I am scared to death

I'm scheduled the 21st for an abdominal hysterectomy, may keep ovaries, may not. I'm so nervous and scared I'm just shaky and feel like crying at the drop of a hat.
It doesn't help that I'm a day or two before my last period starts either.
I also am so scared of the pain after and not being able to do anything. I am such a "go" person I'm afraid this will do me in.
Also, predisposed to depression am already on meds, worry it'll get worse after surgery.
Any reassurances?
donna

Hi Donna, and

You will find this site to be most valuable as to getting most of the answers you need before and after surgery...to me it has been a blessing

your feelings are normal, we all went thru the anxieties and the "not knowing"....."what to expect".....etc.....this is truly the worst part, the surgery happens so quickly and then the recovery, dont worry about the pain, the doctors and nurses will do everything to keep you comfortable and pain free, trust your doctor, ask all the questions you need to make informative decisions and try to keep yourself busy.
think positive thoughts, get all the negative ones out of your head, and try to relax sweetie....it will be over before you know it....a big Hug for you...have faith that all will be fine and you will have a smooth surgery with no complications and a painfree recovery.....

I am totally freaked out too---shaking all over! I will be having surgery Thursday-TAH/BSO. I've been doing OK except for today. I feel nauseous, totally stressed, and have the runs. Sad but true. I am cleaning the house hoping to relieve some of the stress-keeping busy and also..... it will be clean before I go. I wish I didn't feel so stressed. Oh well!!.....anyway....I totally understand what you are going through. Good Luck and soon this will be behind us.

This is not my first time having surgery, and I am terrified. I have been put under atleast 5 or 6 times, and two of those times I was not sedated properly and woke up before my pain medicine was given. I actually woke up as they were taking everything off of me in the op room. The pain was VERY intense. I screamed until my meds kicked in. And I am known for being the girl who doesnt take pain meds. I spoke to my DR about this and he gave me two choices. I can have an epidural and general anesthesia, that way no matter when I wake up I wont feel anything from waist down. He would keep it in for twenty four hours then a few hours before taking it out starting demeral w/phenergan (pain meds make me sick). The other suggestions was that I have a spinal block, and some sedation (not general) that way I am never really "out". My preop is on wednesday and I have till then to decide. I think I am going to go with epidural/general though. So if you are scared about the pain talk with your DR about choices you have. As for not being able to move around, I think this is up to you and how you look at recovery. With all my other surgeries, I did follow the no heavy lifting instructions, but I moved around and did as much as I felt I could handle. When I felt tired I would go take a nap, and then try again. I never really felt out of game except for the first few days in the hospital. I hope this helped! Oh and when you get to the hospital ask for something for anxiety and dont stop asking until they give it to you.

Hi

I had my surgery on 7/21 and I was nervous too. It turned out fine. If you are afraid of pain, speak with the nurses and doc ahead of time and let them know about your fears. They were wonderful with pain management and made sure I was comfortable.

Your feelings are normal and most of us probably felt something similar. What helped me was looking forward to no more pain and being able to enjoy living again after the surgery.

Set everything up in your room and make sure you have prescriptions filled before you get home and you'll be fine. Also line up help if you can so you won't have to do much while recovering.

Take it easy during your entire recovery period and when you feel up to get back on the site for encouragement

Hi Donna...
Please try not to be scared - I know that it's very difficult to do, but my heart aches for you as I am reading this. I had a TAH on 7/24/08 and found out I had to have it on June 12th so I worried for 5 WEEKS! It totally consumed me and wrecked my summer.
The surgery was a piece of cake especially since I had a very very large uterine fibroid that was not easy for my doc to remove! The recovery has not been near as bad as I scared myself into thinking it was. The 1st week was rough - a lot of gas pressure, constipation and nausea but the nausea and constipation went away after the 1st week (My doc encouraged me to stop taking the pain med "Vicoden" since she was sure that was the cause of it so I did) "Ibuprofen" worked great!!
I still do have some gas pressure but have been taking Gas-X and it does help.
Again, please try not to worry. As my family all said to me "there's nothing you can do about it so worrying will only make it worse! " I am a notorius WORRIER about everything!! I am also a BIG BABY when it comes to pain and please believe me it wasn't that bad!! Hang in there OK!!
My thoughts are with you. Please let us know how everything goes!!