daVinci Hysterectomy

I am scheduled to have a my surgery on May 9th and as the time draws closer I seem to be getting anxious and scared. I have done a little research on the davinci and I know it is supposed to be less invasive and have a shorter recovery but I am still wary. I am only 32 and just lost my mom in October to ovarian cancer. My experience with hospitals have not been all positive. What can I expect? My husband will be home with me for 1 week. Is that enough time?

Hi,
Sorry about your mom, I lost mine 14yrs. ago and I know how hard it is. Especially, going through this. I also had the DaVinvci total hysterectomy. I'm 6 wks out and other than being tired I'm doing great. I had no complications and a text book recovery, no bleeding, discharge or pain meds needed. I went into hosp. on a Thurs and home the next morning. My girlfriend took my 2 boys and hubby stayed with me. On that Mon. and Tues. he went to work late and put kids on bus for me and the rest of week I was on my own but they are old enough to get themselves ready, 8 & 11. I was slow going and tired easily so I wouldn't make plans to do much the first couple weeks. Although, some women here were up and about within the first week. I, personally, perfered to enjoy the quiet and rested. I still puttered around house, you will go stir crazy, but was careful not to lift or bend. I wasn't taking chances on hurting myself. I have 5 little 'scars' where the robot arms went in and the only one that bothered me was the one in the middle which is the biggest because the camera went in. I also had to have Dr. remove the stitches because my body seems to reject those dissolving ones and they were sticking out and poking me.
As long as you take it easy for a bit and learn to listen to your body and rest when it tells you to, I'm sure you'll be fine. When I went in for my surgery we weren't sure if it was going to be done DaVinci or abdominally, so I planned for the abdominal recovery just to be safe. I had a table all set up next to my bed with tissues, water bottles, books etc. I never used it. I slept on couch for first week because it was easier to get up and down and kept me from rolling on incisions. A body pillow would help that too. Also, remember to walk around a lot and drink plenty of water...the gas from anestesia and the constipation was the worst part of the whole recovery...stool softners would be good to have on hand. Dr. released me for ALL activities at my 41/2 wk post op and I went back to work last week..a lot of bending and lifting. I take it easy and my body tells me when I've had enough.
Good luck and I hope all goes well with you.
Betty-Jo

Glad to hear your doing well. Thanks for the advice & info. I was having a hard time finding info from people who had the daVinci surgery. Your experience puts me a little at ease. Keep mme posted on your recovery. Thanks for helping me feel a little calmer.

Hey there, so sorry to hear about your mom. I had my DaVinci Surgery a little over 6 months ago now.......and I, like you was very nervous and had a hard time trying to figure out what to expect.

For me, the experience was mostly positive. Very little pain/discomfort, although I was only supposed to be in the castle overnight, I was there for two nights because my blood pressure was very low and I had issues with the morphine.

My biggest problem was feeling too good. I "overdid" it a lot the first couple of weeks, because I felt so good, I did more than I should have and paid for it with pain I wouldn't have had otherwise............so listen to your doctor and increase your activity SLOWLY.

But I personally am so happy to have had the Davinci surgery available to me!! I had no "outside" healing to really speak of, which makes it so much easier.......no incision pain or discomfort!!

Take care and good luck!!

Christine