11 weeks post op - progress, hints and tips

I’ll be 11 weeks post op tomorrow and my belly has finally stopped aching on the surface. I still ache a tiny bit inside but the tender belly has just about gone away! I’m almost celebratory! I thought it would never go away. Saturday I put on my low-rise jeans and thought I’d be rushing to get them off after only a few hours. Not so. I ended up wearing them until the evening! Yesterday was the same – wore some jeans until evening time. I even did situps yesterday for the first time in many months. Granted, I didn't do too many but I'm on my way to getting rid of this belly hang.

I used to have an almost constant ache inside where my ovaries used to be. That has gone away. I get twinges now where if I get up too quickly I can feel it but it goes away quick enough. This is all after coming off of a very bad virus I had all last week. I was out of work for the whole week. Even had a trip to the E.R. for a fever of 103.5! They thought my tender belly was appendicitis and did a CAT scan. The CAT scan was all clear though and it was just a bad virus. I took prescribed Cipro the whole week just in case.

So, you pre ops and post ops that are barely past your surgery, just keep in mind that the pain does go away eventually. At times it feels like you’ll never get your head above water and it’ll feel awful forever. But take it easy; no heavy lifting for a while! Your body will heal if you take good care of it. The two things that I have done is not lift anything heavy and drink TONS of water (I drink about 60-80 ounces per day most days). I still will not lift laundry up and down the stairs. That’s what kids are for! Get anyone to lift anything you need, at work or at home. If no one is around, leave it alone until someone is.

As far as hormones, yep, that was nightmarish in the beginning. I went on the Climara patch, 0.025 mg. Didn’t think I had enough estrogen (depression and skin problems), and also had libido problems. Or should I say NO libido! My GYN prescribed Estratest HS last week when I went in to see him with the virus (they thought I had an infection from the surgery). So far so good. Things are not exactly as they were pre surgery but they are much better than 2 weeks post op. I fully expect to have even better results after being on the Estratest for a good month. I have read here and other places that when you are trying new hormones or an increase or decrease, you should give it a good month to judge the results. Patience really is a virtue in times like this.

Good luck to you all! And happy Valentines Day!

I am 5 1/2 weeks post op, and I really ran back into life as before with a few exceptions: I still wont lift anything heavy (grocery bags, laundry soap, etc) and I still am drinking lots and lots of water. I'm back to the morning coffee now, but after that I have water all day long. I would also like to add that walking helps. By day seven I would walk, sit at the computer, walk around the house some more, and just rest in the recliner when I got tired. But mostly, walking and not resting for hours at a stretch helps in recovery so much.

I had LAVH on Dec. 16th - which puts me about 9 weeks now. My belly is so swollen - driving me crazy - I feel so fat.

Also, having lots of pain (like a menstrual cramp) and sharp pains when I urinate. I had the bladder sling surgery too and have had several visits back to the urologist. Hopefully, he will ge me straightened out.

I haven't been drinking near that much water - am I suppose too? I have cut out all the soda's - they cause too much gas on my tummy and I can't handle that so all I drink is water - but I am not a big drinker - just sip on it during the day.

Penny

Thank you so much for the words of encouragement! I am headed towards my 4th week post-op and still have a bit of tenderness and swelling. After a while it really feels as though this is going to be as good as it gets, then I read something like you wrote and I feel better. I was beginning to believe that stretchy pants and long t-shirts were to become my new wardrobe...I miss my jeans so much! Sometimes even a bedsheet feels uncomfy and the itching drives me nuts because I can't scratch because it feels too sensitive!
Anyway, thank you for giving me some light at the end of what seems to be a very, very, very long tunnel.