da Vinci hyster...what to expect

My da Vinci hyster. is scheduled for Sept. 5th and I was wondering if any of you da Vinci sisters would tell me what I can expect.....I was told that as long as there aren't any complications that I will only be in the castle for 23hrs....does that sound right. Also what do I need to take with me to the castle, did any of you feel well enough to read while in observation?

I had my daVinci on a Monday, got home late Tuesday afternoon. I didn't take anything to the castle with me except for the clothes I had on, my purse, and my husband and a friend! You won't have a chance to read, you'll get to your room and they'll give you some pain meds, you'll sleep on and off because they'll come in every 2 hours to check your vitals, which will make you vitally want to punch them for waking you up! They'll give you a toothbrush and some toothpaste, there will be nice lotion there for you to take home with you, you'll wear their little gown and mesh panties and those hospital socks, and the nurse's aid will give you a sponge bath in the morning. I walked up and down the hall a bunch before they cut me loose. You'll be so happy to get home and sleep in your own bed with no one waking you up to take your blood pressure or your temp. Make sure you have plenty of Gas-X at home because the next day you will hurt from that, and the Gas-X will really help. Dulcolax is nice too for that first post-op BM. They'll send you home with a scrip for pain meds, I never filled mine and just took Motrin. daVinci is the way to go. Good luck to you.

I had surgery on Fri July25th at 8 and was home by Sat at 10. The surgery was around 2 hrs with 5 small incisions. When I was brought back to my room they gave me percaset which is a pain killer. On an empty stomach I had the dry heaves for 3 hrs that was horrible.One problem was intestinal cramping which lasted around 2 weeks. I had to do breathing exercises to work through the pain. I took pain meds for about 4 days then went to otc stuff. All you need to bring with you is what you are wearing, you arent there long enough.

I had a radical Da Vinci on July 29th (last Tues.) The hospital had 23 hours on my thing...but my doc usually keeps everyone for 2 days. I was able to pee and they had to take me off the morphine so I was able to go home the next day about 4:00 (surg was at 8:00).

My surgery was supposed to be about 1 to 1 1/2 hours, but ended up being about 3 hours because when my Dr. got in there she found that I was "packed full of endometriosis", and my bowels were all "plastered together" and it took her a bit to get everything done. She told me after that the recovery would be a bit harder than we thought with such extensive work. The gas pains are monsters for the first while, and my mom kept me on a serious schedule of my pain meds for the first 6 days, so I'm really not sure what kind of pain I had, but I can tell you that I was sleeping on my side the second night I was home. I had a bad bout of diarreah on the Sunday following the surg...and that was H*LL and set me back a bit, but other than that I have been really surprised by how good I feel. I had my mom stay the night for first 3 nights, then she came over during the day for this Mon. and Tue.(while DH was at work), but I sent her home Wed because I just didn't need her here anymore. Today, I went to the movie/book store and walked around for about 45 min. or so and I really fell good. I am shocked by how good I feel. I went off my pain meds yesterday and have barely noticed anything. I'm becoming a big fan of the Robot!!

As for what to take to hospital - I was too high and spacey to do any reading, etc. I wore sweats in and wore the same set out...only got to put on my gown, slippers, socks and underwear for about 4 or 5 hours till they sent me home. You don't need much....I took a bag that never really got opened. I would suggest maybe a favorite pillow...but really not much else. You might have a bag prepared at home for if you have any troubles and have to stay longer. I think only then would you need some of the other stuff that I took. Everyone heals differently, but so far the Da Vinci seems pretty impressive to me...I feel really great for 9 days out. If you have any other questions...please ask...I know when I found out that I was doing the robot it helped me to talk to others who had done it because it is still only a select few women who choose/get to do their surgery this way.

