recovery time

I am still in the asking phase of this journey and have no real date yet but need to ask a question. I have four children from 3-9 and a very active schedule with them. For the most part I can carpool and work with friends to get them where they need to go but I need to know how long the typical recovery time is.

My last child was an emergancy c-section and my recovery time was quick and relatively easy. My prior experience with surgeries is that I do very well and recover faster than the norm. But basically being a single mom, husband is a trucker, I really need to get the timing down just right if this is the way I need to go.

Due to everything else that we are finding right now the hyster with ovary retention is in my future I just don't know exactly when.

Katie

I am a fast healer also and had a TAH 4 weeks ago. You can not drive for 2 weeks with a TAH. After that I was fine to drive my kids around but I had to rest quite a bit and a hectic schedule would not be good.

At 4 weeks I am much better but occasionally hit a wall. Today I got the kids off and went back to bed for 2 hours.

You know the old saying, "Everybody's different." Well, you probably don't want to hear this, but..... everybody's different.

I've had four abdominal surgeries in my adult life. My first c-section (when I was 28 and in the best shape) was by far the HARDEST recovery. My hysterectomy was "next-worst". I took 6 weeks off work, really needed 8. I had a 16-year-old dd (who mercifully came to stay with us while I was home to cook and help out) and a 3-year-old ds who still needed lots of help bathing, going to bed, and all the rest. My second c-section (when I was 40) was pretty easy -- I took 3 months off work (because I could afford it, not because I thought it would be tough) but honestly could have gone back to work at 3 weeks.

My hematoma surgery, a year after my hyst, was by far the easiest surgery I had. I was back to work at 2 weeks post-op, even though I still had a drain and the incision hadn't closed.

What I'm trying to say is that you can't necessarily judge how you'll do with this surgery based on your other ones. A hysterectomy involves lots of internal stitches which need to heal, so it's different than a c-section in that respect. You may bounce back great, but honestly, most (((sisters))) need 6-8 weeks for initial healing. Just want you to be prepared.

As for driving -- my instructions said I shouldn't drive while I was still taking narcotic pain meds. Honestly, I didn't feel like driving for about 2-1/2 weeks, anyway. And carpooling with kids can be pretty stressful... you may want to beg off for several weeks on that one. My advice would be to just play it by ear and say you're not sure when you'll feel up to it.