Surgery soon - a few concerns

Help me out sisters with what to expect after my hysterectomy doing it vaginal. Like what kind of pain? Is it as bad as giving birth or worse.?
How long til you got to start doing things? Like walking up and down stairs, driving a car???
Diva

Hey Diva!
First of all, remember that EVERYONE...every single one of us is different. There are some things that are very similiar for recovery...so I'll tell you what it was like for me, and other sisters will share and you'll find that you fall somewhere in the realm of all of it. : )
I have 4 children, and I had them vaginally. I've had 4 d&c's- and I bounce back from them like I do from giving birth. Those were very easy on me so I assumed this would be also.
I feel like I was "normal" after the hysterectomy as far as pain goes...it was alot more painful for the first few days than I had anticipated- however, the pain meds helped trememdously and each and every single day things got better and better and better. It's important to get enough rest and enough exercise, feed yourself well (you may not have an appetite), drink alot of water, get some fiber and pamper yourself silly!
My dr told me that going up and down stairs was okay but to GO SLOW (you won't have much of a choice) and that doing it more than once would probably make me sorry, so try not to over do it. I drove at 2 weeks post op and it WORE ME OUT. I was exhausted and i cried. I've driven a couple more times and it gets easier and easier.....that was my one other surprise...my mind is READY TO GO, but my body sometimes says "Sit your butt down, girlie!" and that gets frustrating. However- we get this one chance to heal up real nice and well. I so want to be able to have a good recovery story to share with people, plus if I have a setback I think I'll go wonky all the way! : )
You're going to do awesome. A couple more days and you'll be on the other side of this!!! Uneventful surgery and speedy healing thoughts coming your way!

Nicki

I had a TVH over 5 years ago. My experience was that the pain wasn't as bad as I expected. For me, it was like bad menstrual cramps. I didn't have any vaginal pain afterwards. I found that slow walks helped a lot but I didn't have stairs to deal with. My doctor told me I could drive at 2 weeks, but after a very short drive, I felt a little sore so I waited another week and was fine from then on. I never realized the muscle I use to drive, I guess. Of course, that's just my experience and our post-op instructions are as individual as we are.

I hope everything goes well for you!



Deb