Good Luck & Blessings
Let me know how it's all going
TANK

I had my da vinci May 2nd. I did have some complications so stayed two nights. Just remember that although it is "laprascopic" it is still MAJOR surgery, you will feel pretty awful right afterward. They had me up walking about 12 hours after the surgery and it made me vomit each time I did it until about 16 hours after. They said that is somewhat common with the anestesia. My surgery took 4 1/2 hours and they left my ovaries. I had never had any surgeries before (except a c-section 4 years ago) so didn't know what to expect, especially with the anesthesia. I have to tell you that although you can get up and walk around and move, unlike with the c-section, because they haven't cut through all your stomach muscles, it is still really really hard on your body. I'm not trying to scare you, just let you know that don't have very high expectations for the first few days. You will pretty much feel like you got run over by a truck, you'll feel bruised and battered. BUT, after a few weeks you will feel amazingly good. Like I said, I was in the hospital for two nights after my surgery and didn't feel at ALL like reading at any point during that. You will REALLY just want to SLEEP. Your body will need sleep so badly that if you're not sleeping the only thing you'll want to do is watch mindless TV.
Good luck and I do believe that da vinci is an amazing surgery!

My experience was a lot like daVinci Nancy. I had my daVinci at 7:30 on Monday morning and was released at 9:30 Tuesday morning. My dr told me that generally the surgery takes him 3 hours but because I am a plus size woman, mine took 4 hours. As you can see, they took lymph nodes and my omentum in addition to the girly parts.

I didn't want to stain my nice nighties so I used "hospital issue" for the brief time I was there. Didn't even have my purse with me in the hospital as I figured they would give me anything I might otherwise need. I wore sweats to the hospital and I did have my husband bring me a nightgown and a robe for the ride home, because the waistband of the sweatpants would have been too close to a couple of my incisions.

I have five dime-sized holes which were sealed at the surface with glue. The biggest hole - right above the belly button - was dressed with steri strips. Band aids were used to cover the other holes. In time they scab over and eventually the scabs fall off. The dr says the scars will take about a year to fade.

I was warned not to keep any valuables in the hospital so I decided against having my iPod with me. As daVinci Nancy said, you really don't have a chance to read or do much of anything else except try to sleep between pain shots and vitals. The gave me Toradol shots which worked great. The mesh panties work well for the giant sanitary pad they give you but I had very little bleeding. Hate the socks but wore them so that I could do a lot of walking and get home sooner. I had to walk with an IV pole by myself but I managed fine. I didn't get nice lotion or a sponge bath.

My catherer was removed Monday afternoon. I could not pee the first time I tried, but had no problem the second time I tried. The had the leg compression things on me which had to be unfastened every time I took a walk and I did not try to bend down and do that for myself!

The gas pains and the constipation from the Vicodin they sent home with me were much worse than the discomfort from the surgery. I stopped the Vicodin three days after surgery and managed fine with ibuprofin after that. I did stool softener with laxative, prunes and prune juice and found that walking around the house and drinking lots of water were the most helpful things for me.

I have had no complications (outside of a little granulation on my vaginal cuff, which caused me no problems) and was released two weeks after surgery. The dr told me I would be released one or two weeks after surgery.

This is a great way to have an operation. I hope you have the same good results and easy recovery.

bookworm50 ...I was wondering....you mentioned that you are a plus size woman....I also am a plus size woman..... my doc has told me that they might have problems because of my size and may have to end up switching to an abdominal in mid surgery.......
If you don't mind my asking how tall are you and how much do you weigh.......... I am only 5' tall and 300 lbs.................................
I am just trying to get an idea if it's really possible for the de vinci metod to work for me.
Very nervious
Thank you

	Quote:
Originally Posted by d2g18b My da Vinci hyster. is scheduled for Sept. 5th and I was wondering if any of you da Vinci sisters would tell me what I can expect.....I was told that as long as there aren't any complications that I will only be in the castle for 23hrs....does that sound right. Also what do I need to take with me to the castle, did any of you feel well enough to read while in observation?

Hi I had my da Vinci surgery on Tuesday, July 8th. Here we go from the very beginning - lite diet Sunday and then the bowel prep Monday, July 7th. Bowel prep involved taking Dulcolax at certain intervals and only eatting frozen popsicles, Gatorade and water. I got a call from my anesthesiologist on Monday night to go over any issues or concerns and talk about how I generally felt before the surgery. I told him that I was anxious and already felt nauseous from not eating anything that day – I am hypoglycemic and not eating makes me light headed and shaky. The anesthesiologist said that he would order Valium to calm my nerves; fluids to keep me hydrated and help with the low blood sugar.

