Back from meeting Surgeon--anyone use the patch for HRT?

wow, that was a relief!! My gyno recommended a gynocological oncologist surgeon for my hyster since she feels my surgery will be difficult. Today, I went to meet this specialist.
He was wonderful!! It seems he specializes in "fluffy" surgeries and the more difficult female problems including cancer (which I do not have a sign of so far, so good). He made me feel right at ease, and explained everything in detail to myself and my hubby.
It seems I have adenomyosis, and with the enlarged uterus, he feels this is the best route to go. We are also taking the overies due to my age and a history of cancer in my family.
Even though my surgery was pushed back a couple weeks due to him being very busy, I still feel better having talked to him and feel that everything will be fine.
The good news is that he said "NO bowel prep"...it is not necessary with my surgery. YAY!! no nasty stuff to drink or enemas!! Also, no pre-op days ahead of time. They do all the necessary stuff the day of the surgery. I have to be there two hours early, so they can do all the pre-op stuff then.
The other thing he talked to me about was HRT. He is recommending it immediately. He says he usually puts the patch on after surgery because I will be thrown into immediate menapause and I don't need to experience the hot flashes and moods while recovering from the surgery.
He said I will wear the patch for the rest of my life, and change it once a week.
this is new to me and I will have to research this estrogen a bit more.
Any one on here have or use the patch? what do you think about it?

March 20th I will be in the castle for my TAH/BSO.
thank you Hystersisters for being here to listen and for all your support. This site has been invaluable to me for learning all I can learn about the surgery.
I'm not so scared now.

BIG to you all!!

I have been using the Vivelle patch for 3 years and have been very pleased with it. I change it 2x a week and it stays on very well.

You might want to look at our Resources library under the Hormone and No-Hormone sections for more information about hrt:

https://www.hystersisters.com/vb2/link.php?

s

I am also using the Vivelle Patch...I use the Vivelle-Dot which is really small and stays stuck so much better than the other brands I tried. I went through a year of hormone hell before I found the patch and it works wonderfully.

No bowel prep...wow! My surgeon took a very safe route and even though the golightly is the nastiest part of the surgery...I would do it again just to be safe. As luck would have it...in a month I get to experience the bowel prep all over again for my anterior and posterior repair. I learned that 7-up with it tastes better going down, so I will try that in April.

Best of luck and it sounds like you have a great surgeon.

cowpatti

I just recently had the same surgery you are facing... In fact reading your post, it is very similar to my situation, including "fluffiness"......

I woke up from the surgery with my new "jewelry".... I have the Climara patch....... So far so good..... I will give you one piece of advice..... Don't let them fill the perscription as a generic if you have a choice... The generic patch is huge and ugly, the Climara and I believe the Vivelle patches are pretty undetectable while on.....

Wishing you a successful experience........ Feel free to PM me if you have questions.......