I have to wait until tonite, to have it <POUT> !!!!!!!! I go back to work on the 24th, I am lucky my short term disability had said from the get go that I had paid leave until the 23rd.
The first week was really hard on me, I am not use to depending on others help. On day 10 my DH and I went to Wal-Mart, we weren't even there for an hour total and I was in bed 2 days recovering. I didn't drive until 4 weeks and 1 day , and that wasn't so great, but it gets better and better each time. I still get weird pains and I can certainly tell when I overdo it.
Thank God for this awesome site.
I hope everyone has a great day !

Nice to hear everyone is doing pretty good considering what we have come through in the last while. I had my checkup last week and Doctor said I was healing nicely and could resume normal activities including sex. Well I have no desire yet for that!!! My incesion has healed nicely and no more sore belly. I was nine years into menopause when I required the surgery so not used to bleeding anymore. Very little pink spotting after surgery which was great but I woke up this moring with bright red spotting. Any suggestions on what would cause this.I did lift my Mother in Laws walker into the car a few days ago but if it was that would it have not happened sooner? I am six weeks tomorrow and thought the spotting was over and now this. any suggestions of what this might be would be greatly appreciated.

fellow !

I'm back to work since yesterday. Worked a full day and today I'm really tired! Part of my problem I think is getting back into my "working sleep routine." I've always been a night person and while I was off (6 weeks) I was going to bed later and sleeping in later in the morning. :bedjump:

My recovery has (thankfully) been very uneventful. I was extremely fatigued prior to the surgery so I actually felt like I had more energy (although still tired) post-op.

I heeded my doctor's advice--no lifting or vacuuming or shoveling snow, resting, etc.--for the entire 6 weeks. I really think that is why I'm feeling so well today.

Did not drive for two weeks and it was tough getting in and out of the car for a week or so when I started to drive. In the beginning, I only ran one or two errands a day and then came home to rest.

I spent my time off going through boxes of photographs that I inherited with my house and doing small things like cleaning out the freezer and fridge, clearing off my desk and reorganizing the entertainment center. And, of course, spending many hours here reading the posts and articles!

I had been on stool softeners prior to surgery and have continued post-op. Bowels are finally returning to some semblence of normal. Ran out of stool softeners over the weekend and already am experiencing some "problems." Gotta get to the drug store tonight!

My next big hurdle is my father's knee replacement surgery this Friday. He will be staying with me following surgery since my house's living quarters are on one floor. I understand he will probably be with me for about a month or so. (I may need another medical leave when he goes home!)

Thank you, thank you, thank you to all the wonderful women on this website. I truly do not know what I would have done without all of you. I hope we all "keep in touch"!

Judy
55 degrees here in Eastern PA on my drive to work today--my kind of winter!

	Quote:
Originally Posted by DCDoll Ok.... I contemplated on replying to this post because I'm almost at the 5 wks mark in my recuperation... and feel darn good. I look at all of the posts with problems that others have had and are having and say "Thank God". My surgery was uneventful and my pathology reports came back negative. I had a morphine drip for pain in the hospital for 1.5 days and then on to percocets for the remainder of my time there (total of 3 days) .. and then only used them for another week. They had me up and walking @6 hrs after surgery ... it was only 4 steps out from the bed, but the following morning, I took a long stroll down the entire length of the unit. I'm overweight also - 234 lbs (went down to 228 after surgery), but I went on a health kick back in April and am down 30 lbs now, give or take a few. I still eat all the wrong things at times ... ok ... every week ... lol... I have a sweet tooth. I was working out 5-6 days a week at home to help with my wtloss until Thanksgiving rolled around and i got lazy. I wasn't able to finish my holiday shopping, but I look at it as saved money. LOL! I did venture to WalMart and the grocery store within a week of getting home from the hospital... taking it slow. I drove my car exactly at 2 wks and took it easy. It wore me out, but I had to get out of the house. I have been scrapbooking at the scrap book store and doing all sorts of things, with the exception of cleaning my house. It's a total disaster zone. I did attempt to vacuum it last week and had some minor spotting the following day. Ok... slapping my hand for I know it was a no-no, but it had to be done. I wonder if I'm normal? I'm not trying to be superwoman, but have wondered if all of the energy that I have is because of my good habits prior to the surgery?? I am truly blessed for my good health. I'm wishing everyone the same successes in your recovery efforts. I will say some extra prayers in that whatever suffering you are going through right now will soon be eased.

