Hi Everyone!
I must say I am truly blessed considering all the pain and suffering women experience post op. I feel amazing. I had a full hysterectomy by DaVinci. I was in the hospital from noon on a Friday and released at 7am the next morning, although I BEGGED to go home at 7pm Friday night. During the surgery it was coordinated to also remove an umbilical hernia, however during that procedure it was discovered I didn't have a hernia just a lot of scar tissue and "crystalline" tissue which mimicked the pain and physical properties. I also needed to have my belly button removed as I was told it was dying (yuck!). Both conditions were due to previous surgeries (2008 gastric bypass and 2010 skin reconstruction). Lastly it was found my endometriosis had wrapped itself extensively around my bowels so in an emergency effort at the same time a Cancer surgeon was brought in to remove it. So my surgery seemed to become a crock pot of procedures.
I am not sure if the pain I had suffered the prior year which was unbearable [I was taking 8 - 10/325's of Vicadin (and YES the withdrawal SUCKED - which I did about 3 weeks prior to surgery as I did not want to have to deal with that post op). However during those 3 weeks and 1 day after surgery I was prescribed Oxycodone 20mg every 4 hours, which I had no withdrawal from.] basically made me immune to any pain I may have had after surgery because I can honestly say on a scale from 1 to 10 where 10 is just let me play in traffic and end my misery mine was about a 0.5.
Because I felt so good physically I had to remind myself to NOT do too much...and yes I did mow the lawn at day 5 which caused a tad bit of bleeding from the vaginal sutures....this was my biggest struggle and the consequence was the bleeding, not a lot but I knew it was impacting my internal healing. Even with this and I still have a little spotting each day which I am told should stop in another week or so because I still can not sit still.
Now the emotional aspect....for about 2 weeks after my emotions were pretty crappy....up and down moods and crying for no reason which I was told was normal and my body adjusting to the reduced estrogen. Along with that I was terrified of hitting the menopause wall as I was told may happen. So I started to eat foods that would aid in the possible prevention of the symptoms, I had read that Asian women only go through menopausal symptoms 3% of the time while in the US it is 50 - 70%, these %'s I read on various web sites and of course could very well be inaccurate BUT since there was hope I could possibly reduce or better yet completely AVOID them as my mother still experiences hot flashes after 20 years of menopause!!!!! I was up for trying anything. Well I have had NONE, no hot flashes or night sweats or any other symptom. So although I was eating "Asian/Mediterranean" my OB/GYN said my ovaries were most likely not working properly anyway so it made sense to her as I would ask at every visit...WHEN IS THIS GOING TO HAPPEN lol. She told me if I WAS going to experience anything it would have occurred between week 1 and 3 post op....and since there has been nothing to date I am almost 100% in the clear...again, so I am told :-).
So for ALL these reasons I have outlined above I feel EXTREMELY lucky, grateful, and blessed as there are WAY to many women who have horrible post surgery pain/complications and the dreaded menopause crap hit them....and to all those women my heart goes out to them everyday. I often wonder why I was spared all the post op and menopause suffering...
So ladies there is HOPE as in my case.
However coming to this site and being part of this community has helped me tremendously in SOOO many ways and I can not thank EVERYONE for being so honest in their experiences as it was a Godsend.
I wish everyone well...and if anyone has any questions or would like to chat privately please send me an e-mail.
Love & Hugs!
Caryn
June 7th - Surgery Post Op (Fantastic)
