How much activity is too much?

Well, 7 days ago today I was in pre-op getting ready to be taken back for a TAH. I am doing pretty good so far. The pain I feel is more of an aching feeling in my belly and I manage it by taking one pain pill in the morning and then 2 at night to help me get a good night sleep. I have been walking a little more each day and doing a little more around the kitchen. What conerns me, is when do I know "too much" is "too much" activity. Being a very active person normally I worry that I may push myself too hard and slow down the healing process. I have lived by no pain,n o gain,but that is probably not a good motto in this situation. Not sure, please advise.

Bless you all in your healing,
Tracy

Tracy, no pain no gain is easy to live by when you're superwoman but we've been told to send our capes to the cleaners.

I know, it's killing me. My mother in law came by yesterday morning, God bless her, and started doing the dishes. There were only 3 dishes because my DH had just done them an hour before. Well, NATURALLY with HER cleaning up my kitchen, I noticed that there are STILL clothes laying on the sofa that haven't been folded (since the day after my surgery which was Friday) so I SAT DOWN AND FOLDED THEM. I did NOT do much yesterday, but I tell you, I was feeling all of it later. My BP went awry, I got nauseous and dizzy, etc. I was really scared. So today, I'm not doing anything, as hard as that is. I had to about be physically restrained from helping the DH cook supper last night! But REMEMBER we're not supposed to bend or lift anything over 5 lbs. A bag of SUGAR IS TOO MUCH! Don't overdue it!

Hoping for a better day today for me and continued healing for all of you.

Emmy

Tracy, your body has a way of telling you when you are doing too much too soon...follow your doctors instructions and listen to your body. I know that there are days you feel good and so you start doing additional chores, but then the next day you feel sore and achy, thats your body telling you do have over done it....go slowly, take baby steps, each day a little more and rest....God bless.

HI,
I'm in the same place as you-last tuesday I was in surgery right now. (had uterus removed-kept ovaries and cervix, via laparascopic surgery) what I am noticing is that I feel fairly good, have stopped taking Percoset for pain, switched to ibuprophen and tylenol on my doc's recommendation. I feel like I SHOULD be able to do things, which is very misleading. Two days ago, I loaded the dishwasher (some bending involved, but I tried to be very careful, and nothing hurt while I was doing this) and changed the sheets on the bed-again, was very careful not to lift the mattress and to take it slow and easy. Like I said, nothing hurt and I was feeling all smug and happy that I could take care of some household tasks, when I just sort of came to the end of my energy!! I mean, it was like someone unplugged me! I barely made it back to my nest on the couch, was for all practical purposes unconscious for the rest of the day! My body just shut down. I felt awful and that continued into the next day. My SO, when he got home, was appalled at how bad I looked and felt.
I think that heeding all the advice to be good to yourself and more importantly to REST and give yourself a chance to heal is so important. And it's even more important after the pain decreases to discomfort and your mind tells you you can probably do things you shouldn't! I'm lucky to have several good friends and family members who have gone through this before I did, who are looking after me and reminding me that it ain't over yet! I hope it helps to know you aren't alone in feeling this way, and yes, it is hard to know what you should be able to do. Good luck and take good care of yourself!

This is the question without an answer, I think.

Like others said, you start to feel good, so you do more, and then you have to pay for it. It's strange, after being used to setting a schedule for yourself and accomplishing what you wanted to do.

I am trying very hard not to overdo it, and my body has sent me reminders of what I did March 6th. For me, the key is to pace myself and set a goal of about 1/2 my normal activity load (minus any lifting tasks). Right now that seems to be working pretty well.

Tracy,

I understand what you are saying. Everyone is telling me to "take it easy" and I'm ready to "go." I'm 52 yrs. old and had a TAH on 3/13/09 and, apart from some abdominal soreness (and constipation), I'm doing fine. I was going up and down stairs immediately when I returned home, and yesterday went for a mile walk with my Husky-mix dog (my husband held the leash). In between activities I rest, but it's tough not to want to do SOMETHING. I take the occasional Tylenol for pain but have stayed away from anything stronger, even while at the hospital. I can deal with the discomfort around the incision, but I certainly don't want to tear anything inside by doing "too much." It's really unclear what "doing too much" means. All my friends and relatives are putting the fear of "relapse" into me. They all caution that if I do too much I will "regret it" etc... My philosophy is get back to normal as soon as possible.

By the way, I think I may go for another mile walk today, this time I will hold the leash! Kidding, sort of.

I'm going to call my doctors today and see what they say...

Just be careful. As someone who got adhesions from her c-section, I can tell you that once you feel you have done too much may mean you can't fix whatever you have done, that the damage is done. So please be careful. The checkpoints on this site, which can be searched for I believe, or you can get by signing up for them in your profile.

hang int here,

Thanks for the word of caution. I'll be more careful. By the way, what do adhesions feel like?

I guess it's a bit different for everyone. For me it was like when I bent over or twisted a certain way, or when I got up, it was like something else pulled the opposite way. Usually a strong but dull pain.

Have a look at the post op checklists on this site. My Dr gave me very little instruction post op so I used them as my bible for a trouble free recovery :-)