Anybody Out There? TVH with surgical repair of rectocele & cystocele

I am having a TVH on August 6, with surgical repair of rectocele and cystocele. Anyone out there going to have similar surgery or have already had?

I would be interested in hearing your experiences.

I had a cystocele , anterior vaginal repair, a mesh sling , hysterectomy, and they fixed my slight stress incontinince problem. nwow , I can actaully sneese without leaking.
The surgery took over 4 hours. I was very sore after but overall did well. my scar on the abdomen is healing well.
I would suggest to take all the pain meds allowed, I think I missed out on some percocet and underestimated my pain level. ? The nurses waited until I requested pain meds a lot of the time.The percocet made me throw up becasue I did not have solid food in me. my doc reccomends food right away ,the hospital and nurses want liquid so they compromised. 24 hours of liquids.
the throwing up discouraged me from walking at first which in the end was the best thing I did . Walking improved me dramatically. one day I could wlak down the hall the next twic as far. adn when I skip wlaking even out of the hospital I could tell.
They stiched up my perenium and i felt like I had a knot there, and sore especailly having a bm, until just 3 days ago. I have my 6 week checkup tomorrow. eating dates helped me a lot too.
my tummy is stiff and bloated. I feel like it has lessened, everything has to find its way back, i guess. I am a small person and not a big tummy but this has been a bit annoying. .
I would get that belly thing they advertise. on this site. I used a super big ace bandage, some support underwear and sometimes ice and sometimes used a heated rice bag. I am a small and the smallest support underwear I could find was a med, whcih actually worked well. I cut away the elastic at the legs as it cut into me.
I still feel like I have a lump in my vagina but less so as I go along, so maybe it gets better as you heal.
good luck.

Thanks for answering me back. Glad you're improving. I'm having a vaginal hysterectomy and I guess you had an abdominal so yours would be a harder recovery than mine, I think. But you gave me some good information. How long were you basically laying around and doing nothing else?

I had a LSH last June but an anterior repair and sling put in for a grade 2 cystocele last week. Neither surgery was difficult and there was very little pain. However, I could not pee after the sling surgery so I had to come home with a cath for a week. Not sure about the rectocele part, but hope this helps. Try not to worry and just go with the flow (literally) post op.
Kim
LSH 6/27/07
anterior repair and sling 6/17/08
gall bladder removal 1/15/08
No more surgery for a while!!

Thanks for the info. Not crazy about the catheter part for a week - glad to hear you had very little pain.

I think that if I had been in the hospital for the cystocele surgery instead of outpatient it would be a different story. But the doctor's rule is once the cath gets put in, it stays in for one week. I was actually OK with that since I have had problems the last year with an incredible amount of pressure when I needed to go and I did not want that post op. In about one day I felt at times I could pee into the cath, which let me know that those sensations were working again, but he has this rule... If I was in the castle, it would have come out the next day.
Kim

Well, that makes sense. I will be in the hospital to get it all done at one time so maybe I won't have a catheter when I go home. Thanks for the info.

One year ago I had a TVH with Rectocele and Anterior repair. I was in the hospital from Fri - Mon. I didn't have to do any bowel prep. My catheter was removed in the hospital. I was told 8 weeks recovery and I actually arranged 12 weeks before returning to work. It was no picnic but I am 100% glad I had it done.

I was on pain killers for the first 10 days then just ibuprofen when I needed it. I alternated sitting/standing/lying down alot. Heat helped and so did walking (albeit very very slowly) alot. I didn't drive for 4 weeks as sitting was uncomfortable. I did have bleeding and/or some discharge for 8 1/2 weeks. A drag but haven't had to use a pad since

Keep in mind that each day does get better and stock up on reading materials, or videos if you prefer. If you have someone to do the majority of housework, great. I was able to start helping with little things after a week or so but very minimal.

My best friend after surgery was a peri-bottle, it's a small squirt bottle you can get at a drug store or even a dollar store. Fill it with warm water and spray it over your perineum area when going to the bathroom. It's very soothing.

This site was also a huge help to me.

Today, I feel great - so glad to have had the operation. I don't lift anything over 25 pounds - EVER!. I ask for help or wait until someone is around. To me, nothing is worth having the surgery again.

Read, read and read some more. Prepare yourself and your family and home for your recuperation and take it one day at a time. A "grabber" or reacher tool would have helped as well - I thought of it too late but it would have save bending to get some things. Give yourself lots of time to heal and don't overdo it too soon. I wish you well.

Thanks for the info. You were very informative and helpful - I will use a lot of your tips. It's a longer recovery time than I thought, but I don't work anymore (retired) so it won't be a problem. Dr. told me one to two nights in hospital, so we'll see how that goes. I have to do bowel prep on liquid diet for 3 days before surgery. That's going to be hard. Maybe a good way to lose weight?????

I'm not looking forward to it, but tired of "leaking" and having to go to the bathroom every 10 minutes!

Hi, I had my TVH, cystocele, rectocele + TOT sling om my 1st. I had a spinal and was awake for the whole surgery which took about 2.5 hrs. The only pain med I needed was a demerol suppository evey 12 hours... I was in the hospital for 2 days. After I went home I only took a few extra strength tylenol for 4 days and I have been pain free ever since. I am now 8 weeks post-op and feeling fantastic. Yes I had a supra-pubic catheter in for two days while in the hospital and it came out with no problem and I have had no infections/hot flashes/fevers. Grace