I am 2 weeks into recovery and feel close to normal. I am 5 '7" and 115 lbs...exerciser/lift weights/kind of hyper(can't sit for long)...I eat really healthy and I am 34. Sometimes I do think that the habits we had/have help! It is never to late to pick up a few good habits!(Trust me I do have a few bad ones and they keep me sane!) Yah for your recovery!
___________
TAH 1/04 'cause of large grapefruit fibroid!

5 weeks here also, and feeling wonderful. I get sore and tired if I do too much. Went to NYC and a play with my daughter( who lives there) last wednesday (11th) and I walked WAY too much. I was so tired and sore the next day I just laid in bed. The only thing that bothers me is being so tired all the time. Plus, depression is sometimes bad, but only when I wake up in the morning Will be having my 6 week checkup on Tuesday and will talk to Doc about these thing. I already take drugs for depression, so will check about what is going on. I too had a great surgery and I was off pain meds 5 days after surgery. I have a great theshold for pain, so it was easy for me. I have been cooking more and cleaning more, but no vacuum yet or washing the floor. Hubby is great and has been doing all these things for me. Somedays are better than others, but all in all everything is going great. I agree that if you eat right before and exercise your healing goes so much better. I too feel blessed when I read some other posts. Things went so well for me, I just wish everyone's surgery could have gone as well.

I'm at 6 weeks today, and returned to work today (4 hour days). I've been able to do more, and feel progressively bettter each week (although not necessarily day-to-day). I still have twinges of pain, and get tired pretty quickly, although that's gotten better too. I had my post op appointment 9 days ago, and told him I had pain in my lower left side whenever I walked 10 minutes or more. He said it would get better, but ordered blood and urine tests. Yesterday I heard back from them - I have a UTI. I started the antibiotic yesterday.

I will have to say my employer has made life easier. It is an average 10 minute walk to my desk from the parking lot. I haven't been able to walk that long, and my body isn't used to it. They're giving me a handicapped parking spot from now until Feb 3rd. Even before the surgery, when my doctor said I'd be back in 2 weeks, they told me that wasn't long enough, and to demand more time from the doctor. The medical department has always been good, but now the medical staff are not company employees, but one of the local medical organizations.

At first, I used a grabber tool to pick up anything important that fell on the floor (ordered from this site). That was really important - when my daughter was working, and I dropped my pain pills, that felt like a life saver! After 1 week, I started decreasing pain pills during the day, and the 2nd week, I stopped taking the one at bedtime.

About 1 1/2 weeks, I was able to walk a short distance outside. What frustrated me was that the distance didn't improve from 2 weeks to 6 weeks. I was driving at 2 weeks, but waited until nearly 4 weeks before I went shopping alone. I did gradually increasing things around the house. About 3 weeks, I stopped falling asleep all the time. At first, my daughter took my laundry to the washer, and I would only pick up one or two things at a time. I still don't carry a full (dry) load, but now will do several loads, and don't need her help. Week 4, I started walking the dog in the morning (I still pay a neighbor to walk him at night, cause I can't walk him far enough.) Week 5, I started doing dishes, and a couple of days ago I could do one full drainer of dishes without being worn out. I'm still careful about lifting anything heavy, but I do occasionally pick up my 13 1/2 pound cat, usually to get him off the chair so I can sit down.

Swelly belly is finally getting to where I can see progress - during week 5, it was smaller when I first got up in the morning. It still grows all day, and it's tough to find clothes I can wear to work and fit the dress code (without spending a lot of money).

I'm a fluffy sister, at least 70 pounds overweight. It's easy to irritate the incision area when I'm too warm - this has been a problem for years where the scar is from previous C-sections. At 3 weeks, I had some worse hot flash symtoms, and the incision became weepy at the ends, and other skin in the area became very raw and angry. It healed very quickly, though. My big swelly belly not only is pretty sensitive, and tends to have aches and pains, it also aggravates the arthritis in my lower back. I had this problem when I weighed 40 pounds more than now, but it had gone away. I think I have actually lost weight (several people told me that when I went to work this morning), but I was wearing a size 20 pants before surgery, and now I need a size 26; if I do too much, even those get tight.

And, I am so glad to be back to work, and have something to do other than daytime tv and laying around, with occasional big efforts to go for a 6 minute walk!