UFE to LSH - Waiting was the WORST!

I would like to introduce another princess, ME. I am home from an uneventful LSH (Laprascopic supracervical hysterectomy).

Waiting was the WORST!!!! I read about it and thought I could sidestep that piece, but I tell ya I was looking for ANY excuse to cancel. I was weepy, with the fear of death and leaving my family, I was incredibly snappy, accidentally breaking things, I was a total wreck.

My last period was the mildest its been since childhood, so I was thinking I was over reacting by doing something as drastic as a hysterectomy, which then lead me to believe that I could tolerate the rest of my years of periods. UNTIL, that old familiar (and constant) uterus pain came back with full vengeance, reminding me why I was moving forward with this in the first place. The constant pain, the belly bloat, the uterus leading the rest of my body, and the need to clutch and massage my lower half. I knew that now was the time, why wait any longer when "feeling better" might be waiting on the other side. So, off to the hospital I went, scared to death but filled with hope!

Surgery was at 10:30, but had to get to the hospital by 6:30 to WAIT. As I had said, waiting was the worst - and being at the hospital, and having to wait, was no better! I watched the clock until the anesthesiologist came into my room for THE chat, signaling that it was my time, and then it was the nurses, and then the doctor, finally my procession began; my room was filled with all the wonderful people who were going to take me to the other side. I was told to breath in the oxygen, oxygen nothing…….that stuff put me out! And just like everyone writes, the next thing I remember was being told was to open my eyes and that everything went better than expected - I was in recovery, it was done, I was oh so relieved and oh so thankful. I could tell that my constant nagging pain was gone, and that fueled some excitement.

Recovery room was fast, being half under they told me I was progressing sooner than expected (figuring I owe a big thank you to my Jazzercise instructor), the nurses watched me dress as they called my husband. I was originally told I would be able to leave around 3-ish, but they were pushing that up because of my quick responses, I was home by 2. My mom called shortly thereafter and I answered the phone. The first thing she said was "did they cancel your surgery?" She was blown away that I was home and sounded like nothing happened (she had had her hysterectomy 4 months earlier).

Currently I am dealing with post-op recovery, and all that goes with that, knowing that I need to take it easy these weeks with the hope that I can resume my normal and active life in the 6 weeks they talked about.

I do want to talk about the difference between my UFE and the LSH. PAIN, being the biggest. I had to spend a night in the hospital with the UFE, and thank gawd I did cuz I was in excruciating pain, barfing constantly, and being completely out of it with the morphine. In fact, the pain that I had from the UFE is what scared me about the LSH - I used to think I was a "tough chick", but the pain from the UFE changed all of that. Once home the pain continued for about a week. I was starting to feel better; until I ovulated and then I thought I was dying. I considered the pain from the actual procedure of the UFE to be a 10 compared to the 6 that I had with the LSH. Not knowing what to expect for pain, in the LSH, I was prepared to go to another 10 and glad that I didn't. Side note, I have never experienced childbirth, so I don't have that to compare it to, sorry.

The biggest difference I feel now is that I still had the uterus pain with the UFE, and now that pain is gone. My swollen, painful uterus is gone; it never went way with the UFE. UFE preserves the uterus, and that might be the goal for some of you, as it was for me initially - but by keeping my uterus I kept my pain. I am glad and thankful that I was able to rid this pain with the LSH and hopefully I can get on with my life.

I used to think that hysterectomy was a drastic and scary thing, that's why I moved forward with the UFE. The word Hysterectomy, to me, was a "last resort" created by MEN (like contraception) who were oh so willing to strip that piece away from women, until I started meeting women who were living their lives on the "other side" and their lives seemed richer and happier because of hysterectomy. I hope to join them!

A BIG THANKS TO ALL THE PRINCESSES OUT THERE, THE SOON TO BE PRINCESSES, AND THIS WEBSITE!