Hospital and Recovery Questions

I wrote a long and disorganized post the other day. It doesnt make sense to me now. Thank you to those who were able to muddle through and responded to some of the questions. I am going to try again...hopefully the questions I have about other's experiences will make more sense!

What is the typical hospital stay for a LAVH? I only kept my ovaries. My doctor was going to release me after 18 hours.

What have any of you been given for pain for a LAVH immediately after surgery? I was under the impression that a morphine pump was standard for hyst. However, I was given shots of demarol mixed with something else that started with a v- vivoset? Not vicoden, I am sure of that. When I asked for a pump, my doctor all but called me a wuss and told the other patient in the room with me that I called him for pain drugs if I stubbed my toe! A.) not true b.) unprofessional and completely out of line!

I am concerned that after my prescription for vicoprofen runs out, he will not allow me to have anything else. I am seriously considering seeking out another doctor to finish up my recovery. I am only 1 week post op. From what I have read on here I have a long road ahead of me, which is fine, I will deal with it. However, my life (not being probably any different than any of yours!) does not allow for me to be completely out of sync forever. I understand in the future that if I over do it one day, I will be in pain, and need to get back in bed. I am sick to death of 'dealing' with the pain issue. If there are drugs out there that can help me, I think I should have access to them. In the past when there have been times when I thought I might get addicted to something, I have voluntarily quit taking them. I do not need an addiction to prescription pain medicine to complicate things in my life. I do not want that!

My doctor did not say anything about not swimming. I was hoping in a couple of weeks to spend a day or two with my kids, lounging on the beach of a lake and swimming. My mom said I can't swim. Of course I have already decided to call my doc., but what are your experiences?

This web-site is great. I wish I had spent more time with it before my surgery.

Hi SamRae -
I can't help you with every question you asked, but I'll do the best I can. BTW your crown looks great! ENJOY being a princess....

I had a TAH so was in the hospital longer, but was released after 2 days. I know that some women here with TLVH have been released within 24 hours - you might do a "search" and see what turns up.

Regarding in-hospital meds ... I know that varies wildly. A current poll/post includes a lot of information about the pain pumps - some didn't get them, some didn't use them, some used them and had problems, a blessed few used them with no problems. I agree your doctor was offbase and unprofessional to comment to the other patient about your request, but not having a pain pump initially isn't necessarily a "wrong" decision ... although when you asked for one he certainly should have been more sympathetic.

If you still need pain meds after this week, you should be able to get them even if they aren't the same as what you're taking. Doctors are understandably reluctant to refill addictive drugs. My doctor kept asking me (or having his nurse ask) if I needed more pain pills. I never ran out but switched to ibuprofen (800 mg - the max my doctor said I could take at once) which in some ways helped more as it also is an anti-inflammatory. (NOTE: ASK YOUR DOCTOR BEFORE DOING THIS. TAKING MORE THAN THE RECOMMENDED DOSAGE WITHOUT DOCTOR'S APPROVAL IS *not* A GOOD IDEA.) Certainly follow-up with him on the painkillers.

Switching doctor's at this point -- I wouldn't say NEVER do it, but I would personally hold off and see how he handles the painkiller situation. Another doctor isn't going to know what things looked like inside (other than what he reads) and might even want to consult with your current doctor anyway.

Regarding swimming: Restrictions on swimming usually last about as long as restrictions on baths -- for me, 3 weeks -- because of risk of infection. So it's probably too soon ... but your doc will tell you for sure.

Hope this helps and you get some more response from LAVH ladies!

Rosa

Howdy SamRae!

Well, Rosa answered quite well on the morphine pump (and everything actually)- I think some doctors just do things differently although he definitely needs to work on that bedside manner in MY opinion. How rude!

I had a TVH which is a little different than what you had -although the dr did talk to me about lengths of stays depending on what he had to do and said 1 day is usually normal for TVH or LAVH... I had a TVH and left that night (surgery that morning) so it was less than 18 hours. Again, doctors are all different as all humans are and we can't really say which is better. It does seem a bit quick since my dr said they NORMALLY do 24 hours but I talked him into letting me leave that night. Again, not necessarily a big difference in time though. But given with his callous comment about the pain meds- I can understand your concern about how quickly he released you from the hospital also!

I had the same fears about pain meds because my dr was acting a little weird about giving me a refill on prescription vicodin at my 4 days post op visit. So I spaced them out and tried not to take them as often and still had a few left at my 2wk post op visit- and he had NO problem giving me another refill then! Go figure... I was afraid he would give me a hassle about it- my fears did not come true. You might find the same comes true with your dr also.

I don't know about switching drs - it might be difficult to receive the same care from another dr that is only seeing you after surgery... however, if you feel STRONGLY about this, that would be your decision and right ofcourse. When is your next post op visit? If it's soon (2wks or 4wks?) you might want to give him another try. Dr's are human too and maybe he just had a bad day (I'm thinking my usually AWESOME dr must have had a bad day when I was 4 days post op. Who knows.. maybe everyone and their dog was asking for pain meds that day. LOL) If you have a lot of pain before your next visit and run out of pain meds call and ask! er.. demand? You do have a right to not feel pain and from everything I've heard/read here and from my own dr (yes the same dr that acted weird at 4 days post op about the pain meds. LOL) said that if you are in pain you cannot recover and heal properly! You should not have to be in pain.

Sending you lots of s!