I checked into the hospital at 9am, surgery was scheduled for 11:45am. I was processed, and taken to a room for prep – gown, history of my medical life, and IV (nurse warmed my hand with a super hot towel and then numbed the surface). With IV in place they started the fluids and Valium. Then I was taken to the pre –op area, got to meet with my doctor, anesthesiologist, and support staff. Gave my husband a last minute smooch – I was so nervous. The anesthesiologist gave me antibiotics, and 3 syringes of meds – and I was out. I was taken into surgery at 1:30pm a bit behind schedule.

In recovery, I remember a nurse asking me to squeeze her hand and move my legs and then ask if I felt pain. I remember discomfort more than actual pain. I said yes and she gave me a shot of something, which didn’t work, followed by a shot of Toradol that did work and I felt nothing. Was wheeled into my room at about 4:30pm (husband arrived about 5 minutes later and never left my side), was put into a clean gown, compression stocking put on, incisions were checked (I had three – belly button and one on either side above ovaries?), pad was in place – hardly any bleeding, catheter was checked. I drank a TON of water, asked for ice chips, and drank cranberry juice all night. Was offered a cup of vanilla pudding at 8pm and more ice chips. Received one more shot for nausea late in the night and one more shot for pain – Toradol great stuff. Vitals checked through out the night, blood draw at 5am. I was able to sleep several hours at a time, brought my ipod with me – this was a great distraction in the wee hours of the morning. Had my catheter removed at 6 am and was able to go on my own about 20 minutes later (huge relief). The only problem I had with my catheter was that it was not draining my bladder properly. I had the sensation that my bladder was full and that I had to go. At some point I moved my right leg up a bit and noticed that this gave me relief. I let the nurse know and she adjusted my catheter - we found out that with my body the bag had to be placed on the floor and not on bedside hook, no problems once this was figured out. Was given different pain meds to figure out what worked for me – Percocet and OxyContin. Was sent home with a prescription for OxyContin.

Was released at 9:30 Wednesday morning after I was able to show the nurse that could walk the length of the halls and I was able to get down some breakfast. I showered and dressed with my husband’s help. I wore draw –string PJ pants and baggy t – shirt home.





Things I brought to the Castle –

Gas X
Lip balm
iPod
Chocolates for the nursing staff - got this suggestion from a lovely lady on this site
ID
Insurance card
Robe and slipper socks
Left my pillow in the car for the ride home
I bought X large cotton waist high undies for the surgery. Normally I am a medium – well extra large didn’t cut it. I should have gone 2 sizes larger. I had to have the nurse cut my underwear at the waist for the ride home. I bought an econo pack of undies and had my husband cut them all at the waist.

For home Colace (no cramping) stool softeners – used these for 2 weeks post op. I only took 4 OxyContin and those puppies dried me out.

Lastly - I have super sensitive skin and am allergic to band aids, and adhesives. I had the nursing staff tag me as latex sensitive to be on the safe side. Still had issues with the tape that they use on my eyes, on my thigh for the catheter and later the sterile strips over my incisions. They did switch out the catheter holder to a Velcro and elastic band. I also have a blood clotting disorder – Factor V Leiden – inherited from my Mother. I did receive a shot of a blood thinner in my tummy fat the morning I was released it was not heparin.

I completely agree with the other ladies who say da Vinci is the way to go. I had little pain and discomfort after the surgery. The worst was the waiting prior and the couple days after the surgery – the gas is pretty bad.

Sorry to write such a novel. I left out all of the post op stuff at home.

This is such an amazing site! I know without a doubt that I wouldn’t have been prepared for this surgery without the help of HysterSisters!

Best wishes for all of you that are preparing or recovering! All of the information posted is based on my personal experience.

Thank you all so much for your responses. All of the detailed information really helped.

Kelly